Japan’s New Tourist BAN in Kyoto Explained

The Japanese government has introduced a new drastic measure against overtourism in Kyoto after several Geishas reported being assaulted. In this video I go over the new law and share insights into the History of Geisha as a profession.

Credit for news articles:
https://archive.ph/DMn6y

Kyoto bans tourists from geisha alleys in Gion, with fines for those who don’t follow rules

Original Video news in Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=58&v=C67vXMl5b4Y&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fsoranews24.com%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo

京都の人気の観光スポット、祇園で観光客によるマナー違反が深刻になっているとして、地元の協議会は、周辺の私道での写真撮影を原則、禁止にすることを決めました。https://t.co/Bga3PwZPDu#nhk_news pic.twitter.com/RuOPnGO0v6

— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) October 25, 2019

00:00 The new law
02:10 My thoughts
03:10 Intro
03:20 Historical Insights
12:55 Outro
13:21 Next Episode Sneek Peak
13:37 Little Bonus!

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It’s now official! tourists are banned from  Geisha districts of Gion in Kyoto the rumor   had been floating around in various Japanese  articles lately but it’s not being made official   tourists would no longer be allowed to roam the  streets of Gion the drastic measure comes after  

Several incidents were reported of tourists  behaving very inappropriately with the Geishas   the city had already put a measure in place  forbidding photography of the Geishas under   the penalty of the fine however they have now  decided to take it one step further Japan has  

Been faced with over tourism and one area  that was particularly struggling were the   streets of Gion Gion is a place of work for  Geishas but also a place of residence for   many locals many tourists have been treating the  area like a theme park stalking Maikos apprentice  

Geishas outside tea houses for photos Maikos are  often 16 or 17 years old making it particularly   frightening to them worse than this though  there’s been alarming reports of assaults   some tourists have been throwing cigarette buds  into geisha’s necks one Geisha had her kimono  

Torn off by a tourist a tourist even threw  $10,000 at a Geisha with his hotel room key   Geishas were reporting feeling unsafe which  has now prompted the Japanese government to   take action new signs are being put in place  by the government announcing the ban in the  

Areas concerned a fine of 10,000 Yen or around  $65 will apply to everyone violates this rule   the measure will go into place from April just  as Japan is entering its busiest travel season   of the year cherry blossom season the streets  concerned are shown in the map on the screen  

The streets affected are the main Geisha  streets that are very narrow and that get   overcrowded very easily fortunately the shopping  street of Shijo and the tourist beloved Street of   Hanamikoji are spared from the law there will be  other posters explaining laws tourists to abide  

By when visiting Kyoto it has been announced  that clients who have booked a tour with a   travel agency or a tour operator will be allowed  to visit these streets as a special exemption as   a travel agent and a content creator I feel  like this is something very important for me  

To talk about if you travel to Japan you have  to understand how to behave properly to respect   local customs I watched Sydney Watson’s video  recently about influencers bothering people for   clicks and I feel like in Japan influencers of  harassing Geishas to gain notoriety online it’s  

Very sad that as a consequence all tourists  will now be banned from the Geisha historic   district of Gion which is hundreds of years old  more than that though I feel like there’s a big   misunderstanding in the west about what a Geisha  actually is in this video I want to go over the  

History of Geisha and how they became such iconic  symbols of Japanese culture if you find this video   insightful please don’t forget to subscribe  we’re nearing 300 subscribers right now my   goal is to get to 500 so I can keep making videos  for you guys and make even more amazing videos for

You when you think of Japanese culture you think  of cherry blossoms M Fuji and the Geisha upon   traveling to Japan there are things that my  clients expect to see and those are the three   the image of the Geisha brings up a fantasy of  exoticism to many travelers curious to catch a  

Glimpse of them we organized tours of Gion the  Geisha districts for them however the image of   the Geisha in the west is distorted by media  and Hollywood movies and not a lot of people   understand what they actually are I want this  video to help clarify this The Geisha as a  

Profession was born during the Edo period Japan  premodern prosperous period brought on by the rule   of the Tokugawa Shogunate the Geisha profession  fell under the wider umbrella of what was referred   to as Yujo which I would translate as Entertainer  under this umbrella also featured the Oiran who  

Were high class prostitutes the Oiran prostitutes  were influential on all levels of society they   were the objects of prints literature shunga  (erotic art) Haiku (or poems) and and theater   their clients included powerful Lords and Samurai  but they had the power to refuse any client they  

Wanted making them one of the most powerful women  of their era the Geisha worked hand in hand with   them but were at the bottom of society social  scale Japan was divided into a cast system at   the top were Samurai then Merchants then at the  bottom were Bunrakumin (Untouchables or outcasts)  

Geishas were artist who worked in the pleasure  District of Yoshiwara in Edo now called Asakusa   in Tokyo Geishas could either be men or women so  it wasn’t gender specific their sole job was to   entertain the Oiran’s customers by playing music  or dancing while the customer waited for days  

Sometimes weeks for the Oiran to free up for an  appointment both the Geisha and the Oiran although   the latter was a prostitute were perceived as  artist by Edo Society both the Geisha and Oran   were initiators of fashion In Edo society where  they were perceived as society’s artistic ideal  

However this paradigm started to shift in the  19th century the 19th century became a century   of decadence for the Oiran who began to wear gaudy  makeup and attires and fell prey to tuberculosis   and venereal diseases Oiran started falling out  of fashion leaving room for the Geisha to flourish  

The Geisha started taking their place and became  the one patronized by intellectual influential   politicians and other high ranking intellectuals  the end of the 19th century brought the end of the   Edo period and the rule of the Tokugawas the new  era was named Meiji or “Era of Enlightenment” when  

Japan reopened to the world after two centuries of  feudalism it was faced with the task of imposing   itself as a modern nation state the fear of being  colonized by big Western Powers who had already  

Colonized most of Asia was very real as a symbol  of its power as a nation Japan needed to promote   a sense of unified cultural identity to the rest  of the world Japan having been divided into cast   systems for 200 years with very little interaction  between each cast was tasked with unifying the  

People under one identity “For a viable nation  state requires National subjects in possession   of a sense of nation a collective knowledge  that everyone can identify and relate to” the   Japanese authorities of the new era decided to  go back in time to retrieve elements that they  

Thought the world required to construct a sense of  Japanese cultural identity the pleasure districts   have been a precursor of popular culture for the  past 200 years became a major source of art form   to promote Japanese cultural identity since it was  of a disgrace to frequent a pleasure quarter for a  

Man of the Samurai class during the Edo period  they would come dress as commoners of men of   lower class to visit those Oirans so if you think  about it the pleasure districts of were the only   place in feudal Japan where all citizens appeared  equal this reached the point where Oirans Geishas  

Clients and patrons had developed their own  Customs traditions and language the leaders of the   new Meiji era came to realize that they could take  the art forms that had emerged from these quarters   to construct a unified Japanese identity yet the  Japanese government knew that the Christian West  

Would struggle to accept the taint of licensed  prostitution on these art forms the popularity of   the Oiran and the Geisha stemmed from an erotic  ideal after all the West also accused Japan of   licensing slavery in the pleasure quarters the  Meiji government conscious of Western opinion  

Decided to enact laws to modify these art forms in  order to be taken seriously by Western powers the   survival of Japan as a nation state depended on  it if Japan was to become civilized in Victorian   terms of course the licensed prostitutes or Oirans  influence on society could no longer be allowed to  

Flourish Japan held the first K exhibition in  1872 which attracted a large number of foreign   visitors which until then had not been allowed to  enter Kyoto to showcase Japanese national identity   Geishas were put on the forefront they offered a  much safer option than the Oiran because they had  

Never officially been licensed as prostitutes as I  explained earlier the so purpose was to entertain   the Oiran’s customer with dance and music  the first ever performance of Maiko Odori was   organized at the Kyoto exhibition having received  very positive comments from the foreign visitors  

Of the time who particularly enjoyed the exotic  dances the Miyako Odori became the dance shown to   tourists ever since today the Miyako Odori show  is performed every year in April to tourists in   the Geisha district of Kyoto the district that the  Japanese authorities are planning to ban tourists  

From so of course this is very sad after the  Kyoto exhibition the Geisha became internationally   renown entertainers and stars with their kimonos  costumes white makeups solitary dances and exotic   instruments and dances they represented an art  form completely different from Western Aesthetics  

To foreign eyes they became National Japanese  icons and the ideal of Japanese femininity   consequently in 1872 the Japanese government  announced a proclamation for the emancipation   of Geishas and prostitutes to operate as a Geisha  or a prostitute you needed a license for either  

Profession or both some Geishas were only Geishas  while other processed a license for both being a   Geisha and a prostitute to be modern at the time  meant to be Western and to be Western was trendy   so consequently Geishas started to adopt Western  customs western clothes and fashion they became so  

Popular that many government official in Japan  at the time took them as wives As time passed   and nationalism grew in the years leading to the  second world war in the Showa era things changed   when Geishas started cutting their hair and  perming them they weren’t quite Japanese anymore  

To the people of the time similarly the more  modern Japan became and the less Japanese it was   people started yearning for the premodern period  the last true period of Japanese Spirit Geishas   became the image of an idealized past of the real  Japan that the country needed to recover after the  

War under immense pressure from the occupying  American forces the Yoshiwara pleasure district   closed down despite protests from local officials  a law was passed in 1956 declaring all forms of   prostitution illegal ending for good 300 years  of Oiran tradition but also sealing the Geisha’s  

Fate as an entertainer and not a prostitute most  recently as Japan is at the forefront of modernity   Geishas have become a curator of tradition  as the profession is no longer appealing to   younger Generations who prefer prestigious degrees  and professions Geishas are slowly disappearing  

Prior to World War II there were an estimated  80,000 gas in Kyoto today there are less than   300 in 2007 Japanese government began actively  promoting the profession through tourism Geisha   dances are no longer performed solely for their  elite clients but are now widely available to  

Tourists To the tourists catching a glimpse of a  Geisha in the street of Gion I want to tell you   please consider yourself lucky you are catching  a glimpse of an art form hundreds of years old   old that has evolved drastically through the ages  for various political reasons Geishas are women  

Who make conscious choice of not pursuing a modern  career to maintain the spirit of Japanese identity   and history and culture alive so when you see them  in the streets of Kyoto please be respectful and   don’t throw things at them pull their skirts or  force them to take photos with you I hope this  

Video was helpful and that it gave you you some  insights into the world of the gas please don’t   forget to like comment and share this video this  tells the YouTube algorithm to suggest my video   to more people so I can reach more people like you  please don’t forget to ring that notification bell  

To be notified whenever I drop a video in the next  video I’ll be taking you on a tour of the Old Town   of Paris showing you the oldest Bakery in Paris  which was the bakery that served Louis XV so yes  

It’s that old so this is something for you to  look forward to thank you so much for watching   and I will see you in the next video on a side  note look at this really cool mug that I found  

Recently it’s got Paris all over it I found this  in the Starbucks it’s got the Eiffel tower on it   here and then you’ve got Arc de Triomphe all  the famous monuments of Paris it’s very cool!