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Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

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Re: Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

#371

Post by anigbrowl »

missedthecue wrote: post #276
tayo42 wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is building modern day concentration camps for immigrants. Maybe the country isnt actively killing the out groups right now like a handful of other countries but I'd say the racism is extreme and up there.

But the immigrants aren't racial or ethnic outgroups per se. Many are incidentally Latino, yes, but so is the current Secretary of State.

And yet the 'White House border czar', Tom Homan, was on Fox News earlier today saying that physical appearance is sufficient grounds for detention, and that probable cause is not required. https://x.com/atrupar/status/1943671875961287024

Re: Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

#372

Post by tkgally »

Only anecdotal, but I’ve noticed recently what seems to be a gap in the social-media-driven concentration of tourists in Japan: traditional museums.

I have lived in Japan since 1983, and my sisters and their husbands recently spent three weeks in Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Osaka, and Tokyo. It was the first visit here for three of them. They’re all in their early 70s and don’t use social media much, so they got most of their ideas for places to go from web searches, which led them to travel blogs and to sites like Tripadvisor.

I tried to steer them away from the areas that I knew would be overcrowded, but with mixed success. I warned them in particular that Kyoto would be packed, but they insisted on taking a day trip there from Osaka anyway. It turned out to be the most unpleasant part of their trip because of the crowds.

As their trip progressed, they focused more on avoiding the crowds, and they gradually started adding more museums to their itinerary. I took them to the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living and the Tokyo National Museum, and on their own they visited the Osaka Museum of History, Yushukan Museum at the Yasukuni Shrine, JCII Camera Museum, and several others. None of them were crowded, and they seemed to enjoy them all.

I was particularly surprised at how empty the Tokyo National Museum was, as forty years ago it was a standard destination for foreign visitors. It still has a great collection, but very few of the thousands of tourists wandering around nearby Ueno that day chose to go there.

Re: Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

#373

Post by anigbrowl »

sosborn wrote: post #161
lofaszvanitt wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to protect your culture. USA has a 250 year history while Japan has 10x of that.

Those signs have nothing to do with protecting culture. Most of the time, they are simply a naive defense against dealing with a population often doesn't speak Japanese very well.

There's no prohibition against requiring customers to be able to speak Japanese, and this works very well as a tourist filter.

Re: Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

#374

Post by strken »

gtowey wrote: post #245
timr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about the Ramen place (I can't believe that they wouldn't take cash?), but I agree with you that more places are doing this kind of "two markets" stuff -- it's even becoming official, in that now there's officially sanctioned "foreigner pricing" for certain temples, shrines, and parks. There's also Google Maps and Yelp vs. Japan's local version (pretty much any review on the former two are useless, and h…

I think it's worse than that. I'm starting to think that there may not really be an ethical way to be a tourist in a foreign country. Especially coming from a high cost of living area to a lower one. Just being there puts you in economic competition with the locals. You can spend more on everything than everyone else and that raises their costs too. Especially housing and food. Those fancy resorts take all the prime…

Can I recommend thinking about your own country and then extrapolating from there to understand how foreigners feel? For example: I'm Australian. I actively want you to come be a tourist here! What I'd like you to do, though, is not go to the exact same place as 80% of the rest of the tourist inflow goes.

You don't need to go to the Gold Coast: the entire country is surrounded by water ("girt by sea" is in our national anthem), most of it has great beaches, and you're legally allowed to be on any of those beaches up to the high water mark! The 12 Apostles are cool, sort of, but they're surrounded by beautiful coastline and rainforest filled with waterfalls which a big chunk of international tourists drive through without stopping longer than a toilet and coffee break. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are neat and they aren't too busy, but they're also just a bridge and a big building. Uluru is big and impressive, but it's next to the far more interesting Bungle Bungles which get a tenth of the visitors each year, and the entire centre of Australia is scattered with gorges and craters and rock formations.

Go somewhere other than the top places! The best thing you can do for the locals struggling with house prices on the Gold Coast is to save your own money, skip the queues, and go literally anywhere else along the coast in NSW or QLD. Australia has the same population density as Idaho. We can absorb an effectively unlimited number of tourists as long as they ramp up slowly and spread themselves out. It's easy to be an ethical non-disruptive tourist if you just ignore tiktok and don't treat other countries like bingo cards.

Re: Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

#375

Post by typewithrhythm »

agnishom wrote: post #42

I am not sure I understand the argument the author is making. Is this what they are saying? [Overtourism is bad for small businesses because it encourages them to cater to tourists, and therefore to chase global trends rather than to serve the taste of the local community] I am sure many of them would be a little upset, but I don't understand how this counts as "hurting" small businesses?

Because you are using "small business" as an abstract term, where in reality it's often a stand in for one or two people.

Those people are now providing a service to anonymous tourists, rather than being part of a community.

It's isolating.

Re: Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

#376

Post by citizenpaul »

gtowey wrote: post #245
timr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about the Ramen place (I can't believe that they wouldn't take cash?), but I agree with you that more places are doing this kind of "two markets" stuff -- it's even becoming official, in that now there's officially sanctioned "foreigner pricing" for certain temples, shrines, and parks. There's also Google Maps and Yelp vs. Japan's local version (pretty much any review on the former two are useless, and h…

I think it's worse than that. I'm starting to think that there may not really be an ethical way to be a tourist in a foreign country. Especially coming from a high cost of living area to a lower one. Just being there puts you in economic competition with the locals. You can spend more on everything than everyone else and that raises their costs too. Especially housing and food. Those fancy resorts take all the prime…

> there may not really be an ethical way to be a tourist in a foreign country.

You can hire a full time tour guide using your wealth disparity. Providing a real job to someone with a real schedule and predictable income.

Re: Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

#377

Post by constrictpastel »

scoofy wrote: post #243
timr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about the Ramen place (I can't believe that they wouldn't take cash?), but I agree with you that more places are doing this kind of "two markets" stuff -- it's even becoming official, in that now there's officially sanctioned "foreigner pricing" for certain temples, shrines, and parks. There's also Google Maps and Yelp vs. Japan's local version (pretty much any review on the former two are useless, and h…

I remember when Four Barrel Coffee had blown up in SF. I lived in the neighborhood, and learned, there was just an entrance in the ally behind the building for locals. No sign, just a way to skip the line. I have no idea if it’s still there, but I thought it was a super clever way of doing things.

[dead]

Re: Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

#378

Post by pezezin »

lofaszvanitt wrote: post #141
VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no foreigners It's such a contrast to USA, where I doubt that such a thing would even be legal. And also the bit about no tattoos. That's lawsuit city.

You have to protect your culture. USA has a 250 year history while Japan has 10x of that.

Japan also closed itself to the world for 250 years, and it looks like some people haven't still gotten the memo that the Edo era is long gone.

Re: Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

#379

Post by anigbrowl »

Pooge wrote: post #256
NalNezumi wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.reddit.com/r/funnysigns/comments/1getgra/a_resta... Edit: The red text at the bottom says: この日本語が読める方は、 ご入店くださいませ = "if you can read this Japanese text, please come in" Edit 2: just the original reddit post link then

But if you can't read Japanese, you would enter because you don't understand the sign in the first place...

You obviously didn't click through to look at the sign, which says in both Japanese and English 'No vacancy', with the language endorsement in smaller text at the bottom.

Re: Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses

#380

Post by anigbrowl »

tanjtanjtanj wrote: post #36
wichert wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vending machines outside is pretty much the standard for ramen restaurants. Most of them will take passmo/suica, which most foreigners are also likely to have since it is also used for all public transport.

I’ve been to this restaurant. They take cash as payment so I don’t think they are trying to dissuade tourists. Also, just a short few years ago I would say less than 10% of restaurants took any form of electronic payment.

This is also tied to labor availability. A vending machine interface is expensive to set up, but less than the cost of a full time cashier.
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