mytest
Books, eBooks, and more from Debito Arudou, Ph.D. (click on icon):
UPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
DEBITO.ORG PODCASTS on iTunes, subscribe free
“LIKE” US on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/debitoorg
https://www.facebook.com/embeddedrcsmJapan
http://www.facebook.com/handbookimmigrants
https://www.facebook.com/JapaneseOnlyTheBook
https://www.facebook.com/BookInAppropriate
////////////////////////////////
“OVERTOURISM” AS RACISM
Much media has covered the downside of too many foreign tourists in Japan. Less attention has been devoted to how xenophobes use “overtourism” as a means to bully foreigners.
By Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
SNA Visible Minorities column 57, July 1, 2024
Courtesy https://shingetsunewsagency.com/2024/07/01/visible-minorities-overtourism-as-racism/
In late May, Joshua Sherlock, an eight-year resident of Kyoto offering local tours, took a group of foreign tourists on an evening visit of Yasaka Shrine. They were confronted by a local middle-aged woman (Twitter handle @fujino_ojo), accusing them of ringing the shrine’s bell too loudly and disrespecting a religious place.
Fujino took the liberty of filming the occasion, and according to her video, Sherlock’s group apologized multiple times. But she still chased after them as they left. Sherlock repeatedly asked her to leave them alone in English and Japanese, to which Fujino accused Sherlock of discrimination because he spoke English to her. Finally, he answered in Japanese using the same tone she used on him. Claiming Sherlock had “rudely brushed her off,” Fujino then uploaded her videos to Twitter where they got a million views.
What happened next was devastating. According to The Times (London), Sherlock’s family reported people telephoning his home to scream insults and demand he leave Japan. A removal van arrived to collect their belongings. Strangers began prowling their neighborhood, and somebody threatened to set their apartment on fire. His wife began having panic attacks and their daughter was taken out of school.
Sherlock says that he no longer feels safe in Kyoto, and, suspending his tour services, fears that even stepping outside might result in him being “attacked by a lynch mob of extreme right-wing people.”
The Times’ headline: “Japanese hospitality wears thin as overtourism takes toll”.
“OVERTOURISM” AS A MEANS OF HARASSMENT
“Overtourism” has become a trendy word to describe Japan attractions (e.g., Shibuya Scramble, Hachiko, Ginza, Kyoto, Senso-ji, Mount Fuji) being overrun by tourists. But in Japan the word is specifically associated with “foreign tourists,” i.e., mobs blocking traffic, disrupting local businesses and mores by littering and chattering away in their foreign languages.
I don’t dispute that “overtourism” can happen. Too many people crowding into a place can produce problems of noise, pollution, disruption, and property damage.
But be careful about associating it with “foreigners.” As evidenced by the Karen-esque confrontation at Yasaka Shrine, it’s giving license to Japan’s busybodies, bullies, and xenophobes.
This column will argue that “overtourism” is not only becoming the latest incarnation of racialized bullying, it’s also producing reactionary public policies that are actually worse than the “Japanese Only” signs of yore.
WHAT EXACTLY DOES JAPAN WANT FROM ITS TOURISTS?
Given Japan’s excellent public transportation systems, tourism has long been a source of economic activity. As Japanese discovered they had more disposable income, depopulating rural areas realized they needed more revenue.
So local governments launched programs to encourage people to visit. Even during the privations of the pandemic, there were subsidized traIns, cut rates on hotel and airplane packages, and ad campaigns for local festivals and seasonal sights encouraging people to get out and spend money.
This included foreign tourists. Hard to believe now, but Japan once whined that there weren’t enough foreigners sightseeing. An article in the June 6, 2010, Asahi Shinbun grumbled that Chinese consumers were being “stingy,” noting their “tendency to scrimp on accommodations and meals and bypass tourist attractions for the main purpose of their trips—buying electronic appliances and designer brand clothing and accessories.”
So the national government steered them towards those attractions with slogans about Japan’s special “omotenashi” (hospitality) and splashy “Cool Japan” and “Yokoso Japan” campaigns worldwide. For good measure, Japan also sponsored major international competitions such as the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, and the Olympics.
The goal was to make Japan a major world tourism destination. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
In 2023, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, Japan’s tourism sector was forecast to employ about 5.6 million people and represent 6.8% of Japan’s GDP. With the devalued yen, I expect the numbers will be even better this year.
But there can be too much of a good thing. Local governments in Kyoto and Mt. Fuji have started restricting entry to certain areas. A town in Yamanashi famously put up a screen to block a view of Mt Fuji behind a convenience store, blaming this overkill on “bad manners” from foreign tourists. And as seen in the Yasaka Shrine case, there have been increased confrontations with “culturally disrespectful” tourists.
The flip side is that there are people eager to take offense and capitalize on confrontation.
“CULTURAL DIFFERENCES” USED AS A WEAPON
In 2019, this column wrote about how Halloween in Shibuya was a target of “Xeno-Scapegoating”, where drinking in public was somehow portrayed as an imported problem. Yes, despite Japan being the origin of “cosplay,” the seasonal festivals and outdoor partying, entertainment sectors in every Japanese city, and the lack of open container laws, Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe made that argument with a straight face when he banned all festivities in 2023.
He could because whenever foreigners are proximate to a problem, they tend to get blamed for it.
Why? Because of cultural conceits about “unique Japan.” If Japan is different from everywhere else in the world, foreigners must axiomatically have “different manners” (or they wouldn’t be foreign). So “cultural differences” are seen as an inevitable source of problems wherever foreigners congregate.
But there are people who take advantage of this dynamic: bullies. They exist in every society, but are especially powerful in Japan because of the general avoidance of confrontation. They get a freer hand to push people around because fewer people push back.
Bullies generally prey on the vulnerable, so they especially like to push foreigners around. After all, foreigners are supposed to be “guests” (not residents) while Japanese are their “hosts,” so the former occupies a lower rung on the social ladder. (If you doubt that, consider how it is official policy in Japan’s civil service to not grant administrative jobs to foreigners, expressly because they would have authority over Japanese. They must remain subordinate.)
This makes foreigners, not to mention Japan’s Visible Minorities (Japanese citizens who do not “look Japanese”), an easy target. Allow me to illustrate.
Last month I was lined up waiting for a taxi in front of Tokyo Station, and just as a cab pulled up for me, some pushy middle-aged guy jumped the line and took it. When I told him in Japanese that I was in fact next, he cursed me out, shouting that I should speak “proper Japanese” (peppered with a few “omae”s to establish dominance). So I obliged, telling him in “proper Japanese” to get bent and eat shite. Clearly not used to being challenged by the likes of me, he shut up, took my cab anyway and fumed as the door closed. I got the next cab and got on with my day.
Now, if any culture-policing Karen at Yasaka Shrine had been filming that, they would have seen people in line apologizing to me. I also looked over the crowd and saw no hairy eyeballs on me, so clearly they had seen his queue jumping too.
But the lesson I took from this incident is this: The bully chose the foreign-looking guy as the spot to jump the queue, thinking he could get away with it. And he kinda did.
Now consider what happens when these bullies think they can empower themselves as Culture Police as part of the “overtourism” backlash.
FROM ENFORCEMENT OF THE RULES TO MAKING UP YOUR OWN RULES
Live in Japan long enough and you’ll probably encounter the Culture Police. They’re essentially the people wanting foreigners to “get off their lawn.” Of course, all of Japan is their lawn and they consider themselves the arbiter of “the Japanese Way.”
They’re in parks enforcing arbitrary rules like telling you not to eat in public or talk loudly in foreign languages. Or they’re gruffly sorting through your garbage bags on Gomi Day assuming foreigners can’t follow the rules. Or drunkenly giving you a piece of their mind on the street regarding something they’ve taken an instant dislike to, such as your not walking on the correct side of the sidewalk or daring to date a Japanese.
Some of these weirdos take their policing role quite literally. There have been cases of people masquerading as uniformed cops to demand foreigners’ ID and get their private details, which is one reason why the government rendered that info invisible on Gaijin Cards.
Usually it’s best to ignore these Karens. But sometimes you can’t, especially when they swarm online.
Yasaka Shrine is an excellent case in point. It’s one thing for Fujino to point out somebody’s social faux pas, then accept their apologies in good faith. It’s a completely different matter to film them and vindictively upload it for millions to see, encouraging doxxing, destroying Sherlock’s livelihood and terrorizing his family.
But the online swarm went even further, calling their shrine visit a “desecration” (fukei), and advocating criminal prosecution under Penal Code Article 188 with 6 months imprisonment and a 100,000 yen fine. So if they didn’t drive Sherlock out of Japan, they could try to get him arrested.
All this for ringing a bell too loudly.
BULLYING CRYSTALIZING INTO BAD GOVERNMENT POLICY
But the overkill doesn’t stop there. Riding the backlash to “overtourism,” people are already creating nutty policies that target foreigners.
Restaurants are charging higher “foreigner” prices and blaming it on Japan’s cheapening yen. Local government officials are demanding an entry tax for foreign tourists at attractions. The Osaka Governor and Himeji Mayor are currently considering a significant Gaijin Surcharge to enter their local castles. Others have established “foreigner-only” buses and hotels.
It only promises to get more amateurish. For example, Remi Kimura, indicatively a “former volunteer guide who currently works in the social media content industry,” somehow got a one-off column published in the Japan Times on June 21 calling for an “arrival tax” on foreigners, to “dissuade some from coming to Japan while funding cultural preservation.”
What was she basing this on? She opens with how she went back to her hometown in the Japan Alps, finding a restaurant with “avocado toast” and “cold cuts and bread,” something she claimed “virtually no Japanese person would order.” To her this was evidence that “tourism has transformed the places of my childhood.”
I’m not sure what she’s trying to preserve beyond her own personal preferences. I found a charcuterie plate (rendered as such in katakana) at a local craft beer place in Tokyo Jinbocho. I also found avocado sushi combos in a kaiten sushi restaurant in Engaru, all the way out in the Hokkaido outback.
Photo: Avocado on the menu: Toriton restaurant, Engaru Town, untouristed Hokkaido, June 2024.
Neither place is overtouristed. So Kimura is essentially blaming foreigners for Japanese tastes evolving when she wasn’t looking. Get off my lawn!
“OVERTOURISM” COUNTERMEASURES ARE IN FACT WORSE THAN “JAPANESE ONLY” SIGNS
When I put this issue up on Debito.org last month, regular commenters had a lot to say. One even made the case that Gaijin Surcharges (dual pricing systems, or nijuu kakaku sei) are actually worse than “Japanese Only” signs and rules outright excluding all foreigners.
First, exclusions cost the company because they lose business. On the other hand, overcharging foreigners rewards the company with more money.
Second, how will the dual pricing systems be enforced? Will Foreign Residents have to produce their Gaijin Cards to prove their residency? Will these ID checks, once unlawfully required by hotels at the behest of the police, now be expanded to regular shops nationwide? Will Japan’s Visible Minorities also be forced somehow to prove their Japaneseness to get the “local” price?
Third, the pressure to change course disappears. A “Japanese Only” sign not only invites public shame, it is in fact unconstitutional with lawsuits supporting its removal. A Gaijin Surcharge is a lot more sustainable and probably harder to challenge in court, especially if the government is behind it.
So financial incentives are there to make things more expensive for foreigners only nationwide, including those working here and getting paid in Japanese yen like any other Japanese. The social hierarchies that already force “foreigners” onto a lower social rung are now fostering an economic apartheid.
CONCLUSION: YOU WANTED THEM HERE. NOW PROTECT THEM.
The utter irony behind this situation is that, again, Japan wanted tourists to save Japan’s economy. Now that they’re here doing so, they’re getting punished. Local governments are succumbing to vocal xenophobes and coming up with discriminatory policies.
Foreign Residents and Visible Minorities are also getting caught in the backlash. What’s happening to Joshua Sherlock’s family is not just Cultural Karenism. It’s outright terrorism.
Japan has for nearly three decades already refused to protect foreigners against racial discrimination despite international treaty promises. Not protecting them from the “overtourism” bullies is similar negligence.
What should be done?
First, let’s create an official definition of “overtourism” that doesn’t encourage foreigner bashing and racial profiling. Have it show some nuance that reflects the fact that plenty of tourists are Japanese citizens and Foreign Residents too.
Second, develop suitable infrastructure to accommodate incoming foreign tourists. If that means siphoning off numbers to more outlying attractions, make that possible and do the groundwork to prepare locals for any anticipated language and cultural barriers.
Third, bring in qualified tourism experts. Not the “get off my lawn” Cultural Karens with an aversion to avocado. From what I’ve witnessed, the “overtouristed” places are already doing a pretty good job. Get their advice on how to protect our “guests” as good “hosts” should.
Above all, stop blaming the tourists for doing what you asked them to do—come here and enjoy themselves. Yes, tourists can be more respectful and mannerly. But make those rules, norms, and manners clear, and enforce them gently but firmly.
And do it quickly. Japan’s cultural hypersensitivity is already a source of overseas humor. Last month The Onion ran a satirical article entitled, “Tourist Immediately Breaks 34 Sacred Local Customs While Deboarding Airplane,” where an American “within 30 seconds of unbuckling his seat belt at the gate, had unknowingly violated countless unwritten rules that inhabitants of Japan had observed for thousands of years.”
Tourists can always take their money elsewhere. After decades of effort to get them here, don’t let Japan’s Cultural Karens, bullies, and xenophobes spoil things for everyone.
ENDS
======================
Do you like what you read on Debito.org? Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org’s activities? Please consider donating a little something. More details here. Or if you prefer something less complicated, just click on an advertisement below.
63 comments on “Debito’s SNA VM column 57: “Overtourism as racism” (July 1, 2024). Most media on too many foreign tourists in Japan ignores how xenophobes are using “overtourism” to bully foreigners. Debito.org even argues it’s producing discriminatory policies worse than “Japanese Only” signs!”
The most hilarious thing is that they banned tourists from Gion, because they have been taking poctures of Geisha‘s without permission, but a J Karen following and filming a group of NJ, which is definitely illegal, is perfectly fine of course. Also, I‘ve never heard of ringing the bells „too loudly“ at a shrine. My ex actually used to scold me for ringing them too silently and encouraged me to ring them more loudly if I want to be heard by the „gods“. This is just another made up „rule“ in order to have an excuse to harass NJ.
He should sue her for illegally filming him and literally ruining his business.
All the Japanese side-eyes, self appointed Karens, discriminatory pricing, racist navel-gazing about ‘our culture’🙄, PLUS the weak ¥, and yet Japan predicts it will fall short of its 2040 NJ worker target by ONE MILLION people!
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/07/04/japan/japan-foreign-worker-shortage/
What they gonna do? The slave trade is over. They can’t invade the neighbors and conscript service staff.
Japan needs to up its game and quit with the pearl clutching and casual-racism-as-culture.
from that article: “But with hurdles including the yen’s weakening, conventionally low wages and human rights issues, Japan has to ramp up its efforts to stay competitive in the global race for talents, experts have said”
Human Rights issues? Japan? This is really damning. Hardly what one expects from a G7 country. In fact, surely a requirement for being in the G7, witness Russia getting kicked out for similar reasons.
What Human Rights? An oldie but a goodie:
” the Mauritian delegate commented on the lack of transparency in Japan’s justice system, describing it as “medieval”. And furthermore, that Japanese criminal proceedings needed to meet international standards.
Ambassador Ueda made his rebuttal to this, saying:
“Certainly, Japan is not in the middle age. We are one of the most advanced country [sic] in this field.”
Its also revealing why this exchange happened which is sooo GoJ modus operandi= disingenuity
“But because the Japanese delegation continued to brush them off with disingenuous responses, the members were getting frustrated.”
https://soranews24.com/2013/06/14/stop-laughing-shut-up-japans-human-rights-envoy-loses-his-temper-at-the-un/
Japanese envoy loses temper because pesky foreigners will no longer buy into his meaningless BS tatemae, is the new takeaway of this. The J-jig is up.
Overtourism is a difficult one to be contextualized in Japan. as an Italian I can testify the effects of prolonged overtourism in Venice and Florence, partially Rome: residents leave, everything becomes B&B, souvenir shops, expensive low quality tourist restaurants, overcrowded roads, garbage everywhere, the cities become denaturalized/dead/only attractions.
In the last 6-7 years we are having airplanes flying low altitude in the skies of Tokyo because Haneda is overflowing, noise, pollution. Somebody mentioned in your post about Tokyo Station bully overtourism is a consequence of growing population on this planet. (something like migratory fluxes). I agree.
I believe that it is a risky approach to promote your country to attract as many tourists as possible to try and get economic benefit of it: you cash in but you pay a very high toll on your nature and cities.
then yes, as I wrote, overtourism in Japan is creating the new stereotype non Asian looking person = inbound tourist. when you go somewhere you can hear Japanese commenting “lately there are many tourists!” even if you have been here 25 years.
So it is going to be interesting how they will try and regulate overtourism without getting anti liberal… silly entry fees, (in Venice didn’t make any impact), double prices.
I think we will see more and more cases like the Kyoto Sherlock incident for sure.
I agree with pretty much everything you wrote, especially the last part.
Only just yesterday, the husband (?) of a middle-aged couple walking along the street behind my wife and I suddenly farted up next to me to check my wife’s nationality, before ducking back to report loudly to his wife (?) that ‘she’s Japanese’.
I imagine that since I was brazenly walking along the street speaking English like any other tax-paying resident instead of meekly and timidly obsessing over potential unintentional ‘cultural slights’ that I narrowly avoided a public dressing down and lecture on ‘proper behavior’.🙄
I guess they let you off as you’re with your J minder/guarantor.
Apparently they can tell the difference between Japanese, Koreans and Chinese at a glance. Well, my GF being half Chinese though born in Japan with a Japanese name, guess they’d not guess that one.
Needless to say, she keeps that side of her heritage a secret. I am the only one who actually calls her by her Chinese name. In private, when no one is listening.
Years ago, I foolishly told a student of mine to be proud of her heritage, so she declared she was half Chinese and a Japanese man laughed at her, “what?!!”
Lesson learnt.
You should have responded, “Chugokujin desu ka?”
(though maybe your partner wants a quiet life without the constant confrontation that characterizes mine- basically if I am not being paid to behave otherwise I do not timidly tiptoe around afraid of committing cultural slights if they go against dubiously asserted cultural norms that are in fact not normal).
This morning I was watching TV Asahi 8:00 morning show which opened the program talking about foreign tourists leaving garbage around Kyoto by showing sneak videos & pictures.
It is silly banal the way the TV portraits NJ (tourists or not)
the pure essence of racial stereotype.
-talking loud, making noise
-leaving garbage every where
-drinking publicly
-in time of natural disaster (2011) they get blamed to do looting
All things done by Japanese but conveniently blamed on NJ.
with this influx of foreign, non Asian tourists, it is becoming their comfort stereotype blanket to engage their porcupine racist mode.
yes good luck with 60 Millions tourists and 1+ million workers.
–
I see where you’re coming from with this. In my experience, people in places crowded with tourists tend to be hostile everywhere around the world.
The issue, in the case of Japan, is that the problem of “overtourism” is entirely racialised. Anytime a minority does something bad, it’s because of a “cultural difference”, not because a) the individual is simply being obnoxious/antisocial or b) their behaviour is being misrepresented (i.e. the horror of NJ drinking canned chuhai in Shibuya, already one of the most crowded areas imaginable).
And when a J person does something bad, it says nothing about society at large (as if most NJ haven’t had their share of prejudiced bs about how a lot of foreigners mean “bad public order” or been told by someone to be quiet when speaking at a normal level). If things go really well, the J person might get excused. After all, it’s difficult for restaurant owners to have customers speak some foreign language at restaurants (and assume they can’t speak Japanese), Kyoto residents have NJ ring bells loudly and NJ trying to take the same buses as regular people just trying to get to work. To shockingly many people, presenting the mere existence of people somehow different as an inconvenience seems to be completely acceptable.
I agree with you on how the stereotype is changing. Not only are NJ-looking people never members of society, now most of them are only here to cause trouble by not understanding the unique and complex local customs. The media has been doing their bit in feeding the flames of xenophobia as well.
Well the media (both foreign and Japanese) loves the myth that Japan is „unique and complex“ (80% of culture imported from China, but let‘s ignore that) and only Japanese people born in Japan can understand it. Even if you‘re Japanese but born overseas, or have been living overseas for a longer time, you‘ll lose some part of your „Japaneseness“ and you‘ll never be on equal footing as a „regular“ J oyaji, because you have been tainted by „gaijin culture“ and you‘ll never understand „true Japanese culture“.
NJ tourists and residents doing normal things like praying at a shrine and taking a bus is now a problem. It‘s not even about NJ tourists not respecting unwritten rules like not eating or talking on the phone on a train. Or doing something outrageous like peeing in the streets.
Back in the day an NJ had to legit do something „bad“ or even illegal to get the attention of the news (and even then it’s racist to assume that all foreigners are „bad“, just because an NJ doesn‘t know how to behave) but now just existing as a visible minority is enough to get harassed and get onto the news.
Yeah, good luck attracting 60 million tourists and 1 million workers.
Yeah, its a far cry from the oft repeated “Japanese will make allowance for NJs because they don’t know the unspoken cultural norms”-
instead, seems hypersensitivity and aggressive altercations are becoming more frequent.
This is downright threatening, the group surrounds hum, telling him to die and demanding money….for riding a bike
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-w9Z8RkPt0
most of them are only here to cause trouble by not understanding the unique and complex local customs.
Most of them?
Here to cause trouble? Here for tourism, surely.
The Unique customs? Like, “Ramen Culture?” “Four Unique Seasons?” (groan)
Geisha in Gion aside, its only unique because it is perceived as such by the Nihonjinron Narrative.
Westerners exoticized Japan as a brand since Oscar Wilde’s time (“there is no such place”) but if you live there you soon realize that there is NO deep meaning, things ARE as they appear. Its just that
1. you the Westerner can’t accept its so simple and basic because your society stopped doing things that way a long time ago
and
2. Japanese who believe it is actually unique, thus the “Unique Four Seasons” schtick, which is probably only unique in SE Asia, C/F Singapore, and I would dispute Japan has four seasons anyway, but hey, Japan is “Unique” right? It wants to be placed in its own region, not lumped in with other markets (NE Asia, SE Asia etc).
Unfortunately for certain businesses it’s shrinking market size does not justify such special treatment.
Kind of like the ultimate Snowflake, writ large. Unique….just like everyone else!
When tourism reaches levels that cause traffic to get worse, restaurants / attractions to fill up, prices to increase, it seems to be a short jump for any community to become xenophobic.
Since last year’s fires on Maui, the anti-local hostility is increasing. Hawaii is beginning to do what Japan is doing.
Did you see the locals in Barcelona using squirt guns on tourists in sidewalk cafes?
Too much tourism tends to bring out the worst in some people. Which is a pity, but not wholly unexpected.
Also, since the 80s at least, I’ve lost count of the number of books about Japan that have described being a Japanophile as being a one-sided love; NJ go to live and work in Japan because (in the majority) they have a genuine (if often ill-informed) respect for and curiosity about Japan. And yet Japan has overwhelmingly treated them as objects of curiosity at best, and a threat at worst.
And remember, these are the NJ that commited to Japan for the long term because they thought good things about Japan. Most of them didn’t stay when the scales fell from their eyes.
It should be no wonder that attracting the less invested in Japan NJ tourists en masse, that the Japanese feel extremely dissatisfied to put it politely.
But what did they expect to happen?
The weak ¥ is about paying off the national debt, not attracting tourists, but the J-Govt can’t ADMIT that.
JDG, that was my experience in Japan. Its Karma for Japan; they mistreated, belittled, or even abused starry eyed NJs and trainees who idolized Japan in the 80s and 90s, taking advantage of those on the trainee program in particular, for their best years then spitting them out to paraphrase Debito, so they leave as detractors of Japan. Often they were paid less for the honor of being here.
Now they are getting what they have sown, i.e. hoards of tourists who have only a passing interest or simply are here because conversely its cheap, i.e. Japan is paying for the honor of tourists visiting.
Yasaka Shrine/Fujino and the terrorizing of his family is surely criminal harassment. So much for “Safety Japan”
https://www.tokyoweekender.com/japan-life/news-and-opinion/british-national-altercation-yasaka-shrine/
“They’re essentially the people wanting foreigners to “get off their lawn.”
I am grinning as I read this…I have retired from Japan and live in the Philippines. In Japan, and as I do now,
I begin every morning with a long hike. A couple of years back, in Japan, I finished my 85 minute seaside hike, wet a towel, removed my shirt and began wiping myself down on a very hot August morning. The time was about 6:52 a.m., nobody was around, and I was on a secluded side street in Akashi-city west of Kobe. All of a sudden, a man comes out of his house, and tells me in Japanese, “You are on my property.”
Now, at the time I was hmmm, a bearded 62 year old..not a threat to the social polity. I look down at my feet, and see that my foot was about 2 cm on the border between his driveway, and the street. I moved my foot 2 cm, and went back to wiping myself down.
Would he have said this if I was Japanese?
He, wife and kids got in the car, and continued to stare at me. I am from Detroit, and know how to deal with stares. Stare at me all you like, just don’t get in my face.
I am sorry for the length here, but 2 years in the Philippines has shown me how extremely xenophobic Japan really is! A few months back, in the middle of my morning hike, I rested on the railing of a house and took a sip from my thermos. A middle aged woman comes out of the house. Does she say, “hey foreigner get off my property?”
Quite the opposite, “Today, my birthday. You come in. Eat cake. Drink coffee.”
I changed my shirt, entered the house, and sat doubt with a bunch of Philippine obasans and had a nice breakfast.
Moreover, the hoards visiting Japan are from China, Korea, Taiwan, and places that have had a historical HATRED toward Japan. I visited Korea much in the 80’s and the enmity was palpable. The Japanese govt and its apparatchiks should be grateful for the abatement in hostility. The present reaction is inappropriate, almost shocking
This You are on my property.”…..my foot was about 2 cm on the border. My case was worse, as I had come out of a small school opposite a house, and the guy comes out to claim Feudal Lordship OVER THE WHOLE DRIVEWAY. So I says to him, “How can I get into the school?” Him: “I don’t know”. And we had already left said driveway and were on the street.
Another memorable anecdote (of course I have many)- waiting for public phone box back in the day and the woman using it tells me to go away and use another one somewhere else (where?) as if she owns the entire street… a “helpful” guy comes up to defuse the situation and says “Kokusai denwa desu ka?” (because as you know NJs in Japan never call domestically).
GF turns up and say in Japanese sarcastically,”You’re the Majestic Owner of this street” but didn’t get a rise out of her.
Not even “Get off my lawn” but get off my street…….
Irony alert!
It’s the old socially conservative right-wing NJ-phobes who are (as with all their problems in Japan) actively contributing to the NJ ‘over tourism’ that they are complaining about (in addition to, y’know, decades of voting for a party that has continually failed to address every meaningful issue whilst offering elderly voters panaceas about ‘something, something, Japan!’ Nihonjinrongiron rubbish).
This time it’s because the government have changed NISA investment rules, meaning that millions of ¥ are being sold to buy $, devaluing the ¥ by on average 1¥ per month against the $ and making it even cheaper for NJ to visit whilst contributing to overall inflation for Japanese people.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2024/07/11/markets/new-nisa-weak-yen/
Japan’s worst enemy? Japanese old people and their ‘apres nous, les deluge’ fatalism.
As soon as Abe started with the whole Tourism campaign along with “I want rich foreigners to come here, pay into the system, then leave after a couple of years”, I thought this is just typical of what the LDP Oyaji could only come up with as a means to generate income. They were never going to even attempt serious immigration (apart from let the exploitation of serfs, sorry I mean “trainees” from the Greater East Asian Co-Prosper…., ah sorry there I go again, I mean neighboring Asian countries).
Its a no-brainer from people with no brains, that is to say, haven’t analyzed beyond the surface tropes of “Tourism” by definition meaning they’ll be leaving soon and also spending (hence the complaints when Chinese don’t spend so much and on items Japanese thought foreigners would be interested in, but are not, to which they take almost comical affront).
It’s like a Bernard Manning joke (Manning being the so called “Villain of UK Comedy” for his borderline racist humour)
“I am not racist, I always welcome foreign tourists….So, you ‘ll be going back soon, right?”
University of Tokyo students say that immigration is good to fix the labor shortage but NJ= not safe so ‘rules’ are necessary for NJ to live in Japan🙄
Japan’s ‘best and brightest’ confusing record inbound tourism with Japan failing to meet its imported labor goals. Let me know how those ‘rules’ for NJ work out for ya’…
https://x.com/nathancofnas/status/1810682718608400793?s=46&t=Y6LMWtFWtUJaA1sVMy94yg
Apparently, racialized pricing in Japan has a rich history dating all the way back to the Meji Era:
VOX POPULI: Dual pricing for foreigners an alarming trend that is spreading / （天声人語）明治時代の富士登山 (Japanese language paywall version)
From the article:
Ya think?!
Yes, this is the direct result of sakoku government policy!
Kyoto mayor Matsui Koji has questioned the fairness of a dual pricing system for foreign tourists, stating that such practices could be discriminatory, yet he supports a dual pricing system for non-Kyoto residents for public transportation!
外国人向け価格区別「合理性どこまであるのか」 京都市長が慎重姿勢
How are the effects of ‘overtourism’ being dealt with by the locals in ‘Kyoto’s kitchen’ (a.k.a. Nishiki Market)?
I see. So why not provide a waste receptacle for patrons to use?
Wait a minute, ‘for-pay garbage disposal’??
LOL! Did anyone bother to find out beforehand if tourists would pay for the privilege of disposing of their trash?
More LOL! Did anyone bother to find out beforehand if tourists would care about the state of crowing at Nishiki Market?
Lack of awareness of local customs and norms? So it’s not enough that tourists come to Nishiki Market and spend their money — they also need to receive cultural awareness training?!
Doesn’t the failed trash can experiment and failed live camera experiment indicate a certain lack of awareness of foreign customs and norms among foreign visitors??
In any case, why all this fuss at Nishiki Market?
Ahhhh, I see now: Nishiki Market wants UNESCO recognition, but has no chance of gaining this designation so long as gaijin tourists are running amok by not following ‘local customs and norms’!
‘Kyoto’s kitchen’ tests measures to tackle littering, other effects of overtourism / 京都の台所・錦市場を悩ます観光公害 あの手この手の成果は (Japanese language paywall version)
In other news, 98% of mixed race people experience micro-agression.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240714/p2g/00m/0na/020000c
Some one actually told me I ‘could stay’ in Japan today, because I’m ’one of the good foreigners’😱
Haven’t heard that for years!
Luckily, it’s not up to them😉
Japan doesn’t deserve the “good foreigners”. That comment makes me want to leave. But there are still plenty of twisted J-nutters who think they can report you at the Koban for “being foreign and uppity” like not being at their beck and call, in some imagined hierarchy in which you NJs are at the bottom. Snitch sites do nothing to discourage this notion. Ditto incredulously being able to report a foreigner because one feels 不安 (anxiety).
Here we go. Another day, another business refusing service to *some* NJ. The fact that it’s an Italian restaurant in Shin-Okubo is the icing on the cake of small-mindedness:
https://x.com/UnseenJapanSite/status/1813744595785904441?t=A3LbSHNgW7mmwZQnFfFTJQ&s=19
Some commenters under the original post suggest they move their restaurant somewhere else (such as to the mountains with no people around).
Okubo is a Korean neighborhood. Utterly outrageous. An Italian should go in there and claim cultural appropriation….
I would love for some Italian food critic or chef to visit there (like those Japanese “sushi police” programs) and call them out for their fake/unauthentic Italian food for good measure.
What we are seeing now is Japanese society reacting negatively to increased NJ tourist numbers, and reacting to this by making Japan a less hospitable and attractive option for the NJ workers that it needs.
Not very smart.
More ‘overtourism’ woes: Japan’s tourist influx causing toilet problems to back up!
Additional references:
鎌倉、トイレに悩む 商業施設、観光客殺到で利用制限 店外まで行列・マナー違反、業務に支障… (Japanese language paywall version)
コンビニはトイレを貸すべき？観光地・鎌倉でマナー違反続き利用制限
I couldn’t agree more:
Opinion: Why Mt. Fuji-blocking black screen is a ‘black ships’ moment for 2024 / 富士山の眺望遮る「黒い幕」 現代の黒船来航の象徴？
In other news, service is brisk for returning dead foreign nationals to homelands! / 海を越え、帰れるように 日本で亡くなる外国人、年々増加
From the article:
Suburban Tokyo multicultural center aims to help isolated foreigners, curb discrimination / 東京彩人記 外国人の孤立、偏見防ぐ 府中市多文化共生センターDIVE・センター長 田代美香さん ／東京 (Japanese language paywall version)
Again with charging NJ tourists more.
This time a restaurant wants to change NJ tourists almost seven (7!) times more than Japanese diners because;
1. The ¥ is soooo weak (yeah, and?)
2. Staff have to spend extra time with NJ customers coz they don’t know how to get fed in a restaurant in Japan (coz Japan is so ‘unique’🙄).
https://japantoday.com/category/national/focus-surge-in-inbound-tourists-pushes-japan-to-explore-dual-pricing
Also, something about deer numbers in Nara Koen, but it’s all the fault of NJ tourists for feeding them🙄🙄
https://japantoday.com/category/national/increased-tourist-numbers-in-nara-park-are-affecting-size-of-its-deer-population
I mean, the problem in Nara *could* be the fault of Japanese tourists who are too impoverished to travel abroad, but the writer doesn’t even bother to explain the tourist/deer connection, just blames NJ tourists for a problem of some kind in scapegoating click bait headline.
Tell me again about Japan’s unique culture of….
O-MO-TE-NA-SHI🤣🤣🤣
Japan: I want the world to love me!😫
The world: we love you Japan😃
Japan: NO! Not like that! I want you to love, respect, AND admire me!😩
The world:😒
— Not scapegoating. Scapedeering!. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
Recently seen a lot of news coverage of protesters making life difficult for tourists in Spain; dousing al fresco diners with water pistols etc. It seems to stem from a resentment of ‘rich’ foreigners taking up all the seats at restaurants that locals can’t afford to go to anyway because their standard of living is so poor (where does that remind you of?).
It’s a double resentment; they can’t afford it AND they are dependent on tourist Euros.
So I was contemplating these aggressive physical demonstrations of resentment towards tourists in Spain and today I saw this;
https://japantoday.com/category/national/video-of-man-kicking-slapping-deer-in-nara-park-causes-outrage
A video of a man kicking and punching deer at Nara Koen causing outrage. Of course, the J- ‘internet’ all decided he is a foreigner. Except that he is speaking Japanese in the video, wearing at-shirt from a small store in Tokyo, and has his house keys clipped to his pants. He is Japanese.
So I think he was angered/intimidated/resentful of all the NJ tourists that you can see in the video, felt inferior, and tried to assert his ‘dominance’ by being loudly and physically aggressive. Except of course, he is aggressive to the deer coz he isn’t sure that an NJ wouldn’t kick his butt if he tried it with them.
Of course, the narrative is that he is just one ‘loon’, but he isn’t, is he? I predicted this earlier this year: this kind of violent reaction is what happens when impoverished Japanese with a superiority complex driven by nihonjinron giron narratives SLAMS into global reality. And this violence is an expression of the cognitive dissonance that many Japanese must be feeling at some level.
It’s just a matter of time until someone gets hurt, or an organized group ‘protest’ like the ones in Spain give someone the anonymity to carry out a violent crime OR group think takes hold and ‘the crowd’ join in.
Be careful. After all, none of the Japanese IN the video try to challenge this guy.
Also, only just yesterday the same news outlet tan a gobbledygook article about ‘deer being a nuisance in Nara Koen because of tourists’ (or something 🙄).
The man kicking and punching the deer was on Sunday, so it’s almost as if the Sankei owned news outlet is priming its readers to believe that deer problems in Nara are ‘NJ problems’.🤔
In other news, CNN is telling the world that Japan is going for the ‘rip-off tourists’ model;
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/japan-restaurants-tourist-prices-intl-hnk/index.html#:~:text=Japan%20only%20completely%20reopened%20in,removal%20of%20pandemic%20travel%20restrictions.&text=Visitor%20arrivals%20to%20Japan%20hit,record%20of%2031.88%20million%20tourists.
“We aren’t charging foreigners more, we’re giving locals a discount.”
https://shorturl.at/nfZjS
What pathetic gobbledygook. Hotels aren’t refusing foreigners, they’re saving rooms for locals. Police aren’t racially profiling foreigners, they’re keep the streets safe for natives. There’s no end to this and pretty much encapsulates Japan. We’re not racist, we’re just pro-Japanese. Welcome to Japan.
Here’s my teardown of this article:
FOCUS: Surge in inbound tourists pushes Japan to explore dual pricing
Ah, yes, the main concern with introducing two-tiered pricing is not that its implementation has the potential to discriminate based on race, but rather that its implementation could tarnish Japan’s image!
This ‘not meant to cause offense’ argument should ring a bell: anyone remember McDonald’s “Mr. James”?
That aside, apparently the Japan is in such dire straits financially that tourists must now be conscripted in order to keep the economic ship afloat?!
Ah, all tourists speak English, ergo two-tiered pricing?!
So is Mr. Yonemitsu and his staff conducting passport checks on everyone who walks through the door, or only on those who look foreign?
Gee, what about tourists who don’t speak English? Is Mr. Yonemitsu going to need to hire and train additional staff to speak Mandarin, Korean, etc.?
Again, all tourists speak English?
Does ‘local customers’ = ‘wajin customers’?
In any case, based ‘every second is like a war’, you’d be forgiven for thinking that 80% of Mr. Yonemitsu’s customer base were tourists, not 20%!
Ah, so instead, make anyone who looks foreign either pay more, or prove that they’re not a tourist. That sounds fair to me!
It’s only a good deal if you’re wajin!
Yup, Japan has become such a country!
<skip>
So, in other words, charge foreigners for omotenashi!
Now here’s the crux of the entire article:
OMG man, why are you giving Japan a free pass?!
This guy perfectly illustrates the #1 reason why I think two-tiered pricing is worse than ‘Japanese only’ signs: with ‘Japanese only’ signs, pretending that what is meant is not racist but rather ‘Japanese language only’ is quite a stretch.
However, with two-tiered pricing, it is actually possible to gaslight people into thinking that it’s not racist because hey, the tourists can afford it, so why not make them pay a little extra?
Your argument is invalid! Is Diamond Head state park ‘carding’ people who don’t ‘look’ Hawaiian? No, of course not!
Sheesh, even J-academia is advocating for two-tier pricing!
In other words, make the tourists pay for omotenashi!
Excellent work unpacking that! I agree with you!
Thank you very much!
Wow.
What did I literally just warn of? Violence against tourists?
‘Chinese tourist was stabbed with a knife about 500 meters away’
But it’s hidden right in the last paragraph about a man who was arrested for threatening a Japanese woman with a knife.
https://japantoday.com/category/crime/man-arrested-for-threatening-woman-with-knife-on-street-in-osaka
Disingenuous Japanese reporting indeed. Outside Japanese they tell the full truth https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3044786/chinese-tourist-stabbed-head-osaka-don-quijote-discount-store
Hazukashii……
Yeah- ‘Woman Tourist Stabbed in Head’
is what the headline should have been in Japan, and yet they’ve managed to screw it up and reveal their xenophobia AND misogyny.
Media foreshadowing, and it does seems stabbings are becoming more common. Japan following UK’s example?
https://www.tokyoweekender.com/japan-life/news-and-opinion/japan-overtourism-conundrum-news-roundup/
Global warming and declining numbers of farmers, but for the second time this year I see rice ‘shortage’ blamed on ‘foreigners’;
‘tourists……eating Japanese food’.
At the end of the article, they quote the Ministry of Agriculture saying there is no shortage.
What’s the point of this article? NJ blaming for high rice prices caused by inflation and increasing costs of living to deflect away from bad decisions coming home to roost by the LDP and BOJ.
https://japantoday.com/category/national/japan%27s-rice-inventory-hits-record-low-as-tourism-boom-boosts-demand#
@JDG, spoiler alert: it turns out that NJ weren’t the cause of the so-called “Reiwa rice riots” (令和の米騒動) after all:
VOX POPULI: Tunnel-vision policy on surplus led to current rice shortage / （天声人語）コメの未来は (Japanese language paywall version)
1500 USD for watching a few kanji characters burn?
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240801/p2a/00m/0na/029000c
Lol seriously, even if I was a millionaire I wouldn‘t pay that sum. For that kind of money you could go to the VIP box for a whole F1 weekend.
Then in other news, even though the guy who kicked the deer was Japanese, the flyers and police have to target foreign tourists of course.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240726/p2a/00m/0na/028000c
Maybe they should distribute flyers to Japanese residents warning them not to kill foreign tourists, or to not rip them off with overpriced „services“.
1. participants will listen to explanations from those involved and tour the fire beds where the lighting takes place, ZZZZZZZZZ
CORRECT EXPLANATIONS OF JAPAN CULTURE? CHECK
PASSIVE OBSERVATION ONLY? CHECK
learning about the history and significance of the event through an English-speaking guide.
AS ABOVE+ REQUISITE GAIJIN HANDLER? CHECK
The cost is 230,000 yen (a little over $1,500) per person
RIP OFF JAPAN? CHECK
and limited to the first 20 people
SO FEW NUMBERS TO BE JUST A GIMMICK? CHECK
SAME OLD, SAME OLD………. Seems like a real excitement killer.
Oh, and they tell you when and where and how much you can drink too…….. Frankly, I’d rather get my own drinks. I am fussy about what I imbibe and have no more tolerance for J-bores trying to force watery J-beer down my throat to expand my gut. I am sure “Asahi Culture” (along with that “Ramen Culture” is part of the experience)
TL;DR: ‘overtourism’ is the result of Japan’s leadership forcibly concentrating wealth, power and culture in one place over the centuries starting with Nara then continuing on with Kyoto, Kamakura, and now Tokyo:
Edging Toward Japan: The problem of over-tourism in Japan is founded on a historical misconception
On the subject of the Olympics, watched the Mixed Team Battle Judo final on Saturday night/Sunday morning. France beat Japan to win gold.
The next day the Japanese husband of a friend of my wife told me that ‘France didn’t really win gold- the black people on the French team won gold’. I explained politely that the all-black French Judo team IS French, to which he replied ‘yes, but not *really*’.
I told him this is the attitude that lost Japan the gold medal.
He didn’t seem to understand. The idea that nationality ≠ race is beyond his comprehension.
Hope he’s satisfied with second place.
So every time Japan wins something next time, “Japan did not really win, the half Japanese people on the team won”. Ditto Naomi Osaka- another triumph for Asian Americans?
Ariana Miyamoto… only beautiful because of her non Japanese side? (lol).
Why do you even bother listening to your wife’s friend’s husband’s garbage-yeah yeah, oyaji, whatever you say pour me another sake….
He sounds like the J-clown that upper management at a certain French brand used to lock out of their Tokyo board meetings.
Good!
Jeez, here we go again: dual pricing, you see, is a bad idea, not because its implementation has the potential to discriminate based on race, but rather because it is at odds with a preexisting concept in the wajin collective consciousness (i.e. omotenashi)!
City to raise fees for Matsumoto Castle, set tax for accommodations / 松本城の観覧料、来春値上げへ 外国人向けの「二重価格」は検討せず (Japanese language paywall version)
Ah, casual racism is peaking right now;
Calling NJ tourists ‘meiwaku gaijin’ is a thing now in the Japanese media, according to this article.
I remember when crowds of anti-Halloween protestors gathered on Tokyo platforms to call us ‘white pigs’ back in the day.
https://japantoday.com/category/national/foreigner-climbs-onto-familymart-roof-in-shibuya-yells-'i-did-it!’-before-police-step-in
JDG, that link gives an error 404 message
If only 5% of the thousands visiting Japan decide to come and live, Im guessing after 5 years, 80% would be gone. Seems it takes this amount of time to get it “figured out” I cant find any stats on this, but after observing over many years, there could be some margins for error but dont most leave?
— There is too much noise for you to make any claims here. Even you admit you “can’t find any stats on this”, and your observations might be blinkered by what NJ communities you are observing. So kindly withhold comment until you do.
Cue the popcorn machine: I am tearing down another article on ‘two-tiered’ pricing:
Is ‘dual pricing’ an answer to overtourism, high local costs? Japan sees mixed reactions / 訪日客増、進む「二重価格」 コストかかるから でも国内客離れ防ぎたい
Oh, lovely: Tamatebako is back in the news! This time, they’ve ‘improved’ upon dual pricing by adding gender to the mix thereby creating a triple price system!
That aside, how is pricing policy being enforced?
I’ve been told my nihongo is a little gatagata (shaky), would I be eligible? Ah, not to worry: so long as I don’t mind being carded by
immigration authoritiesrestaurant staff, I’m as good as gold!I take issue with Mainichi Shimbun adding in this blurb: the reader is led to infer that because nobody has complained about a pricing system which discriminates based on language (and gender!), all is fine and well with said system!
At any rate, why did Tamatebako implemented a dual price system anyway?
Ah, it’s the ‘all foreign tourists speak English, so therefore I have to hire English-speaking staff’ argument again!
Also, ‘about 20% of customers are foreigners’ how was this figure obtained? Inspection of passports, or visual inspection of facial features?
I’ve noticed that Japanese customers patronizing restaurants in Hawaii take much longer to order and pay, so by Yonemitsu-san’s logic, it would be fair to make a distinction in pricing to accommodate them, right?
Doubling-down on the justification for a discriminatory pricing system, the proprietor resorts to the argument that having the same price for everyone would somehow harm the restaurant’s image (mind you, this restaurant just opened its doors in April of 2024, so I even if I accept this argument, it’s dubious how much actual image there is to harm!).
One would think that having the image of Japan tarnished by the likes of Tamatebako et. al. would motivate the GoJ to pump the brakes on ‘dual pricing’ shenanigans, but I guess not — there’s too much money from foreign tourists that needs counting:
Oh, and finally, here’s more advice from J-academia!:
Translation: discriminatory pricing is OK so long as it can be reasonably justified!
Indeed!
Dr. Debito, imagine the “complications and trouble” you could cause by paying a visit to Tamatebako!
— Confounding discriminatory systems has always been kinda fun…
As predicted, deputization of any old Tomu, Dikku and Taro to police the visible gaijin, in this case restaurant part timers:
-so long as I don’t mind being carded by immigration authorities/restaurant staff,
Ask them if they’re immigration staff and watch their faces turn red (入国管理職員). Throw in an “omae” for good measure because Okyaku san ha Kami sama deshou!
This whole system collapses when someone like me turns up, i.e. a visible non Japanese who speaks fairly fluent Japanese, with a Japanese-looking non Japanese partner who could actually pretend to be Japanese by looks. She doesn’t need to speak because then we could play the ole “Kawaguchi woman arrested by police for looking foreign cultural issue” i.e. “She didn’t say a word because “she is not used to speaking to strangers”.
Just grunting ‘mmm, mmm” should pass muster. Plenty of monosyllabic Tokyoites avoiding verbal exchanges.
Come to think of it, isn’t forcing someone to speak some kind of new “hara”, e.g. “Moral hara” which is being misinterpreted and misused now to mean “forcing me to to behave in a responsible manner”?
The great wall of Kawaguchiko goes down.
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15394588
Screen blocking scenic view of Mt. Fuji removed, perhaps for good
By YUSUI MUNEKATA/ Staff Writer
Asahi Shinbun, August 20, 2024
FUJI-KAWAGUCHIKO, Yamanashi Prefecture—Local authorities have removed a screen blocking an iconic view of Mount Fuji hovering over a convenience store here just three months after installing it.
The barrier was erected to deter tourists whose unruly behavior, including jaywalking and littering, had angered residents.
Officials removed the mesh screen on Aug. 15 as a precaution against Typhoon No. 7. They have no immediate plans to reinstall the barrier, but have indicated they may do so if tourist behavior worsens.
The barrier, 20 meters long and 2.5 meters high, was installed across the street from the front of the Lawson Kawaguchiko Ekimae outlet on May 21.
Before the screen was added, the site had become a popular photo spot among foreign tourists. The unique view of Mount Fuji—seemingly rising from the roof of a ubiquitous Japanese convenience store—had drawn many visitors.
After holes appeared in the screen, apparently caused by tourists attempting to take photos through them, officials reinforced the barrier on July 25 with stronger material.
They also changed the screen’s color from black to brown to better blend with the scenery.
The combination of the screen installation and local efforts to educate tourists appears to have had a positive impact. Officials report that the area has remained orderly since the barrier was removed. ENDS
It looks like the two-tie pricing for Himeji Castle is getting tweaked — the entrance fee for city residents will remain at 1,000 yen, but starting in starting in spring 2026, non-residents will have to pay 2 ~ 3 times more:
City plans to double fee for visitors to enter Himeji Castle / 姫路城の入城料は「二重料金」へ 再来年めど、市民以外は2～3倍に
So why the change of mind?
Well, according the the English language version of the article, it’s because mayor Kiyomoto Hideyasu’s “$30 for foreigners; $5 for local residents” comment was criticized as discriminatory on social media.
But here’s the rub: the Japanese language version of the article makes no mention of this fact whatsoever!
Ok, but this is honestly smart. By making all non city residents pay, they will make even more money and avoid allegations of racism. Credit where credit is due to whoever came up with this change, even though I’m still against it since I firmly believe in “all humans are equal”, so in my opinion there shouldn’t be a difference between city residents and no city residents. I know that the argument presented will be that city residents pay the local city tax so they deserve a discount, but that’s a weak argument in my opinion. It’s like saying Japanese residents pay taxes so let’s exempt them from consumption tax and only charge it to foreign tourists.
In the end this is just a cheap cash grab by the city government, no matter how they try to spin it.
Also this article:
Himeji Castle entry fees set to be hiked for all non-local visitors
Of course: the main concern of Himeji City officials with a two-tier entrance fee to Himeji Castle is not the discriminatory nature of such a pricing system, but rather that such a system will tarnish the image of the castle!
If they’re going to do two tier pricing, they should also offer something extra for non residents, like free tea and cakes or a guide. If I were an NJ paying more and I knew it, I would become extremely Urusai and demanding because hey, I am paying a VIP rate!
Fun fact though: some Japanese haver a different idea about being a “VIP customer” -its whether you are a (self identifying) “Erai Hito” or not. Thus, new recruits from Mizuho bank were getting a policy violating low price per hour from the school I worked at, because they claimed that a low price a “VIP rate”- the former Japanese salesperson had just defaulted to the “must respect the authorite of the famous J-company” and caved in and given them a huge, unapproved discount. (Loyalty to Japanese hierarchy trumps loyalty to the foreign company you work for??)
She then quit and saddled us with this loss making low rate we were locked into for the duration. I didn’t go the extra mile for them, and I must say it tarnished Mizuho’s rep as being “ketchi”.
So, non Japanese cannot be VIPs? Abe Zeitgesit by way of Mori’s “Divine Nation” i.e. We Japanese are VIPs because we are Japanese?
The days of NJs as honored guests and visitors seems to be gone then, more like a resource to be exploited.
So much for Omotenashi, Crystal. (she bought into that too).