You’re Wrong About Overtourism In Japan
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Overtourism in Japan has been such a divisive topic over the past couple years but there’s something missing from the conversation that I hear few people talk about. Frankly, I’m starting to get a little sick of all the viral videos of badly behaved tourists in Japan, and not just because they make me cringe. We can point fingers all day long but nothing will get done without a little help from the people who invited tourists in the first place…
Reach out to the Japanese Government here (Japanese only): https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/concierge/goiken.html
Sources:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/07/11/japan/beattie-overtourism-myth/
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-01-22/japan-has-100-billion-reasons-to-welcome-more-tourists?leadSource=uverify%20wall
https://www.unwto.org/news/global-tourism-set-for-full-recovery-by-end-of-the-year-with-spending-growing-faster-than-arrivals
https://grjapan.com/sites/default/files/content/articles/files/20240917%20GR%20Japan%20Industry%20Insight%20Overtourism.pdf
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/content/001856169.pdf
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/10/what-is-overtourism-and-how-can-we-overcome-it/
https://skift.com/2023/04/08/it-is-time-to-ditch-the-phrase-overtourism/
https://pura-aventura.com/travel-stories/overtourism-stop-travelling
https://grjapan.com/sites/default/files/content/articles/files/20240917%20GR%20Japan%20Industry%20Insight%20Overtourism.pdf
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43 Comments
The international tourist tax hasn’t changed since 1997! I remember having to insert 2000 yen (cash) into a machine to exit the country.
APA Hotels in Japan have etiquette videos that show on the TVs in their hotel rooms, it just needs to be more widespread. Everything else I 100% agree with. There's plenty of relatively small places that "everyone" wants to visit and duh, it will get crowded.
I love this video – so many good points.
Just got back from a great trip in Northern Japan, this time we went to a mix of popular tourist areas and ones that were less so. It was really nice getting into the less popular areas, the lovely experiences with locals giving us fruit and wanting to come and talk to us about where we were from was great. There will definitely be another trip to see Northern Japan in a different season.
I feel like because places like Paris and Rome have been popular with tourists for many decades, they are well prepared for them. And other commenters are correct, over-tourism is localized. I was pretty much the only foreigner around when I visited Kochi, for example.
We've been coming here since 2016. Other than Nozawa being completely overrun with fellow Aussies it seems more or less the same to me. Perhaps even many businesses are more welcoming to foreign tourists. As they should be! They need our tourist dollars in a big way and I expect them to realise that and behave accordingly. In fact they could go a long way to improve the experience for tourists even more. I have a love hate relationship with their trains. Fantastic once you're on but a pretty stressful experience getting tickets and finding your platform etc… a bit more signage and information in English would be most helpful. The last time I caught a train in Oz I was wearing a school uniform. Also, they really need to let go of their insanely anal little rules. I'd go nuts if I had to live here full time, except for the food and shopping.
You are right. Now, that's a problem in Japan.
Probably foreigners are more bothered by people behaving badly in Japan than the locals are. I think non-Japanese who appreciate Japanese culture (who are more likely to be heard from in comments of videos about Japan etc) feel protective of it and get upset when they see tourists doing dumb, disrespectful things they themselves would never do.
This is a great video!!!
Japan is great for average and low budget travelers! But does not know how to cater to the very rich. On the other hand, it is nice to see celebrities queue for a ramen shop, sit shoulder to shoulder in an Izakaya with locals. And great restaurants are sometimes only for loyal customers and require a reference, so most Japanese do not have access either. As a result, generally speaking the industry does not have many good paying jobs.
Thank you for making this video!!
I'm a travel agent in Aus, and I swear I've been sending every 2nd family to japan in the last 3yrs.
Having been to Japan a few times already, it's very easy to convince people not to stay in the main tourist hubs of the cities. I do my darndest to get people out and about and its a bit more work for me printing maps to get to hotel and writing specific train connections but its worth it when i have them come back and tell me their trip was great.
I've also seen a huge increase in destination training for us agents into different areas. Recently, there has been a huge push in Kyushu training and more airlines are now flying directly into Fukuoka.
I will defend cruises in one aspect that they do generally visit a lot of places people don't have on the radar. Places like Aomori, Hakodate, Sakata, Kanazawa, Kagoshima, Okinawa etc etc. The amount of times I've had people come back after a cruise to book a long stay in a "remote" area because they've seen if first hand is staggering.
But yes, the JR pass, I think, is one of the worst cuplrits in being behind the times. It's still a laminated paper card that you need to show an attendant at each gate! Dont even get me started on the lack of IC cards over the last few years…
Umm ok, well that rant was a bit longer than expected. Thanks for reading this far haha
I’ve always found overcrowded places frustrating, so I tend to avoid Japan’s major tourist hotspots. Living in Gifu, I’m fortunate to experience the slower, more authentic side of life here. I truly believe travelers would benefit immensely from embracing slow tourism. If you’re only visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, you’re missing out on a deeper, more enriching experience of Japan.
So you are telling me that after all this years believing that us, the gaijins, were "urusai" and "brought dishonor to Japan", we are actually welcome in Japan?? 🤣
Spent two weeks in Tohoku in 2023 Autumn and saw maybe 2 westerners. Beautiful part of the world.
I hope the Japanese government consults with non Japanese travel experts about how to improve the clearly explained issues, Hannah. Only non Japanese can resolve these problems as Japan isn’t an international country per se and doesn’t understand tourism from a global perspective. For the locals it’s like going straight from the Edo Period into over-tourism. I do feel for them. Overwhelming to say the least!
I think a lot of these places are just hard to reach without a car and that friction alone makes it difficult to attract a large volume of people. After watching your videos, I made it to Tenkawa in Nara and got to hike alongside some locals (even those doing a spiritual hike) and it was just a lovely experience! Climbed Yakedake last year as well and looking forward to exploring the Shiretoko national park later this year – so many new places to explore!
I agree with you about your points on nature. I just got back from Ecuador and they seem to handle the balance between preserving and sharing the beautiful parts of the world really well so it can definitely be done.
Banning foreigners is not true
One more issue with the government – what are they actually doing with all that tax monies? Especially in Kyoto, infrastructure hasnt improved while the government are just sitting there twiddling their thumbs.
Just been in Japan for 5 weeks. No over tourism compared to normal. Metro no more crowded than usual. No street crowds. easy to book hotels and last minute reservations on the train. I went in the 90's and the crowding on trains, we were pressed against each other.
loving this long form analysis hannah! always nice to hear from hannah as person vs the character
It does surprise me how quickly Japan becomes “rural” once you leave a few key areas.
wait please make that unspoken rules video!!
The last two times I travelled to Japan just for the Tokyo Game Show (which is in Chiba, by the way) and the crowd is massive, yet there's very little foreigners, like less than 5%. The trains and venue (Makuhari Messe) are incredibly crowded as well despite the lack of foreigners. So domestic tourists can cause overtourism if not managed well.
Speaking of promoting how to behave while in Japan, I saw tourist etiquette videos while queueing in immigration clearance area so that is being implemented to some extent.
Beautifully articulated. I always feel self-conscious that I am part of the problem.
I appreciate this alternate valid perspective, citing facts and comparative sources. Japan is attempting to solve for this by encouraging tourists from select “exclusive” countries to travel domestically for free (to spread out from popular cities and scatter tourist exploration). The overtourism is sentiment from the loudest/obnoxious/sensationalized tourists uniquely making the most noise/lacking the most manners who are really working to get called out. In particular, certain stream services’ popularity is trying to ‘kick’ off this year so there’s an attempt to capitalize on the attention economy.
2:26 Where is this?
RE the 18:12 comment about the video. Last year when in line for customs at Haneda and then on my in room tv at an APA hotel there was a cute set of animated videos of Ninjas teaching basic Japanese etiquette like backpacks off on public transit, how not to be rude etc. I wish I took a video of them because I can find absolutey no reference to them anywhere online.
"…if Australian customs can tell you to not bring DirtyShoes into the country in 10 different languages…" I feel attacked.
Also, great take on the overtourism topic. Whenever I can get around to visit Japan your content along with other reasonable jvloggers has definitely steered me towards more off the beaten path destinations.
I spent a career working in marine education/research and environmental ed for children/adults as well as a wildlife guide/trip leader on several continents. At sea and on land. It was always my fervent hope that enjoying animals and Nature would lead to/support empathy and compassion. Your comments on the subject are supported by research. Those experiences in person, on line and in film can make a difference.
Your play it by ear scale is on point. As are your comments about planning and management.
13:15 The studio makes it seem as if you’re a professional 🙂 Not to mention hundreds of videos, host gigs and consultations. Well done!
As you said, the Japanese government is aiming for 60 million international tourists per year by 2030. Considering that, the fact that the problem of overtourism is occurring at a stage when the number of tourists has not yet reached 37 million per year is a problem for the government and local governments. There are many workers involved in the tourism industry, so I think inbound consumption is very important for both Japanese tourism workers and for the tax revenue of each local government. I think that local governments should work together to solve problems such as public transportation, and I think that Japan's tourism policy would see good results if it asked the flexible imagination of travel content creators and influencers like you for help with suggesting travel destinations to foreign tourists, how to convey general and minimum daily manners in Japan to them, and how to enjoy traveling. From japanese a person live in tokyo.
I wish I could force this video and bundled comments to the top of every Japan-interested person's page in every search engine. My recent experience (5 weeks of intense tourism over the past 3 months) is consistent with everyone's assessment that the biggest problems come from dogpiling the most-marketed destinations at peak times; the rest of Japan is almost empty. Even Amanohashidate (top 3 view) is uncrowded off-peak. The data on this video is on point and the lesson about easy access (time spent traveling, time spent planning the travel, cost) needs to be repeated.
A couple of suggestions:
– Limiting cruise ship and big tour travel is one way to stop overcrowding, but the better way is to heavily tax the landings/charters and coordinate with the operators on tour itineraries where they can take a route that is a) prepared for the crush b) they can spend the tax money to bring in vendors and improve the areas. Then it's a win for everyone, and anyone that hates the increase of activity can go to the deserted rest of Japan where they will be welcomed.
– The point you make about forcing videos to be played on every plane (cruise liner announcement, etc.) is the way to do it. Although we have to keep it to 5 minutes or less for the critical items, but provide follow on videos (like this one) on the on-screen entertainment so people who do care will be enticed to further education.
I've only been to Japan once but I was for some weeks and I would say that in cities I felt a general overcrowding everywhere just with locals. I didn't notice many foreign tourists compared even with my home town. You're not prepared for the sheer volume of people, normal everyday residents, in Japan's cities. Even if you come from New York City. It's just people people people everywhere. Whatever tourists you put on top of it, the problems are already there. Of course for locals it might seem that the tourists are the drop that overflows the cup, but it's already overflowing without the tourists.
I have been in Japan more than 15 times and I still want to visit there as many times as I want. I always try to conform with Japanese culture and rules. Yes, I heard of over tourism and I think your video just spoke what I think it’s useful. ❤
Declining locals that are replaced by tourists is not a good thing and using total population as a measure of overtourism is missing the point. Even if the total number of people is the same, it is still less locals and more tourists which influences the kind of businesses and services that spring up to match this changing demographic. It means more tourist traps, more expensive hotels, and more locals getting priced out.
What a great video Hannah! The 7 suggestion you made is really interesting and I think they can help. Altough, I'm not sure how those can stop people from breakdancing in the train and or throwing snowball at the staff member. It took more than just the tourism board to fix these. The fact that some streaming service still allow their streamer to break law and do bad thing on other country also taking into account.
Regarding your 7th suggestion, Australia actually done this on every flight entering the country. Warning tourist on how tough our quarantine law is and everyone have to fill the incoming passenger card carefully to avoid fines. Alas, the show "Border Security" still aired here so that means many people still ignoring the effort… 🤞🤞
11 minutes and 5 seconds of her banging on was enough for me
I would like to go to Japan someday, but I'm kind of worried about accessibility for people with disabilities (also those with hidden ones like myself), and streamlining and making things more accessible everywhere would be great
世界一の観光都市パリと比べる意味が無いし、そんなことをしてもオーバーツーリズムに悩む地元住民の苦悩は解消されませんよ。
これは、本当に問題になってます。。