Businesses in Japan consider charging tourists more amid surge in visitors

[bill937ca]

Businesses in Japan are considering a dual pricing system for foreign tourists and local people amid a surge in inbound visitors and the continued weakness of the yen.

 

The mayor of Himeji in western Japan said in June he was considering more than quadrupling entrance fees for foreign tourists at Himeji Castle, a Unesco-registered samurai fortress with parts dating to the 17th century.

 

The current fee for adults is 1,000 yen ($6.44) but Hideyasu Kiyomoto said he is thinking of setting it about $30 for foreign tourists and $5 for residents.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/24/japan-tourism-dual-pricing-system-economy-yen

[Junech]

I always wondered if Japan's over-tourism is some kind of accessibility/distribution issue. You have like 2 main airports where you arrive so it is only logical that most tourists will stay around that area or travel between those two areas. All that while the north of Honshū has only a few people visiting. So maybe additional airports in parts with only a few visitors getting international traffic would help with a better distribution. Like, redirect some flights to Sendai for example. With those being a little cheaper than Tokyo or Osaka flights you potentially get enough people to switch over.

 

Same for that Lawson and Fuji picture where the spot gets over-tourism. Couldn't they just build another one (even if it is fake) at an easy-to-access location and let it have enough space for all the tourists so the location can handle them better? Adding better service to that location will help too. After that you just need some influencers to make the new spot popular.

[Yugamu Tsuki]

I've read conflicting information on this (Himeji) one even going as far as residents = locals with tourists also including those out of the prefecture but still of Japanese nationality. Something like this I want to see actually set in stone first before I say one way or the other. I also want to keep in mind at least Stateside the USD is very string against the yen.

[bill937ca]

Over tourism is a big issue in Europe too. Venice and Florence in particular have visitor charges at some times and places.  Barcelona  and  Rome have action also. This may just be a fact of life if you travel at peak times to iconic places.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/aug/17/wish-you-werent-here-how-tourists-are-ruining-the-worlds-greatest-destinations

 

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/mar/03/entrance-fees-visitor-zones-and-taxes-how-europes-biggest-cities-are-tackling-overtourism

 

Mass tourism is at a tipping point – but we’re all part of the problem

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/11/tourism-tipping-point-travel-less-damage-destruction

[kuro68000]

A few places do this in the UK, with a discounted rate for people who live nearby as a sort of "sorry for the permanent traffic jams".

 

Personally I would just not go to a place like that on principle.

[Kingmeow]

Just came back from Italy and Greece.  You should see Athens or Santorini or Mykonos!  In Santorini, they had to temporarily stop the tendering from the cruise ships because the island was "full".  🤣  Doesn't help that 4 large cruise ships decide to show up on the same day, each carrying 3,000+ passengers.

 

Charging 4x more than locals to visit a castle will only barely reduce tourism, maybe.  It's basically a  money grab.  If you're spending $5k to do a long trip to Japan, whether you pay $7 or $28 to visit a UNESCO site is inconsequential.  You're there, you'll probably won't be back, what's another $21, you pay, you go in, you leave, you're happy you did it.  Else you go back home and start wondering "should have, could have" for the rest of your life.  🙂

[Junech]

Yeah, that is basically the main problem, just raising the prices or blocking one view won't solve the problem. You need to spread the tourists over a bigger area to accommodate them better. Tourists hate other tourists as much as the locals, especially when it is overcrowded. Adding better services to that "off the beaten path" regions and people will visit there the same way they chose Netflix over piracy while they were the only streaming options.

 

[Tony Galiani]

Higher fees for non-locals is not uncommon in some parts of the world.  When I was working in South America, we often ran into the "gringo" price at various places.  Not a big issue for us - prices that were super low to us were hard for the locals who didn't have great incomes.  Sort of the same thing on projects - workers would often stretch out work since a steady job was highly prized.

 

The tourist issue in Japan is interesting as there are so many over touristed areas but on the other hand, businesses need the tourist income.  And quite a few seek tourists actively.  Lately I have been receiving discount offers from hotels I have stayed at - even in Kyoto which is supposed to be frustrated with the tourist volume there.  And the Asahi Shimbun regularly has articles on efforts to promote tourism in various places.  NHK has quite a few shows promoting tourism though often in less well know areas.

 

I will say that getting out of the prime areas can be enjoyable.  We saw very few foreigners at Hirosaki or at Onuma yet they were really great places to visit.  Hirosaki has a 100 Yen bus loop which is a great deal by the way.  While flights from the US all go to Tokyo or, to a lesser extent, Osaka, it is easy to get around and go see less touristed areas.

 

Ciao,

Tony

[Kingmeow]

Question on non-prime places.  Is language an issue, i.e., is English spoken?  Cash only or credit cards ok?  I would love to go to off the beaten path places, but if language is a barrier...  Google Translate could do only so much.  A few days at a place where English is not well spoken would be an issue, even with Google Translate.

[bill937ca]

From trips to Prague I know that even in small stores prices vary from time to time. If you see the same person all the time you get the same price.

 

Prices for meals in listed in the home language at mom and pop eateries are often cheaper than the main stream big business locations.

[cteno4]

1 hour ago, Kingmeow said:

Question on non-prime places.  Is language an issue, i.e., is English spoken?  Cash only or credit cards ok?  I would love to go to off the beaten path places, but if language is a barrier...  Google Translate could do only so much.  A few days at a place where English is not well spoken would be an issue, even with Google Translate.

My first trip to Japan in 84, I was a grad student and had 3 days notice I was going to Japan for a scientific meeting. But seeing the opportunity I tacked on 4.5 weeks to the week meeting in Kyoto (were we got to do every big thing in Kyoto first class) to just roam. There was no internet, just a lonely planet I picked up the day before I left to read on the plane. I had a 3 week rail pass and roamed far and wide to very non tourist places where little English spoken and I did totally fine. Even in way out in the weeds some pantomiming and a few words from the guide book got me by no problem. Never had an issue. Subsequent trips as well, no problems. Have a wad of cash in your pocket no issue as well, never a problem. If you are polite and thankful folks will go out of their way to help you or find someone that can. I couldn’t imagine traveling now with a smart phone where you can look everything up, best I had on my trips was a guide book and a few notes from friends to go by and always turned out great.

 

So don’t be scared to explore as it’s so much more fun to experience Japan away from the crowds of tourists and there are many interesting little things to see and experience as well. I had so much fun interacting with Japanese that spoke little English and me very little Japanese. One day on my first trip I decided to just go and see how far out into the country I could go and back in a day. I ended up heading for a little park on a hill. Like 6 trains later I hit the end of a single car line and walked a coupl of kilometers thru rice fields to the park. On the way back I was exhausted and hot in the rice fields and bumped into a very old farmer. He about jumped out of his skin turning around to see a 6’4” blond godzilla gaijin walking up to him. I was trying to get across where I could get some water from the guide book, but then just said Coke! He smiled and waved me to walk over to a small shed and walked around to the back and there was a little coke machine, pretty hidden in the shade out in the middle of the rice fields! I bought one and offered one to him and he accepted and we had a nice 15 minute break just drinking a coke and I pantomimed which fields were his and he was proud to point to each with some comment and proud smiles. He sort of pantomimed where was I going and I pointed to the park and then pulled out my rail pass and he saw some of the places listed I had been. He went back to work and I went off to the little platform at the edge of the rice fields. Was one of the sweetest experiences I’ve had traveling and I would have never had it if I had been afraid to wander somewhere no English spoken.
 

I can’t imagine how bad the tourist crowds must be now, they were bad at the big places on my last trip over a decade ago and from the sounds of it insane now, so I wouldn’t want to go near those big places where English and credit cards are rhe norm.

 

jeff

[Tony Galiani]

@Kingmeow Not sure about English in those locations to be honest.  At Onuma, we purchased ice cream and some gifts without issues - mostly point and smile.  We offered to take pictures of people that way and people understood.  Occasionally, we would get a response in English.  At Hirosaki and Aomori when we took taxis, we had maps with us and just pointed to where we wanted to go and that worked.  The hotel in Aomori was a bit more challenging but the check-in staff had a hand held translation device which worked okay.  We struggled to use the elevator at that hotel - while we often ran into hotels that required the room card once you were on the elevator, this one required you to hold the card on a square panel in the wall.  As we fumbled about, someone sitting in the lobby saw us and jumped up to help us - they had enough English to explain.  At the museum cafe in Hirosaki we just pointed to what we wanted on the menu (which had some English and some illustrations).

A bit more challenging than say in Greece or elsewhere in Europe but manageable.

 

Ciao,

Tony

[Tony Galiani]

Just saw Jeff's note - it popped in while I was typing.  I will say cash is useful to have in those locations.  While some places will take credit cards - like the gift shop in Onuma - a lot don't.  At the little cafe there we pointed to the ice cream sign for what we wanted and which displayed the price.  Then paid in cash.  So it is all doable with some getting used to.  And we paid cash for the taxis we took - I would think they took credit cards but did not want to try and navigate that.

 

Ciao,

Tony

[MeTheSwede]

I was about to write a reply here about verbal communication with the locals not really being necessary when travelling, but Cteno4 did it a lot better than I was going to. 😊

 

 

[MeTheSwede]

I always use cash in Japan and I never use cash in Sweden. When preparing for this year's trip I opened my wallet and noticed that there was no Swedish money in it, only Japanese money that I had been carrying around for a year without thinking about it. 😆

[RS18U]

I'll add my experiences over 4 trips between 2014 and this year.  2014 was when we did all the touristy places like Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Mt. Fuji etc.  2018 and 2024 were focused generally on less visited areas like Wakkanai, Abashiri, Akan, Kushiro, Kagoshima, Kaimon, Obi, Miyazaki and Oita.  We never had any issues with communication, and really enjoyed getting to places where the locals seeing a white foreigner was as rare as me seeing a Mauri here on the west coast of Canada.

 

As for the extra costs for non-locals to see the sights, my wife and I are amazed at the value Japanese museums and historical sites are compared to here in North America, and bumping up the price we would have to pay will not change what we go to see.  Japan is in a strange place where they want 60 million visitors by 2030 (I think? and double what they are getting now) but are having issues getting those people away from the Kyoto's and to go to Kyushu, Hokkaido, and the more remote prefectures like Shimane or Akita.  But those are the places we want to go to over the next few years.  No need for Osaka or Tokyo, give us the 'real' Japan!

 

The one exception is Hiroshima as that is where my wife's family (both sides) come from, so we go on every trip.  But when we go there they take us to places the locals go to, not the tourists.  Our trip this spring we only say maybe 6 other 'tourists' at the Abuto Kannon temple, and I was the only white person.  Same with our visit to Onomichi.

 

I can't recommend getting off the beaten track in Japan enough.  Well worth it.

 

Will

Edited July 25 by RS18U

[kuro68000]

If you don't speak any Japanese then your best bet is the middle aged businessman. Many of them seem to enjoy practicing their English on tourists.