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Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

cnn.com

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Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#71

Post by makeitdouble »

wrp wrote: post #27

It's the expected inconvenience. TFA points this out rather indirectly, but I've been hearing from Japanese for years that they are dissuaded from travel by the expected hassles of going to countries that run less smoothly than Japan (which is nearly any place).

That's solved with money. That's how they did in the 90s, with organized bus tours that made sure everything was running smooth.

Thing is money is shorter nowadays.

(not everyone seeks comfort of course, but they're also short of money either way)

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#72

Post by Crywastaken »

Crywastaken wrote: post #70

There is street view /YouTube video from travels. Order some food or cook new dish. want hike just run With sun is a little problem because you can't make country hotter but you can go to swimming pool.30°C + temp isn't good for your electronics. You can replace travel with computer. I just can't/won't overpriced everything

What even is great about Travel? I only see cons...

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#73

Post by makeitdouble »

gadilif wrote: post #64
wrp wrote: post #27

It's the expected inconvenience. TFA points this out rather indirectly, but I've been hearing from Japanese for years that they are dissuaded from travel by the expected hassles of going to countries that run less smoothly than Japan (which is nearly any place).

I don't know. Personal opinion follows, YMMV: I've been to Tokyo recently. The subway system is much less convenient than, let's say, NYC. There are multiple operators, you need to purchase tickets separately to each one, it's not obvious for a tourist to understand the reasoning, and you can't pay with credit card (in 2023...), You need to either purchase a special card from a desk, or pay cash. In 2023. I consider…

You could have bought a Suica or PASMO card (whichever, didn't matter), max it out, and not think about it for a week or so.

That's what I did with my parents a while ago, they even paid their small stuff at the convenience store with it. I'm not sure they even remembered how cash looked like during their trip.

To your point, yes, the railway system is clearly the futur, almost solely because of the Felica cosystem.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#74

Post by makeitdouble »

lobochrome wrote: post #41
JSavageOne wrote: post #32

I'd imagine one of the largest reasons if not the largest would be the lack of vacation days, which the article doesn't even mention.

We have similar amounts of vacation than EU.

Not in sequential days.

I think you're counting in the numerous official national holidays, but those are so sparse, and the GW is cutthroat to go anywhere.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#75

Post by makeitdouble »

koheripbal wrote: post #42
makeitdouble wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoints on the last two: - South Korea - Thailand - Taiwan - Hawaii The CNN article does this too, but "traveling" doesn't just mean going to the US or EU. Japanese used to travel a lot to neighbour countries and that didn't cost that much, nor require much english skills. Now money is clearly a factor, but this would go deeper than travel and more into how many Japanese are giving up on many luxuries as they f…

Hawaii is far from Japan. Many many countries are closer to Japan than Hawaii

Hawaii is far and expensive, but has the special trait of having many Japanese speaking residents and being Japan friendly in general.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#76

Post by discordance »

gadilif wrote: post #64
wrp wrote: post #27

It's the expected inconvenience. TFA points this out rather indirectly, but I've been hearing from Japanese for years that they are dissuaded from travel by the expected hassles of going to countries that run less smoothly than Japan (which is nearly any place).

I don't know. Personal opinion follows, YMMV: I've been to Tokyo recently. The subway system is much less convenient than, let's say, NYC. There are multiple operators, you need to purchase tickets separately to each one, it's not obvious for a tourist to understand the reasoning, and you can't pay with credit card (in 2023...), You need to either purchase a special card from a desk, or pay cash. In 2023. I consider…

You can use your suica/pasmo on your phone, and recharge using Apple or Google pay. Works really well.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#77

Post by makeitdouble »

midasuni wrote: post #60
makeitdouble wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's nice if you don't have to use it much. Otherwise it's a device that makes all your communication lag, and you'te also putting a lot of faith in the translation when you're alone in a foreign country. For ordering at a restaurant it's fine. For trying to find a way to go to the consulate because your bag was stolen, it's not ideal.

We coped with that decades ago before handhold computers with connection to enourmous global databases. Nowadays you just put the address into google/Apple/etc maps, or get an Uber.

I love Google Maps, and dealing with local transit is not its forte.

Many countries also won't have Ubers, and/or you'll need a local credit card to use the taxi apps.

Having a smartphone still helps a lot, I'd probably bet on actually reliable web resouces for standard help phrases

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#78

Post by logosmonkey »

gadilif wrote: post #64
wrp wrote: post #27

It's the expected inconvenience. TFA points this out rather indirectly, but I've been hearing from Japanese for years that they are dissuaded from travel by the expected hassles of going to countries that run less smoothly than Japan (which is nearly any place).

I don't know. Personal opinion follows, YMMV: I've been to Tokyo recently. The subway system is much less convenient than, let's say, NYC. There are multiple operators, you need to purchase tickets separately to each one, it's not obvious for a tourist to understand the reasoning, and you can't pay with credit card (in 2023...), You need to either purchase a special card from a desk, or pay cash. In 2023. I consider…

For the three weeks I was there in March I bought a suica card at the airport and never had to think about fairs for subway or buses for the rest of the the trip. I also used it to pay fir food at convienance stores and roadside stops. That seems pretty darn convenient to me.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#79

Post by wrp »

gadilif wrote: post #64
wrp wrote: post #27

It's the expected inconvenience. TFA points this out rather indirectly, but I've been hearing from Japanese for years that they are dissuaded from travel by the expected hassles of going to countries that run less smoothly than Japan (which is nearly any place).

I don't know. Personal opinion follows, YMMV: I've been to Tokyo recently. The subway system is much less convenient than, let's say, NYC. There are multiple operators, you need to purchase tickets separately to each one, it's not obvious for a tourist to understand the reasoning, and you can't pay with credit card (in 2023...), You need to either purchase a special card from a desk, or pay cash. In 2023. I consider…

It's not about the objective(?) reality, but public perception. In my Japan days (1980s-90s), American companies were having a terrible time marketing their goods in Japan, because of the Japanese (often wrong) presumption that foreign goods were inferior.

It's true there are inconveniences in Japanese life, but they are generally very predictable. What the Japanese hate is unpredictable inconveniences.

Re: Why Japan has so many ‘never travelers’

#80

Post by red-iron-pine »

wrp wrote: post #79
gadilif wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. Personal opinion follows, YMMV: I've been to Tokyo recently. The subway system is much less convenient than, let's say, NYC. There are multiple operators, you need to purchase tickets separately to each one, it's not obvious for a tourist to understand the reasoning, and you can't pay with credit card (in 2023...), You need to either purchase a special card from a desk, or pay cash. In 2023. I consider…

It's not about the objective(?) reality, but public perception. In my Japan days (1980s-90s), American companies were having a terrible time marketing their goods in Japan, because of the Japanese (often wrong) presumption that foreign goods were inferior. It's true there are inconveniences in Japanese life, but they are generally very predictable. What the Japanese hate is unpredictable inconveniences.

they are predictable because they grew up in japan.

they just xenophobic -- literally the fear of the unknown.

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