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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

#421

Post by the_af »

BlarfMcFlarf wrote: post #368
the_af wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is the advice "do not visit Japan, learn about it from books and the internet"? Or just pretend it doesn't exist? Maybe do the same with all other countries? The Japanese in turn do a lot of tourism abroad, to the point the "Japanese tourist" is as much a stereotype as the American one. Should they stay put and not leave their home towns?

Do what Japan desperately wants people to do, and visit any of the 95% of the country that isn’t Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Fuji, or Nara.

Why do they advertise those cities then? No such thing as "Japan", there are multiple interests.

And what for those who haven't seen Tokyo, Kyoto, etc with their own eyes. Should they NOT visit then? Why not?

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

#422

Post by jowea »

jorvi wrote: post #269
KerrAvon wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not quite that simple. Your tourism money is valuable. It's a huge influx of money into the local economy. They don't want it to go to zero.

It literally is quite that simple. I can tell you from experience via friends and acquaintances that tourists are crushing the locals out of Barcelona and Amsterdam. And I expect the same to be true of Warsaw or Berlin. And its not just tourists. ASML has completely destroyed the housing market in the Brainport region. They're planning to hire 20.000 more people, but with The Netherlands currently being in one of the…

I suspect the people profiting off tourism aren't the same ones who gets squeezed out by it.

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

#423

Post by jayd16 »

returningfory2 wrote: post #278
deaddodo wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This rule applies to most confucian/communal East Asian societies with individuals from the West. People aren't idiots, they realize cultures differ, so they're willing to give some slack; especially, with a culture they're somewhat familiar with through media (the US, for instance). With Japan and Korea (especially the latter) towards Americans, there's also a soft-unspoken rule (that sort of goes both ways) due to…

I struggle to believe this. How can the average Korean tell the difference between a white American and a white Brit?

Isn't this like saying it's impossible to see the difference between a Korean person or a Japanese person speaking English? It should be fairly obvious from the accent alone.

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

#425

Post by 8note »

the_af wrote: post #405
timr wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So effectively the advice becomes "stay at home, don't vacation, or if you do vacation stay at some prepackaged place". I didn't expect it to be a popular take, but I feel like the "sightseeing travel" model is varying degrees of bankrupt, and I'm not apologizing for my opinion. Having lived in a number of tourist hotspots in my life, I've come to the conclusion that almost nothing one encounters in a tourist setti…

It's not Disneyland, what's with the mania of taking everything to extremes? > You don't have to do a "prepackaged vacation", but do something more substantial than moving around constantly and looking at stuff through a camera -- volunteer, take a course, attend a conference, teach English...whatever! Just go there for a reason other than "being a tourist". The hell? We're discussing vacationing, not volunteer work.…

something like Banff or Leavenworth just is Disneyland.

but whats wrong with seeing different place's interpretation of disneyland? thats still fun and interesting. people do like Disneyland

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

#426

Post by 8note »

supportengineer wrote: post #184
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…

Is there any place you can go to avoid Scam culture? Anywhere at all? It seems pervasive. I would like to think there is somewhere in the United States, maybe in the Midwest, or West Virginia, there has to be someplace where there are decent hard-working Americans, who are not trying to scam each other.

i'd generally expect that if they're an american and theyre talking to you, there's likely a scam.

if you arent somewhere to mutually enjoy something, they're there to sell something

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

#427

Post by 8note »

jayd16 wrote: post #423
returningfory2 wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I struggle to believe this. How can the average Korean tell the difference between a white American and a white Brit?

Isn't this like saying it's impossible to see the difference between a Korean person or a Japanese person speaking English? It should be fairly obvious from the accent alone.

minus the talking, theres internet tests you can take and theyre pretty difficult

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

#428

Post by j_timberlake »

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…

Lots of people saying this is ridiculously false, I think it's ridiculously true: Of course there are more ethical uses for your money than traveling, including thousands of legit charities you can write a check to right now. Tourism creates jobs and helps the economy? A good charity creates better jobs than hawking souvenirs and asking for tips.

People just quietly pretend this isn't the case, probably so they don't feel guilty about it. Or maybe they just never put 2 and 2 together.

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

#429

Post by 8note »

SoftTalker wrote: post #224
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.

"Has tattoos" is not a protected class. You're free to ban tattooed people from your place of business if you like.

has tattoos should be a protected class though. same with political affiliation

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

#430

Post by hollerith »

KerrAvon wrote: post #261
supportengineer wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any place you can go to avoid Scam culture? Anywhere at all? It seems pervasive. I would like to think there is somewhere in the United States, maybe in the Midwest, or West Virginia, there has to be someplace where there are decent hard-working Americans, who are not trying to scam each other.

West Virginia is a deeply red state; I don't think you want to go there to avoid scams. It's pervasive in the US because the political leadership is all now scam culture, all the time. Trump is, at core, a corrupt, subliterate, small-time real estate huckster. Everybody he's surrounded himself with is either an insincere grifter or severely mentally ill. And they're running the federal government and the red states,…

Just because Trump can be inserted into almost any conversation doesn't mean Trump should be inserted into almost any conversation.
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