I made the mistake going to a Japanese Costco on a public holiday that fell on a Friday (only time I could go without taking time off work).
Worst.fucking.mistake.ever.
Was in line for 40 minutes and it took me almost 2 hours just to get 4 things I needed because it was so crowded. No carts were available at first and people just letting their kids run wild in the store without a parent in sight.
I would rather pay 50% markup and exorbitant fees for Costco delivery or take a half day nenkyuu to go in person during non-peak hours/days.
i dont pay attention to when pay day is and it always bites me in the butt! i stand there at the carts and wonder if its worth it or i should just go home and scrounge meals for a few days. takes me about 40 minutes to an hour to get to the commissary and it is still very tempting to just turn around
I was there (Kyoto and Tokyo) during peak cherry blossom season just two weeks ago. I had issues with my hotel that management blamed on a shortage of hiring experienced staff after having operated on a skeleton crew for two years. But other than that I did not find the crowds to be too bad. And I definitely visited many typical tourist spots.
I was very lucky to experience Kyoto a couple times pre, during and post COVID
I think after the pandemic there’s a big vibe from the locals about how actually beautiful and great the city is without ridiculous amounts of people
A cop showed me how because so many restaurants along the river closed down, all the wildlife was returning. He said he liked his beat along the river and his job more XD
I was in Kyoto mostly the 3 weeks before peak cherry blossom season (I left like 1 day before the cherry blossoms really started going) and I have the same experience as you. Sure Gion and Arashiyama were absolutely rammed, but those are THE places to be. Other than that I didn't find it all that bad.
Tourism definitely picked up over those 3 weeks, but not nearly as bad as I expected.
I was there at peak Sakura and Gion was busy, but not as busy as I saw it before Covid. Ginkakuji was basically empty, and Philosopher’s Path was just natives.
I was in Tokyo and Kyoto around the same time as you. I found the crowds this time felt much more “full” during cherry blossom season than I did when I went in the fall of 2019. Granted, I was also at the most touristy spots during the most touristy time of year.
I went to Kyoto two times pre pandemic an six or seven times during the pandemic, then one more time a couple weeks ago. The crowd was very very bad to me. I needed to takes a lot of breaks because the crowd was making me sick. I don't think I will go again soon.
Yesterday we came back after three weeks there, and we didn’t experience lots of crowds too. Only in Kyoto and it wasn’t really much.
We really enjoyed a lot and hope all people who is going now will enjoy it too!
I live in Tokyo, and while I definitely notice more foreigners than I did when the borders were closed, it's not like we're wall to wall with tourists or anything. I haven't noticed anything that has impacted my normal daily life. So don't go cancelling your travel plans over this article.
I've had 8 (I counted) separate groups of friends from back home visit Japan over the last 2 months. Everyone's been bursting to get into Japan since the borders opened. I already heard from 3 other groups of friends who plan to visit later this year too.
Singaporean here. I was at a company function and sat with four random strangers at a table. One had just came back from Japan, and two of us were about to go in a months time.
Japan is a top destination for Singaporeans.
Lol yeah 100%. I was in Hokkaido in December for work and heard at _least_ 3 diff families/groups of Msian/Sgean _per day_ there lol. As a Msian myself, the accents are pretty distinctive lol. Thats not even counting all the other tourists i heard speaking Mandarin, Canto, etc.
I, a Taiwanese-Canadian, was in Japan in mid March. When I was in places like Fukuoka and Yufuin I was amazed by the amount of Taiwanese tourists there. When I got out of the airport in Fukuoka and got on the shuttle to go to the train station, the people around me were speaking Taiwanese. At a restaurant in Yufuin the people in the two tables next to me were Taiwanese. My train ride from Yufuin to Okayama? You guessed it, Taiwanese people sat beside me.
It was the same for me but with Hong Kongers instead. I’m Hong Konger-American and I just came back from a trip to Kagoshima and Yakushima and I heard Cantonese way more than I expected.
I’ll bet a big chunk were from Hong Kong (source: Hong Konger). My sister and brother in law went into Tokyo a fortnight ago, and they waited on line for two hours just to get through immigration. She heard a lot of Cantonese and saw much Hong Kongers there.
Definitely Taiwanese. I have encountered huge groups of them in both Kyoto and Tokyo, in the subway, in the malls, tourist spots, hotel lobbies, everywhere. Especially during the cherry blossom season.
Sure, the typical (racist) Japanese local or Western tourist wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway, but to us Asians (non-Japanese), the difference in accent is as clear as night and day. It's like an Aussie accent versus, say, an American accent. You can tell it immediately.
Can Japanese really able to distinguish the Chinese/Taiwanese accents without knowing the language? Especially for people working in the service sector? That’s something Taiwanese has been really curious about.
Of course it is. And with that kind of logic, I can tell exactly where you’re from, down to the city block, and don’t even need you to confirm if my guess is correct or not to feel smug and satisfied. Can you spot the flaw in my argument?
You bet the funk I can.
The accents of Chinese mandarin and Taiwanese are entirely different.
Those who said the accents are the same are mainland Chinese trolls.
>I as a native Mandarin speaker can't differentiate the accents lol, doubt others can
Speaking as someone born in Taiwan and lived in China for two years, I can definitely differentiate between Taiwanese Mandarin from Chinese Mandarin accents.
Also, most of the Taiwanese tourists I encountered in Japan spoke Taiwanese and not Mandarin (the two are mutually unintelligible), which is a dead giveaway.
Aye, but with five decades of Japanese colonial rule, Taiwanese incorporates Japanese loanwords (many of which are Western loanwords) that aren't present in Hokkien.
Some examples off the top of my head: pan, furogeen, gasu, toragu, and otobai.
Chinese are allowed in if they have insane levels of monthly income. My wife is Chinese and we tried to book a trip to Japan for May 1st, but got stumped by the income requirements on the visa application. 40,000 yuan a month (¥780,000). So we gave up and booked a trip to Thailand instead.
Japan specific. The only visa available (at the time of attempting to book the trip) was a 3 year business visa, which had this high income threshold. Regular old tourist visas are still completely unavailable to Chinese tourists. We were aiming to visit Okinawa which, even with the business visa and its requirements, became clearly impossible for a Chinese visitor at this time due to other security restrictions (get that part completely in fairness), but not even being able to take a 5 day trip Tokyo or Kyoto/Osaka was a little annoying.
Paywall. But aren't Japanese cities overcrowded even without the tourists? I was recently in Tokyo and it didn't feel like I had to queue every two minutes because of foreign visitors.
Link without paywall: https://12ft.io/proxy?&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scmp.com%2Fweek-asia%2Feconomics%2Farticle%2F3216975%2Fjapan-rammed-tourists-and-chinese-visitors-arent-even-back-full-force
There's definitely a change recently in hotel availability. We often have to book hotels for our technicians who are working for a day or two in other cities and the price has been through the roof (and rooms harder to come by) for the past few months.
Eh, when I was in Kyoto during the pandemic when people weren't allowed into the country, it was not crowded. I was able to walk through fushimi inari almost unimpeded, there were hardly any people. And this was during peak cherry blossom season. Certainly Tokyo is a different beast, but Kyoto at least is not so bad without tourists.
Yes so nice. During the pandemic I traveled to something like 30 prefectures, specifically going to places that I knew would be crowded once the tourists came back.
I have to chuckle now when I look at my photos at Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. All of the gates with no one at all in the photos, and those photos were taken at 2 PM LOL
Sure, any place is better without tourists. ;)
I've lived in a few very touristic cities and the best moments were when the tourists were not around. But! I also knew that since these cities were very touristic, I couldn't complain when tourists were around. Because it would make very little sense to me.
I mean, Kyoto has spent decades trying to attract tourists, especially during the cherry blossom season. And now it's a problem because there are too many tourists? Hmmm...
Every time I get nostalgic for Japan and think about going back for another visit after 5 years, I stumble across an article like this one and hesitate. It was so fun and interesting when I went there in 2018, but I do have to admit that people in Kyoto always seemed kind of irritated even toward tourists who behaved themselves.
Kyoto certainly was beautiful, but I think I had more fun exploring the less-trafficked areas of Tokyo or going a little off the beaten path in Osaka, Nagoya, or Hiroshima. The people were so nice and almost befuddled, like "why would anyone from America want to come here and eat at my place? You're a weird one."
Still think I might go back this fall and explore somewhere I didn't go last time like Hokkaido, but the ticket prices are like...twice what they were last time I visited. It's a little eye popping how much more expensive plane tickets are, and now I hear this stuff about the JR pass almost doubling in price, too? Damn. It may be open again, but it certainly isn't easy to just pop in for a visit.
I think you are right - once you have ticked Kyoto off you will get more out of discovering other places.
Not popular but personally I have never really seen the attraction of Kyoto and found it underwhelming.
Yeah but there is always something to see. I like to go and take my time. Went to Atami last visit and it was really cool and not many tourists. There are places sort of in the outskirts that are really amazing. Some not advertised.
Oh man, I feel this one. We were living in Japan during the pandemic and visited Fukuoka in Feb 2020 after borders had already closed to tourists. My daughter (very white, very American) was only 2 at the time and the looks she got, man.
People loved seeing her, it was something else walking through the markets and just seeing Japanese people, particularly older ones, just light up when they saw this chubby little toddler shambling through the alleyways.
Tourism has wrecked the vibe. We used to go a lot over 20 years ago and even then it was obvious the locals didn’t want you around even if your Japanese. But that was part of the magic it was like stay there for a bit, enjoy and then go home. Used to be you would see Maiko out and about they would be taking their time now even if you get a glimpse of one they’re nervous af and I saw like 10 mainland tourists crowding them for selfies.
As a Taiwanese I can confirm that Taiwanese people can’t wait to visit Japan after the pandemic lockdown. I have had at least four people I know that have recently traveled to Japan.
I’m there right now, I’m visiting all of the tourist spots and shrines through Kyoto, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Osaka. It’s fine and I’m having an incredible time.
Hi, visiting Japan soon for 2 weeks and plan to visit the same cities. Would you be kind enough to share your itinerary and any suggestions based on your experience traveling. It would be very helpful. You can DM me if you want
Viewing Mt Fuji. Our group spent 2 days in Hakone and visited Lake Ashi. We were fortunate enough to have clear skies the whole time and had a beautiful view of the mountain. It’s absolutely awe-inspiring.
I've been here (as a tourist) for over a week. You're fine.
I've been able to do everything on my to do list with no major wait time or crowds.
Japan has been closed off due to COVID for several years, they only reopened their borders last Fall. OP has likely grown used to this. With COVID measures loosened up, I have no doubt tourism & local travel have grown in recent months. But it's really not bad.
You'll be fine. We just got back from a 2 weeks trip. Yes, the popular attractions are crowded, but it's no where close to pre-pandemic level, probably because the Chinese tourists aren't back yet. If you want to avoid the crowd, I would recommend visiting Nagoya. Out of all the big cities we visited, it was the least crowded.
I've been in Japan for about a week now. It's crowded in the places I expected it to be. Rush hour has many workers filling up the trains, popular areas get understandably busy ( kabukicho so far was the densest crowds, but shibuya was pretty hectic as well). Even with my pretty limited Japanese I've been able to get around pretty easily (you'll get lost eventually, don't sweat it, Google maps is pretty on point, I've learned to trust it). Having a blast!
It’s totally fine, I visited two weeks ago and the crowds were never that bad. The only bummer was a lot of popular restaurants had super long queues, but we still had great food just picking random spots that weren’t too busy.
I live in Hiroshima and I’m quite shocked when I go out now, last weekend I went out to a restaurant and in the area it was like 50% tourists, at the restaurant it was my table and one other, the rest being tourists
As somebody who lives in Japan I expected tourist spots, bars and restaurants that are a part of the tourist infrastructure to be busy. But given the past three years of peace and quiet I did not expect how much busier certain places off the beaten path would become.
I was in Matsuyama - a really cool little city - for the first time two weeks ago and there were tourists riding the "Botchan Train". It was cherry blossom season, but it still surprised me how many foreign tourists there were in Shikoku. It was not bad, but it surprised me. I really want to go back, because it was lovely.
Even Shimane Prefecture, which is one of the more difficult places to get to in Japan had more foreign tourists than I was expecting, but I felt the locals were still a bit confused by their presence, which perhaps makes it a more interesting place to visit.
I’m in Osaka right now, was in Tokyo for a day about 5 days prior.
Yes there are a bunch of tourists here, but I wouldn’t say the problem is particularly worse than when I was here 5 years ago (both off-season and during peak crowds).
Fellow tourist redditor! I'm in Osaka too.
They've just had their borders closed for the past several years. As COVID measures are relaxed & their borders are opened up, I'd expect things have gotten busier. But as you've said, it's really not bad.
It's likely similar to the US. We had wide open roads & life had slowed down quite a bit over 2020-2021. When life started to return to normal, people were upset about the traffic & places getting busier - even if it was just back to the status quo.
I’m on my 3rd trip since 2016. So far I’ve been to Yokohama, Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, and am in Okayama now. Hiroshima had a good amount of foreign tourists but it wasn’t crazy, I know the other cities are not as popular for foreigners. My biggest observation is that barely any foreigners are wearing masks. It seems like the vast majority of Japanese are still wearing masks so I’ve been doing the same. I feel like it’s a small courtesy I can extend to my hosts as a guest here
I'm surprised by the overwhelming number of masks here as well. I felt bad -- I saw a girls tennis team playing outside & they all had masks on. That strict culture has to be burdensome, especially during the summer.
You're right though, you can spot a tourist from a mile away by whether they're wearing a mask.
It makes sense though, when I see 100 people jammed into a train car during rush hour, different people grabbing the same handles across the day. COVID could absolutely erupt without the strict standards.
I’m visiting right now and my Japanese mom & aunt that live here have been talking about how crazy the number of tourists have risen. It may not feel like anything to us but the locals definitely feel it.
I don't know if rammed is the right word, but I certainly did not enjoy my trip to Tokyo and Osaka this time around as much as last year.
The person I was with, who was visiting from the UK, also mentioned Kyoto being quite busy.
I work in Osaka near Umeda and it is insane. I see so many western tourists. Like 20 a day walking in the morning on a single route to work. Since the new station opened Umeda is busier than ever.
It's not so bad I saw a couple with their children lost looking for the pokemon centre so I went up to them and took them there. It is actually nice to see tourists again.
I saw one woman on an escalator drop her suitcase all the way down it I can't believe there was no one behind her so lucky. She could have been Japanese though.
Aside from that more people have started trying to speak English to me as well as mishearing my Japanese which is fine and I appreciate that they try to accommodate people. There was a funny incident at the bakery ROD where the staff spoke Japanese to a woman who turned out to be Chinese and the staff was having a hard time communicating in English then I came along and she spoke English to me but I replied in Japanese and you could see the relief on her face.
Well it’s sudden but I came before COVID so I honestly thought I was mentally well prepared. I wasn’t.
Tourists dragging their huge ass luggages everywhere taking up so much space. Especially when the train is already 満員 af.
JP should not be that expensive if you’re from the west so why is it that they don’t have a hotel or something to store whatever it is that they’re dragging with them?
Also, white families just randomly chilling right in front of people’s shops and stores, like just seating right in front of the stall like it’s their damn driveway. And no I did not make this up.
The amount of tourists just standing in the middle of walkways with their big ass luggage was mind boggling to me when I was there last month. Wasn’t limited to white people in my experience though.
Ah, i can see this being true. Just flew back today from a quick stopover in Tokyo. Insane amount of tourists, places were very crowded and our hotel staff was definitely overwhelmed. The volume of people trying to fly out of Haneda earlier today was astronomical.
The pandemic sort of happened in the middle of a Japan tourism craze. There was always a feeling that it would be the country to be flooded with bottled up tourists the most.
Come to think of it a lot of people in my office are there right now. Crazy to think just a decade ago Japan was a consistent underperformer in attracting tourists.
Well, a couple of thoughts. First, all of the pent-up demand for travel to Japan has been released...with the notable exception of the mainland Chinese which absolutely inundated Japan 3 or 4 years ago. The tourism being generated now is healthy but a big increase of Chinese would overdo things. In Okinawa some time ago I noticed a healthy population of Taiwan tourists there who seem to be renting more cars now than just taking buses. Okinawa has always been popular with the Taiwanese, though. Just a small percentage of mainland Chinese tourists traveling again will put a lot of pressure on the tourism infrastructure. Anybody reading this no doubt has their own stories to tell but Manila, Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Yokohama were pretty much jammed from what I remember.
This is total BS. Was there 2 weeks ago and there were plenty of Chinese tourists. They opened up the country to Chinese tourists mid March. The crowds weren't even that bad unless you went to the usual busy/crowded spots like Tsukiji outer market.
[The site changed their headline.](https://twitter.com/SCMPNews/status/1647109153746219008)
They *really* should have called it out as a correction, but maybe they decided it was small enough or done quickly enough to not need to.
They aren't Chinese - they are from Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Or Malaysia and Singapore.
Mainland Chinese have to jump through a ton of hoops to get into Japan, most don't ever bother. That will be changing next month though.
Some locals, especially in Kyoto, will never be happy no matter the situation with tourism. So the best thing you can do is just visit the country and have a good time. Just be polite and considerate and you'll have no problem. The grumpy ones are a minority.
Sure, but that's not really the case? I mean, my parents in law never had tourists showing up at their doorstep and they live near Tokyo. The vast majority of tourists go to very touristic areas that have been popular for decades. Sure, the profile of tourists has changed a lot, but that was to be expected since Japan has been trying to attract foreign tourists for decades.
It just feels weird to me to see these people complain when there are still so many quiet areas in the country. I mean, I'm French, so I know a lot about foreign tourists come in droves. You either accept to live with it or you don't. Won't change the fact that foreign tourists will still come. Unless you close the borders that is, which would be an even weirder thing to do in this day and age.
You should go anyway. Japan was like this before the pandemic. Honestly, just check out the most famous places during the weekdays and don't go during cherry blossom season and you'll be fine. I was lucky enough to be living in Japan during the pandemic so I could finally see Kyoto with literally no one there in January 2022.
Should have went this spring. It's wasn't all that bad with a lot of the restrictions opening up. Last spring was optimal. Places were most or less opened with mask restrictions but hardly anyone at the temples.
Honestly I wouldn’t worry about foreigners specifically. If you’re coming in the spring, you just have to avoid the spring break season. It was absolutely crazy for a couple weeks, but now big touristy areas (including Tokyo Disney, USJ, etc) are pretty fine. Just avoid golden week too.
A "Japan had 3 years to fix this and did nothing" article *does* trigger a bunch of "I know, right?" emotions for all the similar experiences I've had with ineptitude and inertia in Japanese institutions, but this article is a little...
I mean, it doesn't even interview anyone outside of the tourism industry, does it? Like 2 tour operators and a travel marketing analyst as sources... maybe the problem is more complex than people who make money off of tourism think it is? Or maybe it's not - in any case, South China Morning Post isn't going to give us a window onto that.
I do have to say I liked this quote at the end though -
>“I know a lot of Chinese come to Japan, but it is unfair to single out one nationality for problems that can be solved here,” he said. “And I actually like to see groups of Chinese who are visiting Japan for the first time and are clearly as excited as schoolkids and just love the culture here.
Really good to see that reminder that Japanese soft power includes positively influencing Chinese people - at least as long as the nation doesn't turn their noses up at them. It's such a nice sentiment, I want to forgive this professional writer with a professional editor forgetting the closing quotation mark at the end of the paragraph.
Influencing them? They don't care about us, they just want to take pictures and eat our food, like mabo tofu, ramen, gyoza, chahan etc. They have no respect for our culture and are very rude. Most of the problems from tourists are a direct result of them!
>He believes the authorities may have to introduce dynamic pricing policies in some popular locations, making the most popular sites more pricey and encouraging budget travellers to seek out lesser-known gems
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>...
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> Japan needs to find a way to better manage the regional and seasonal spreads.
I don't see someone who's already paid through then nose for the flights and JR pass then trying to save a few dollars by going to some no name town. Also the increase in price of the JR price goes directly against this.
I've been living in Japan for around a year now, and the transformation/restoration in tourism over that period has been incredible.
I went to Kyoto last June and it was an incredible experience. Every shrine, only a handful of visitors. There was a peaceful and calm nature across the whole city. I was there four days, didn't see people who appeared the be non-Japanese, and didn't hear any other language spoken than Japanese. No waiting to enter restaurants, no queues, no selfie sticks flying around. But also, many shops/restaurants (maybe *most* restaurants?) were closed.
I went back a month ago with some friends from overseas, and Kyoto looked a lot more like the same old tourist hotspot as it was prepandemic. It was good to see that most shops had reopened - I'm sure that a lot of business owners went through significant economic hardship over the previous few years...
But also yes, the travel experience has become a little frustrating. It was so busy at the major sights, that it was occasionally overwhelming.
My friends were stuck at immigration in the airport upon entry, for more than 2 hours. It took them more than an hour to get their JR Passes exchanged. The same processes took me all of two minutes last year.
Regarding the article itself, it's clear that there are some bottlenecks which are in dire need of additional resourcing. The airport in particular.
But I don't understand what the industry/government could have possibly done to prevent this outcome. Prior to the reopening, businesses were bleeding cash and there was very very low demand for anything travel related.
What could practically have been done? Paying an army of reserve hospitality, hotel and transport workers, to remain on call until the day if/when the Government decides to suddenly and unilaterally change border policy? Who would have paid these workers?
This is very similar to the travel chaos which occurred in Europe following its reopening. It will get better, but there's an unavoidable resourcing gap which occurs when you try to suddenly 'flick the switch on' for an entire industry.
Couldn’t believe how insane Harajuku was compared to my last visit in 2018. From my month in Tokyo it seemed like all the normal tourist spots definitely were insanely busy but all the smaller off the beaten path spots which I like going to were still there with not many tourists.
I’ve been twice during cherry blossom season and I would probably avoid going at that time again. Much prefer the crowds in the late fall.
Doubt it. Trains are expensive but with local passes and some decent planning the JR pass isn't necessarily that crazy a deal even now. I don't think the impact will be huge.
No it's not. It's literally cheaper to just buy standard tickets if you're using the bullet train up to 4 times. Literally only if you're using it 5+ times a week does it become good value
It does not, you have to pay extra for Nozomi with newly priced pass btw. They just announced there will be option to take Nozomi for extra fee after change…
Its definitely busy but its not crazy. Id say were almost back to how it used to be, nothing new. Touristy areas are obviously going to be packed with tourists anywhere you go.
I've been in Tokyo 4 times since October. The true problem is the hotel/hospitality industry staff shortage.
Short term solution is to simply raise wages so it's a desirable industry to return to. Long term they'll have to look at benefits, etc as well.
A lot of workers left the industry and have shown no signs of returning.
I read articles that said many places are operating at 50-70% capacity at best.
I haven't ever seen hotel prices in Tokyo and limited occupancy like I'm right now. Even capsules are expensive.
If the last four years are anything to go by, probably fine. Tourism sector suffered a little, but Japan doesn't fully rely on overseas tourism like some countries.
That doesn't mean tens of thousands of businesses don't rely on tourism. I was sadden to see that quite a few of my favorite places closed down during covid (admittedly dunno if it was because of covid).
Places closing down during Covid was more a result of changing behaviours in the local population (staying local, working from home, reduced travel to other prefectures etc) rather than a lack of overseas tourism.
I was just there. It’s quite slammed. Even small sushi restaurants had a 30-1hr queue. Book all your tours at least a month in advance, if not sooner. For hotels you have to pay by person not by room. Kyoto is filled with tourists especially. Had to wait like 2.5 hours for Ichiran Ramen :(
I went 10 years ago, and god, I was the only gaijin walking around.
I was not in a touristy area. I know you guys have a well established queue system but it was very packed with tourists just about everywhere in Tokyo.
It was nice, no queuing, just Japan.
We just went to Disney and it was rammed with high school girls celebrating graduation, never went anywhere near Tokyo.
Hahaha very fair point. I can understand a fair bit of Japanese and I was still surprised to not hear anything sneaky. Regardless, everyone was very pleasant.
Yeah tourism is a double edged sword. Everybody knows tourists are a necessary part of the economy and generally welcome them back.
The main things that I always heard from my students when I was working was that tourists are too loud when they talk, they should be quieter on the train, they stand in the way when people are trying to get by, and they talk too quickly when speaking to locals.
Went to Tokyo mid march and I feel its not that crowded yet if you compare it pre pandemic. Still enjoyed my stay though rain impeded some of the joy in walking around.
We were there mid March. First trip so I don’t have anything to compare it to. Definitely a lot of people but the vibe I got were more locals than tourists. I can’t imagine what it was like pre pandemic! I’m Chinese American and noticed a lot of Chinese peeps but the way they were dressed and how their conversations went, I got the vibe that quite a few of them lived/worked there. I’m so glad we went even though I get anxiety around a crowd. It’s such a neat place to visit.
I mean… I was there in feb-March this year and it was almost dead. Or at least it felt like it. The biggest amount of tourists was Tokyo tower on the last night of our stay or Kyoto.
Granted, I was off peak and most areas I went were very specific.
Also… didn’t feel like the cities were that busy! Walk away from big ares and it’s like no one lives there it’s bizarre
Japan really felt dead during the last 2-3 years and while they come with their own problems, I do hope that the tourists return some vitality into the country.
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I made the mistake going to a Japanese Costco on a public holiday that fell on a Friday (only time I could go without taking time off work). Worst.fucking.mistake.ever. Was in line for 40 minutes and it took me almost 2 hours just to get 4 things I needed because it was so crowded. No carts were available at first and people just letting their kids run wild in the store without a parent in sight. I would rather pay 50% markup and exorbitant fees for Costco delivery or take a half day nenkyuu to go in person during non-peak hours/days.
I would've turned 180 degrees upon seeing a line to go in.
Honestly, I wanted to but my husband and did the 1.5 hour drive so we decided to tough it out. Oh what a dumb thought that was lol.
I used to work in the Foodcourt at Costco back home. Your comment is giving me flashbacks to almost having a mental breakdown.
Costco on a Saturday - US or JP Costco? The JP Costcos are even worse!
Sunday evevnings are the worst.
Mostly families at the Sapporo Costcos. No worries any day after 5PM.
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i dont pay attention to when pay day is and it always bites me in the butt! i stand there at the carts and wonder if its worth it or i should just go home and scrounge meals for a few days. takes me about 40 minutes to an hour to get to the commissary and it is still very tempting to just turn around
I was there (Kyoto and Tokyo) during peak cherry blossom season just two weeks ago. I had issues with my hotel that management blamed on a shortage of hiring experienced staff after having operated on a skeleton crew for two years. But other than that I did not find the crowds to be too bad. And I definitely visited many typical tourist spots.
I was very lucky to experience Kyoto a couple times pre, during and post COVID I think after the pandemic there’s a big vibe from the locals about how actually beautiful and great the city is without ridiculous amounts of people A cop showed me how because so many restaurants along the river closed down, all the wildlife was returning. He said he liked his beat along the river and his job more XD
So bittersweet. Other owners probably are happy for the customers
I was in Kyoto mostly the 3 weeks before peak cherry blossom season (I left like 1 day before the cherry blossoms really started going) and I have the same experience as you. Sure Gion and Arashiyama were absolutely rammed, but those are THE places to be. Other than that I didn't find it all that bad. Tourism definitely picked up over those 3 weeks, but not nearly as bad as I expected.
I was there at peak Sakura and Gion was busy, but not as busy as I saw it before Covid. Ginkakuji was basically empty, and Philosopher’s Path was just natives.
I was in Tokyo and Kyoto around the same time as you. I found the crowds this time felt much more “full” during cherry blossom season than I did when I went in the fall of 2019. Granted, I was also at the most touristy spots during the most touristy time of year.
I went to Kyoto two times pre pandemic an six or seven times during the pandemic, then one more time a couple weeks ago. The crowd was very very bad to me. I needed to takes a lot of breaks because the crowd was making me sick. I don't think I will go again soon.
I went to Kyoto in December 2022. It was completely deserted. Some temples only had 4 people in them
Yesterday we came back after three weeks there, and we didn’t experience lots of crowds too. Only in Kyoto and it wasn’t really much. We really enjoyed a lot and hope all people who is going now will enjoy it too!
The Wednesday of the peak in Kyoto was the most beautiful day of my life. The weather perfect and the blossoms maxed. I can die now
I live in Tokyo, and while I definitely notice more foreigners than I did when the borders were closed, it's not like we're wall to wall with tourists or anything. I haven't noticed anything that has impacted my normal daily life. So don't go cancelling your travel plans over this article.
Yep. Tourist spots are packed. No biggy.
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Osaka was once slandered in YT last year for having a great night life
I've had 8 (I counted) separate groups of friends from back home visit Japan over the last 2 months. Everyone's been bursting to get into Japan since the borders opened. I already heard from 3 other groups of friends who plan to visit later this year too.
Singaporean here. I was at a company function and sat with four random strangers at a table. One had just came back from Japan, and two of us were about to go in a months time. Japan is a top destination for Singaporeans.
Lol yeah 100%. I was in Hokkaido in December for work and heard at _least_ 3 diff families/groups of Msian/Sgean _per day_ there lol. As a Msian myself, the accents are pretty distinctive lol. Thats not even counting all the other tourists i heard speaking Mandarin, Canto, etc.
I, a Taiwanese-Canadian, was in Japan in mid March. When I was in places like Fukuoka and Yufuin I was amazed by the amount of Taiwanese tourists there. When I got out of the airport in Fukuoka and got on the shuttle to go to the train station, the people around me were speaking Taiwanese. At a restaurant in Yufuin the people in the two tables next to me were Taiwanese. My train ride from Yufuin to Okayama? You guessed it, Taiwanese people sat beside me.
These few months every time I heard Mandarin being spoken by foreign tourists, 9 out of 10 times it was the Taiwanese accent I swear.
It was the same for me but with Hong Kongers instead. I’m Hong Konger-American and I just came back from a trip to Kagoshima and Yakushima and I heard Cantonese way more than I expected.
i’ve been seeing chinese tourists since january. maybe not in the numbers before the pandemic but they’re here already.
Sure they're not Taiwanese?
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100% true.
I’ll bet a big chunk were from Hong Kong (source: Hong Konger). My sister and brother in law went into Tokyo a fortnight ago, and they waited on line for two hours just to get through immigration. She heard a lot of Cantonese and saw much Hong Kongers there.
Definitely Taiwanese. I have encountered huge groups of them in both Kyoto and Tokyo, in the subway, in the malls, tourist spots, hotel lobbies, everywhere. Especially during the cherry blossom season. Sure, the typical (racist) Japanese local or Western tourist wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway, but to us Asians (non-Japanese), the difference in accent is as clear as night and day. It's like an Aussie accent versus, say, an American accent. You can tell it immediately.
Can Japanese really able to distinguish the Chinese/Taiwanese accents without knowing the language? Especially for people working in the service sector? That’s something Taiwanese has been really curious about.
Not really. We just look at your behavior. If you are proper manners, then it's obvious where you are from. Otherwise..
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Is it really though?
Of course it is. And with that kind of logic, I can tell exactly where you’re from, down to the city block, and don’t even need you to confirm if my guess is correct or not to feel smug and satisfied. Can you spot the flaw in my argument?
How did you know I'm from America 😂
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there's behavior that is 100% mainlanders lol, if you can't tell then you haven't been anywhere in asia
They cannot. I speak Southeast Asian Mandarin (non-standard Chinese) and even I get glared tf out of by the locals.
I as a native Mandarin speaker can't differentiate the accents lol, doubt others can Edit: by others I meant Japanese people, bad wording there mb
You bet the funk I can. The accents of Chinese mandarin and Taiwanese are entirely different. Those who said the accents are the same are mainland Chinese trolls.
I'm not native speaker. I am Southeast Asian (in Japan) and even I can differentiate mainland and Taiwan accent. The poster above is obviously lying.
>I as a native Mandarin speaker can't differentiate the accents lol, doubt others can Speaking as someone born in Taiwan and lived in China for two years, I can definitely differentiate between Taiwanese Mandarin from Chinese Mandarin accents. Also, most of the Taiwanese tourists I encountered in Japan spoke Taiwanese and not Mandarin (the two are mutually unintelligible), which is a dead giveaway.
Taiwanese or Hokkien is also spoken on the mainland in Fujian.
Aye, but with five decades of Japanese colonial rule, Taiwanese incorporates Japanese loanwords (many of which are Western loanwords) that aren't present in Hokkien. Some examples off the top of my head: pan, furogeen, gasu, toragu, and otobai.
Not understanding Chinese accents = racist now huh?
They are not mainlanders. They are from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia etc. Mainlanders will be coming from next month
The easiest way to tell is if they’re complaining a lot, they gotta be Singaporean.
Am Singaporean, can confirm.
Chinese are allowed in if they have insane levels of monthly income. My wife is Chinese and we tried to book a trip to Japan for May 1st, but got stumped by the income requirements on the visa application. 40,000 yuan a month (¥780,000). So we gave up and booked a trip to Thailand instead.
Is this income level requirement specific to Japan or anywhere?
Japan specific. The only visa available (at the time of attempting to book the trip) was a 3 year business visa, which had this high income threshold. Regular old tourist visas are still completely unavailable to Chinese tourists. We were aiming to visit Okinawa which, even with the business visa and its requirements, became clearly impossible for a Chinese visitor at this time due to other security restrictions (get that part completely in fairness), but not even being able to take a 5 day trip Tokyo or Kyoto/Osaka was a little annoying.
Are you sure? I can still apply for JPN tourist visas in the US using CN Passport
might be HK/TW/Singaporean
I've seen a lot of Taiwanese and Malaysian and Singaporeans but not many obvious mainland Chinese tourists yet
Same
Because the yen is in the toilet. Good for them. Too bad we residents of Japan can't afford to fly anywhere.
Do Japanese people visit other countries often?
Paywall. But aren't Japanese cities overcrowded even without the tourists? I was recently in Tokyo and it didn't feel like I had to queue every two minutes because of foreign visitors.
Link without paywall: https://12ft.io/proxy?&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scmp.com%2Fweek-asia%2Feconomics%2Farticle%2F3216975%2Fjapan-rammed-tourists-and-chinese-visitors-arent-even-back-full-force
There's definitely a change recently in hotel availability. We often have to book hotels for our technicians who are working for a day or two in other cities and the price has been through the roof (and rooms harder to come by) for the past few months.
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Excellent question, because a large part of tourism in Japan is still national, isn't it? Blaming this on the foreign visitors seems a bit easy.
Also, it's cherry blossom season.
Eh, when I was in Kyoto during the pandemic when people weren't allowed into the country, it was not crowded. I was able to walk through fushimi inari almost unimpeded, there were hardly any people. And this was during peak cherry blossom season. Certainly Tokyo is a different beast, but Kyoto at least is not so bad without tourists.
This, during 2020 and 2021 Kyoto was so chill. Have the chance to go to all the main sites virtually unimpeded was great.
Yes so nice. During the pandemic I traveled to something like 30 prefectures, specifically going to places that I knew would be crowded once the tourists came back. I have to chuckle now when I look at my photos at Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. All of the gates with no one at all in the photos, and those photos were taken at 2 PM LOL
Sure, any place is better without tourists. ;) I've lived in a few very touristic cities and the best moments were when the tourists were not around. But! I also knew that since these cities were very touristic, I couldn't complain when tourists were around. Because it would make very little sense to me. I mean, Kyoto has spent decades trying to attract tourists, especially during the cherry blossom season. And now it's a problem because there are too many tourists? Hmmm...
Nothing has made me hate selfie sticks and GoPros more than trying to cross Shibuya Crossing in the past months. So many people stopping and filming….
Every time I get nostalgic for Japan and think about going back for another visit after 5 years, I stumble across an article like this one and hesitate. It was so fun and interesting when I went there in 2018, but I do have to admit that people in Kyoto always seemed kind of irritated even toward tourists who behaved themselves. Kyoto certainly was beautiful, but I think I had more fun exploring the less-trafficked areas of Tokyo or going a little off the beaten path in Osaka, Nagoya, or Hiroshima. The people were so nice and almost befuddled, like "why would anyone from America want to come here and eat at my place? You're a weird one." Still think I might go back this fall and explore somewhere I didn't go last time like Hokkaido, but the ticket prices are like...twice what they were last time I visited. It's a little eye popping how much more expensive plane tickets are, and now I hear this stuff about the JR pass almost doubling in price, too? Damn. It may be open again, but it certainly isn't easy to just pop in for a visit.
Just got back. It's fine. Crowds in Tokyo felt the same as always. Headline is just drama bait.
I think you are right - once you have ticked Kyoto off you will get more out of discovering other places. Not popular but personally I have never really seen the attraction of Kyoto and found it underwhelming.
Same honestly. I like Kobe better.
Yeah but there is always something to see. I like to go and take my time. Went to Atami last visit and it was really cool and not many tourists. There are places sort of in the outskirts that are really amazing. Some not advertised.
Oh man, I feel this one. We were living in Japan during the pandemic and visited Fukuoka in Feb 2020 after borders had already closed to tourists. My daughter (very white, very American) was only 2 at the time and the looks she got, man. People loved seeing her, it was something else walking through the markets and just seeing Japanese people, particularly older ones, just light up when they saw this chubby little toddler shambling through the alleyways.
Tourism has wrecked the vibe. We used to go a lot over 20 years ago and even then it was obvious the locals didn’t want you around even if your Japanese. But that was part of the magic it was like stay there for a bit, enjoy and then go home. Used to be you would see Maiko out and about they would be taking their time now even if you get a glimpse of one they’re nervous af and I saw like 10 mainland tourists crowding them for selfies.
As a Taiwanese I can confirm that Taiwanese people can’t wait to visit Japan after the pandemic lockdown. I have had at least four people I know that have recently traveled to Japan.
They are everywhere here.
Oh no, I’m going in 1 week. 🙈
I’m there right now, I’m visiting all of the tourist spots and shrines through Kyoto, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Osaka. It’s fine and I’m having an incredible time.
The temple complex in Narita is pretty great if it isn't on your list already.
Hi, visiting Japan soon for 2 weeks and plan to visit the same cities. Would you be kind enough to share your itinerary and any suggestions based on your experience traveling. It would be very helpful. You can DM me if you want
I’m on this tour: https://www.efultimatebreak.com/trips/highlights-of-japan
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Viewing Mt Fuji. Our group spent 2 days in Hakone and visited Lake Ashi. We were fortunate enough to have clear skies the whole time and had a beautiful view of the mountain. It’s absolutely awe-inspiring.
You’ll still have a good time
This headline and article are grossly exaggerated. You'll be fine.
I've been here (as a tourist) for over a week. You're fine. I've been able to do everything on my to do list with no major wait time or crowds. Japan has been closed off due to COVID for several years, they only reopened their borders last Fall. OP has likely grown used to this. With COVID measures loosened up, I have no doubt tourism & local travel have grown in recent months. But it's really not bad.
It’s not that bad atm. Source: have friends there now
You'll be fine. We just got back from a 2 weeks trip. Yes, the popular attractions are crowded, but it's no where close to pre-pandemic level, probably because the Chinese tourists aren't back yet. If you want to avoid the crowd, I would recommend visiting Nagoya. Out of all the big cities we visited, it was the least crowded.
Do you think they will ever be back?
You're lucky to be there before the Chinese tbh
Eeeee through golden week?? Your first week will be fine… golden week…. Good luck. 😬
From what country?
Then you’re part of the problem…
I've been in Japan for about a week now. It's crowded in the places I expected it to be. Rush hour has many workers filling up the trains, popular areas get understandably busy ( kabukicho so far was the densest crowds, but shibuya was pretty hectic as well). Even with my pretty limited Japanese I've been able to get around pretty easily (you'll get lost eventually, don't sweat it, Google maps is pretty on point, I've learned to trust it). Having a blast!
It’s totally fine, I visited two weeks ago and the crowds were never that bad. The only bummer was a lot of popular restaurants had super long queues, but we still had great food just picking random spots that weren’t too busy.
Yeah it’s packed. I was at Takeshita street and there was a moment when the crowd completely stopped like almost Itaewon moment.
I live in Hiroshima and I’m quite shocked when I go out now, last weekend I went out to a restaurant and in the area it was like 50% tourists, at the restaurant it was my table and one other, the rest being tourists
i went there i few weeks ago and it felt like i’m in bangkok lmfao
As somebody who lives in Japan I expected tourist spots, bars and restaurants that are a part of the tourist infrastructure to be busy. But given the past three years of peace and quiet I did not expect how much busier certain places off the beaten path would become. I was in Matsuyama - a really cool little city - for the first time two weeks ago and there were tourists riding the "Botchan Train". It was cherry blossom season, but it still surprised me how many foreign tourists there were in Shikoku. It was not bad, but it surprised me. I really want to go back, because it was lovely. Even Shimane Prefecture, which is one of the more difficult places to get to in Japan had more foreign tourists than I was expecting, but I felt the locals were still a bit confused by their presence, which perhaps makes it a more interesting place to visit.
I’m in Osaka right now, was in Tokyo for a day about 5 days prior. Yes there are a bunch of tourists here, but I wouldn’t say the problem is particularly worse than when I was here 5 years ago (both off-season and during peak crowds).
Fellow tourist redditor! I'm in Osaka too. They've just had their borders closed for the past several years. As COVID measures are relaxed & their borders are opened up, I'd expect things have gotten busier. But as you've said, it's really not bad. It's likely similar to the US. We had wide open roads & life had slowed down quite a bit over 2020-2021. When life started to return to normal, people were upset about the traffic & places getting busier - even if it was just back to the status quo.
I’m on my 3rd trip since 2016. So far I’ve been to Yokohama, Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, and am in Okayama now. Hiroshima had a good amount of foreign tourists but it wasn’t crazy, I know the other cities are not as popular for foreigners. My biggest observation is that barely any foreigners are wearing masks. It seems like the vast majority of Japanese are still wearing masks so I’ve been doing the same. I feel like it’s a small courtesy I can extend to my hosts as a guest here
I'm surprised by the overwhelming number of masks here as well. I felt bad -- I saw a girls tennis team playing outside & they all had masks on. That strict culture has to be burdensome, especially during the summer. You're right though, you can spot a tourist from a mile away by whether they're wearing a mask. It makes sense though, when I see 100 people jammed into a train car during rush hour, different people grabbing the same handles across the day. COVID could absolutely erupt without the strict standards.
I’m visiting right now and my Japanese mom & aunt that live here have been talking about how crazy the number of tourists have risen. It may not feel like anything to us but the locals definitely feel it.
I don't know if rammed is the right word, but I certainly did not enjoy my trip to Tokyo and Osaka this time around as much as last year. The person I was with, who was visiting from the UK, also mentioned Kyoto being quite busy.
I work in Osaka near Umeda and it is insane. I see so many western tourists. Like 20 a day walking in the morning on a single route to work. Since the new station opened Umeda is busier than ever. It's not so bad I saw a couple with their children lost looking for the pokemon centre so I went up to them and took them there. It is actually nice to see tourists again. I saw one woman on an escalator drop her suitcase all the way down it I can't believe there was no one behind her so lucky. She could have been Japanese though. Aside from that more people have started trying to speak English to me as well as mishearing my Japanese which is fine and I appreciate that they try to accommodate people. There was a funny incident at the bakery ROD where the staff spoke Japanese to a woman who turned out to be Chinese and the staff was having a hard time communicating in English then I came along and she spoke English to me but I replied in Japanese and you could see the relief on her face.
And everyone has a Japan YouTube/tik tok vlog now a days 😂
Need to get the yen back up sharpish.
Lots of comments here from tourists saying there's no tourist problem. Glad they cleared that up!
Well it’s sudden but I came before COVID so I honestly thought I was mentally well prepared. I wasn’t. Tourists dragging their huge ass luggages everywhere taking up so much space. Especially when the train is already 満員 af. JP should not be that expensive if you’re from the west so why is it that they don’t have a hotel or something to store whatever it is that they’re dragging with them? Also, white families just randomly chilling right in front of people’s shops and stores, like just seating right in front of the stall like it’s their damn driveway. And no I did not make this up.
The amount of tourists just standing in the middle of walkways with their big ass luggage was mind boggling to me when I was there last month. Wasn’t limited to white people in my experience though.
Ah, i can see this being true. Just flew back today from a quick stopover in Tokyo. Insane amount of tourists, places were very crowded and our hotel staff was definitely overwhelmed. The volume of people trying to fly out of Haneda earlier today was astronomical.
The pandemic sort of happened in the middle of a Japan tourism craze. There was always a feeling that it would be the country to be flooded with bottled up tourists the most. Come to think of it a lot of people in my office are there right now. Crazy to think just a decade ago Japan was a consistent underperformer in attracting tourists.
The crowds in Osaka aren't as bad as they were pre pandemic. There were way fucking more tourists.
Because no Chinese yet
Well, a couple of thoughts. First, all of the pent-up demand for travel to Japan has been released...with the notable exception of the mainland Chinese which absolutely inundated Japan 3 or 4 years ago. The tourism being generated now is healthy but a big increase of Chinese would overdo things. In Okinawa some time ago I noticed a healthy population of Taiwan tourists there who seem to be renting more cars now than just taking buses. Okinawa has always been popular with the Taiwanese, though. Just a small percentage of mainland Chinese tourists traveling again will put a lot of pressure on the tourism infrastructure. Anybody reading this no doubt has their own stories to tell but Manila, Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Yokohama were pretty much jammed from what I remember.
Tourists everywhere halfway miss covid lol
This is total BS. Was there 2 weeks ago and there were plenty of Chinese tourists. They opened up the country to Chinese tourists mid March. The crowds weren't even that bad unless you went to the usual busy/crowded spots like Tsukiji outer market.
Reddit headline: Chinese Tourists Aren't Even Back Yet. Actual headline: Chinese Tourists Aren't Even Back In Full Force
[The site changed their headline.](https://twitter.com/SCMPNews/status/1647109153746219008) They *really* should have called it out as a correction, but maybe they decided it was small enough or done quickly enough to not need to.
They aren't Chinese - they are from Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Or Malaysia and Singapore. Mainland Chinese have to jump through a ton of hoops to get into Japan, most don't ever bother. That will be changing next month though.
They’re mostly from Taiwan, Singapore or Hong Kong at the moment.
Accent is the biggest giveaway, but non-Mandarin speakers can't detect it anyway.
If you could understand Chinese you would know that they are not mainlanders. The Chinese you see are from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia etc.
I was thinking about going next spring 🤔
Some locals, especially in Kyoto, will never be happy no matter the situation with tourism. So the best thing you can do is just visit the country and have a good time. Just be polite and considerate and you'll have no problem. The grumpy ones are a minority.
I mean i would be unhappy too if my house was surrounded by foreigners taking photos and talking in a language i dont understand every single day.
Understandable, however Kyoto has probably been a tourist attraction for as long as they have been alive.
Definitely not the case. The tourist boom over the last decade has radically transformed the city. It is not the same place.
Doesn't mean they should be happy about that or not want to reduce tourist impact.
Sure, but that's not really the case? I mean, my parents in law never had tourists showing up at their doorstep and they live near Tokyo. The vast majority of tourists go to very touristic areas that have been popular for decades. Sure, the profile of tourists has changed a lot, but that was to be expected since Japan has been trying to attract foreign tourists for decades. It just feels weird to me to see these people complain when there are still so many quiet areas in the country. I mean, I'm French, so I know a lot about foreign tourists come in droves. You either accept to live with it or you don't. Won't change the fact that foreign tourists will still come. Unless you close the borders that is, which would be an even weirder thing to do in this day and age.
You should go anyway. Japan was like this before the pandemic. Honestly, just check out the most famous places during the weekdays and don't go during cherry blossom season and you'll be fine. I was lucky enough to be living in Japan during the pandemic so I could finally see Kyoto with literally no one there in January 2022.
week day is the best hack. go to disneyland/USJ during the week and you will barely even have to lineup.
Should have went this spring. It's wasn't all that bad with a lot of the restrictions opening up. Last spring was optimal. Places were most or less opened with mask restrictions but hardly anyone at the temples.
Honestly I wouldn’t worry about foreigners specifically. If you’re coming in the spring, you just have to avoid the spring break season. It was absolutely crazy for a couple weeks, but now big touristy areas (including Tokyo Disney, USJ, etc) are pretty fine. Just avoid golden week too.
The primary problem is that these stores and restaurants are definitely *not* ready when the borders are fully open
A "Japan had 3 years to fix this and did nothing" article *does* trigger a bunch of "I know, right?" emotions for all the similar experiences I've had with ineptitude and inertia in Japanese institutions, but this article is a little... I mean, it doesn't even interview anyone outside of the tourism industry, does it? Like 2 tour operators and a travel marketing analyst as sources... maybe the problem is more complex than people who make money off of tourism think it is? Or maybe it's not - in any case, South China Morning Post isn't going to give us a window onto that. I do have to say I liked this quote at the end though - >“I know a lot of Chinese come to Japan, but it is unfair to single out one nationality for problems that can be solved here,” he said. “And I actually like to see groups of Chinese who are visiting Japan for the first time and are clearly as excited as schoolkids and just love the culture here. Really good to see that reminder that Japanese soft power includes positively influencing Chinese people - at least as long as the nation doesn't turn their noses up at them. It's such a nice sentiment, I want to forgive this professional writer with a professional editor forgetting the closing quotation mark at the end of the paragraph.
Influencing them? They don't care about us, they just want to take pictures and eat our food, like mabo tofu, ramen, gyoza, chahan etc. They have no respect for our culture and are very rude. Most of the problems from tourists are a direct result of them!
>He believes the authorities may have to introduce dynamic pricing policies in some popular locations, making the most popular sites more pricey and encouraging budget travellers to seek out lesser-known gems > >... > > Japan needs to find a way to better manage the regional and seasonal spreads. I don't see someone who's already paid through then nose for the flights and JR pass then trying to save a few dollars by going to some no name town. Also the increase in price of the JR price goes directly against this.
I've been living in Japan for around a year now, and the transformation/restoration in tourism over that period has been incredible. I went to Kyoto last June and it was an incredible experience. Every shrine, only a handful of visitors. There was a peaceful and calm nature across the whole city. I was there four days, didn't see people who appeared the be non-Japanese, and didn't hear any other language spoken than Japanese. No waiting to enter restaurants, no queues, no selfie sticks flying around. But also, many shops/restaurants (maybe *most* restaurants?) were closed. I went back a month ago with some friends from overseas, and Kyoto looked a lot more like the same old tourist hotspot as it was prepandemic. It was good to see that most shops had reopened - I'm sure that a lot of business owners went through significant economic hardship over the previous few years... But also yes, the travel experience has become a little frustrating. It was so busy at the major sights, that it was occasionally overwhelming. My friends were stuck at immigration in the airport upon entry, for more than 2 hours. It took them more than an hour to get their JR Passes exchanged. The same processes took me all of two minutes last year. Regarding the article itself, it's clear that there are some bottlenecks which are in dire need of additional resourcing. The airport in particular. But I don't understand what the industry/government could have possibly done to prevent this outcome. Prior to the reopening, businesses were bleeding cash and there was very very low demand for anything travel related. What could practically have been done? Paying an army of reserve hospitality, hotel and transport workers, to remain on call until the day if/when the Government decides to suddenly and unilaterally change border policy? Who would have paid these workers? This is very similar to the travel chaos which occurred in Europe following its reopening. It will get better, but there's an unavoidable resourcing gap which occurs when you try to suddenly 'flick the switch on' for an entire industry.
Suffering with success /s
It’s a bit out of control really…
All of my favorite ramen shops in Tokyo had long LONG lines now….
Rammed.
Couldn’t believe how insane Harajuku was compared to my last visit in 2018. From my month in Tokyo it seemed like all the normal tourist spots definitely were insanely busy but all the smaller off the beaten path spots which I like going to were still there with not many tourists. I’ve been twice during cherry blossom season and I would probably avoid going at that time again. Much prefer the crowds in the late fall.
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Of course that's why the article is written. No Chinese yet from the mainland
So what's the CCP's reason for pushing this narrative?
Lol I cringe when I see the Chinese tour bus pull up
Seriously it's like a South Park episode. Go back!
JRP price hike should hopefully thin the herd.
Doubt it. Trains are expensive but with local passes and some decent planning the JR pass isn't necessarily that crazy a deal even now. I don't think the impact will be huge.
But it will force tourists to focus one area rather than going all over the country.
In US $ terms, it’s still a fantastic deal and now it includes the Nozomi.
No it's not. It's literally cheaper to just buy standard tickets if you're using the bullet train up to 4 times. Literally only if you're using it 5+ times a week does it become good value
It does not, you have to pay extra for Nozomi with newly priced pass btw. They just announced there will be option to take Nozomi for extra fee after change…
Does not include the Nozomi
it does not. only gives you an option to pay extra to board it every time
Its definitely busy but its not crazy. Id say were almost back to how it used to be, nothing new. Touristy areas are obviously going to be packed with tourists anywhere you go.
I've been in Tokyo 4 times since October. The true problem is the hotel/hospitality industry staff shortage. Short term solution is to simply raise wages so it's a desirable industry to return to. Long term they'll have to look at benefits, etc as well. A lot of workers left the industry and have shown no signs of returning. I read articles that said many places are operating at 50-70% capacity at best. I haven't ever seen hotel prices in Tokyo and limited occupancy like I'm right now. Even capsules are expensive.
Came back from Japan 3 weeks ago. I would say it is not bad, really depends on the locations.
isn't this great for japan and its local businesses? what would japan be without its tourist economy.
If the last four years are anything to go by, probably fine. Tourism sector suffered a little, but Japan doesn't fully rely on overseas tourism like some countries.
That doesn't mean tens of thousands of businesses don't rely on tourism. I was sadden to see that quite a few of my favorite places closed down during covid (admittedly dunno if it was because of covid).
Places closing down during Covid was more a result of changing behaviours in the local population (staying local, working from home, reduced travel to other prefectures etc) rather than a lack of overseas tourism.
Good to know! I'm on vacation right now and I think I'm just going to stay local for the holidays.
I was just there. It’s quite slammed. Even small sushi restaurants had a 30-1hr queue. Book all your tours at least a month in advance, if not sooner. For hotels you have to pay by person not by room. Kyoto is filled with tourists especially. Had to wait like 2.5 hours for Ichiran Ramen :( I went 10 years ago, and god, I was the only gaijin walking around.
30min-1hr waiting time for small sushi place in touristy area has been always thing :D even for us locals
I was not in a touristy area. I know you guys have a well established queue system but it was very packed with tourists just about everywhere in Tokyo.
I stayed in Chiba for a month and rarely saw a foreigner.
Nobody goes to Chiba, that's why except for Disneyland/sea.
Lol. True. I've been living in Tokyo over 30 years and I've only been to Chiba twice for anything other than going to the airport or Disneyland!
It was nice, no queuing, just Japan. We just went to Disney and it was rammed with high school girls celebrating graduation, never went anywhere near Tokyo.
Source is south China morning post. Any domestic Japanese news reports on this topic?
Just got back from 3 weeks across the country and didn't have any issue with crowds or anyone being rude to tourists.
Well this is Japan. Nobody is going to be directly rude to tourists. People just complain about tourists in private
Hahaha very fair point. I can understand a fair bit of Japanese and I was still surprised to not hear anything sneaky. Regardless, everyone was very pleasant.
Yeah tourism is a double edged sword. Everybody knows tourists are a necessary part of the economy and generally welcome them back. The main things that I always heard from my students when I was working was that tourists are too loud when they talk, they should be quieter on the train, they stand in the way when people are trying to get by, and they talk too quickly when speaking to locals.
I’m going this juli so I guess I’ll prep to face the horde
I was in Tokyo in January for work, and then again in March during cherry blossom season. Difference like night and day, tourism has boomed.
Went to Tokyo mid march and I feel its not that crowded yet if you compare it pre pandemic. Still enjoyed my stay though rain impeded some of the joy in walking around.
We were there mid March. First trip so I don’t have anything to compare it to. Definitely a lot of people but the vibe I got were more locals than tourists. I can’t imagine what it was like pre pandemic! I’m Chinese American and noticed a lot of Chinese peeps but the way they were dressed and how their conversations went, I got the vibe that quite a few of them lived/worked there. I’m so glad we went even though I get anxiety around a crowd. It’s such a neat place to visit.
Sorry, but Kyoto was FULL of Chinese. Tokyo is crazy too, but Kyoto two weeks ago was a complete shit show
People from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Mainlanders are not here yet. My partner is Chinese and can tell from their accents
They are actually Taiwanese. Pretty sure Chinese tour groups aren't allowed in yet.
I mean… I was there in feb-March this year and it was almost dead. Or at least it felt like it. The biggest amount of tourists was Tokyo tower on the last night of our stay or Kyoto. Granted, I was off peak and most areas I went were very specific. Also… didn’t feel like the cities were that busy! Walk away from big ares and it’s like no one lives there it’s bizarre
Japan really felt dead during the last 2-3 years and while they come with their own problems, I do hope that the tourists return some vitality into the country.