It's the annual cherry blossom season again, and Japan's major cherry blossom viewing spots are packed with tourists.
When you walk into Ueno Park, it is crowded everywhere.
The night cherry blossoms in Tokyo's Meguro River are even more beautiful.
Kyoto is no slouch either, with popular spots such as Kiyomizudera Temple, Kinkaku-ji Temple, Okayama Park, and Arashiyama attracting a flood of tourists from Japan and abroad.
According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), more than 450,000 foreign tourists came to Kyoto, accounting for more than 50% of the total number of guests, a record high since the pandemic.
This increase is mainly due to the demand for cherry blossom viewing trips from foreign tourists.
It is worth noting that the United States, Taiwan, and Australia are the countries and regions with the highest number of foreign tourists.
The influx of tourists has brought great business benefits to the city, but it has also led to growing problems related to sightseeing.
Littering, tourists trespassing on private property, and chasing geisha to take pictures are all painful for Kyoto locals.
First, there is the problem of garbage. Japan has strict garbage sorting and garbage disposal time slots.
When viewing cherry blossoms, people like to sit on the ground and eat and drink.
Most parks also allow it, except for the prohibition of open fires.
However, as soon as people have a lot of trouble, it often becomes like this after eating.
There are even such.
Looking at the garbage all over the ground, netizens have a lot of complaints:
When I went to the public restroom of Kodaiji Temple a few days ago, I saw garbage scattered all over the place, and I was really upset.
(I also don't think about what to do with the people who use it later and the cleaning staff)
I went to the public toilet in the east of Gojo Ohashi, and there was a mountain of garbage in it
Nice to see you. I've seen other posts and it's bad
Some countries don't have a culture of cleaning up garbage, and some people take littering for granted because everyone else does. I believe that a uniform tourist tax should be levied on tourists. Why doesn't Kyoto Prefecture act?
In fact, many places in Japan have only a small number of garbage dumps in order to reduce public waste, encouraging tourists to take their own garbage home.
Locals are okay, but if you are a tourist from other places, you can't take your garbage back to the hotel, so you have to pile up the garbage dump higher and higher, and it will become a hill like this. Therefore, setting up garbage dumps effectively is also a problem that needs to be solved.
Another issue that has been criticized by Kyoto locals is the frequent intrusion of tourists into their private property.
There are many places in Kyoto, such as the Gion area, which are divided into public and private roads, and most of the private roads are private spaces for locals, and tourists are not allowed to enter or take pictures.
In order to protect the private space of locals from tourists, the local community has set up clear signs to alert visitors.
In some cases, a fine of 10,000 yen is imposed on trespassing, in order to protect local residents from being disturbed.
When you go to Kyoto, you often see young geisha ladies, which is also a profession, and it is not allowed to take pictures with others.
With the increase in the number of tourists during the cherry blossom season, it has been common for tourists to chase geisha to take pictures and even harass geisha recently.
There are many kinds of behaviors, from blatantly taking pictures, yelling at geisha, touching their kimonos, tracking them with cameras and smartphones, and so on, some geisha kimonos are torn, and some even throw cigarette butts into their collars.
Locals refer to these foreign tourists who harass the geisha as "geisha paparazzi".
In fact, a few years ago, it was forbidden to shoot geisha casually.
The behavior of these tourists caused a strong resentment among the locals:
The other day, a maiko near Gion was surrounded by about 40-50 foreign tourists.
One of my customers witnessed a foreigner forcibly taking a photograph and was blocked by Maiko with his hand.
Among the foreigners in kimonos, there was a person with a very vulgar and mean face, and he walked like a woman.
Japanese and foreigners often want to take pictures of Maiko when they walk around Gion in Kyoto, but how do Maiko themselves feel about being photographed without their permission?
Is it annoying or not interested?
That's rude, it's rude to do it without permission, and if it were me, I would refuse.
In response to the strong demand from local residents, the local community began installing new signs in Japanese and English, and distributed Kyoto tourism etiquette education leaflets to about 1,500 member companies of the Kyoto City Tourism Association and about 400 members of the Kyoto Cultural Exchange and Convention Bureau.
The leaflets distributed were published in overseas travel agency information magazines and in-flight magazines.
The contents of the leaflet include "Do not litter", "Do not block roads", "Do not photograph geisha without permission", and other contents related to cherry blossom viewing etiquette.
Although the influx of tourists has caused a lot of trouble for local residents, and some locals do not even want more tourists to visit them, the Kyoto City Government wants to boost the local tourism industry to boost the economy.
With a total population of more than 1.4 million people, Kyoto's economy is heavily dependent on tourism, which accounts for nearly 13% of the city's tax revenue.
However, the sharp drop in the number of foreign tourists during the pandemic has hit the local economy hard.
Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa even warned that the city of Kyoto could go bankrupt within 10 years due to its high debts.
In the wake of the pandemic, the Japanese government has relaxed entry policies and Kyoto City has also begun to implement travel support policies, injecting new vitality into Kyoto's tourism industry, which has been hit hard by the new crown epidemic.
Katsuhiro Miyamoto, professor emeritus at Kansai University, estimates that cherry blossom viewing tourism will generate more than 1 trillion yen in economic benefits in 2024, mainly from the cost of food, transportation and accommodation involved in cherry blossom viewing.
During the cherry blossom viewing period, hotel prices skyrocket as tourists from all over the world come in.
According to statistics, the average hotel price during cherry blossom viewing in Tokyo and Kyoto is about 2.5 times higher than before the pandemic, and luxury hotels range from 150,000 yen to 300,000 yen, which was unheard of just a few years ago.
Tourism is a double-edged sword for the city of Kyoto. The city of Kyoto is in a dire financial situation, and the city relies on tourism to boost its economy.
At the same time, the boom in the tourism industry has also caused various problems for local residents.
However, the main sides of the conflict are not tourists and locals, but the government's lack of active response.
In fact, most tourists, including foreign tourists, are very obedient to local rules and understand the privacy requirements of local residents.
If the local government can effectively channel the situation, invest a certain amount of money and take corresponding measures, many contradictions and problems can be solved.
For example, adding garbage cans in places with many tourists, setting up special personnel to guide tourists not to enter private lanes, etc.
While the local government is developing the tourism industry to boost the economy, it should also invest a certain amount of manpower, material and financial resources and take measures to effectively channel the situation, instead of stealing the United States and transferring the conflict to tourists and residents.
Only when the local government does something and takes appropriate measures can these contradictions be alleviated and Kyoto can continue to be a popular tourist destination for tourists from all over the world.