Overtourism as of October 2023

[SealedTears]

Kind of makes sense with how big those bowls are, but they are cheap enough and you also pay for the seats.
So restaurants in china would be cool with two people just ordering one dish and no other extras?

To be fair I have been to ramen with other people and not ordered a bowl myself and gotten away with it, but we’d probably get drinks and side dishes.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone did it in America either. You get extra plates for the bread sticks/rolls anyway and have seen people explicitly tell the water that 2 people are going to share a dish.

 

[Sudsy]

Everyone loves complaining about the Chinese tourists, but in my travel experience I have encountered just as many rude, entitled (and obnoxiously LOUD) Americans.

As you say, entitled. So many of them with an overblown sense of entitlement. A whole generation that’s grown up with a surplus of participation trophies and a deficit of well deserved punches in the mouth.

Seriously had one go off on me the other day because I wouldn’t help them find their hotel when I was on my way to the office.

 

[Coolcow]

I'm sorry what?

I mean, I've seen enough people having a piss on a wall (and one time in between train carriages in Melbourne) to last a life time, but someone taking a shit in public???

That's a new low for anyone.

They also spit everywhere. I'm not a fan of spitting.

 

[resiman]

Everyone loves complaining about the Chinese tourists, but in my travel experience I have encountered just as many rude, entitled (and obnoxiously LOUD) Americans.

I think its not necessarily where youre from but who you are, i am cuban and we are generally very loud, and i live in the us and again know some very loud gringos, but when i went to japan last time most of the tourist being loud were chinese and that is basically because most of the tourists were chinese, most were just doing their tourism and not bothering too much, but since there were so many of them, the loud ones were almost always screaming in chinese.

 

[CharlieSimms]

Yeah, I found that always to be unfair and downright racists. I myself am an equal opportunity disliker; I don't separate people to tourists and residents, Chinese or Americans. I despise them all the same; get out of my city you fucking foreigners!

 

[jhingy567]

I think its not necessarily where youre from but who you are, i am cuban and we are generally very loud, and i live in the us and again know some very loud gringos, but when i went to japan last time most of the tourist being loud were chinese and that is basically because most of the tourists were chinese, most were just doing their tourism and not bothering too much, but since there were so many of them, the loud ones were almost always screaming in chinese.

I guess it's just my observations. On my most recent trip to Tokyo a few months ago I didn't encounter any loud Chinese tour groups. The worst was a few trying to cut the line at a restaurant. Americans on the other hand (just a few of many examples):
One older guy going berserk at hotel reception over an extra 600 yen city accommodation tax. The way he spoke to the staff, back at home he would've been kicked out.
Karen yelling "well that's just not good enough" (while shaking her head) after being told that she would have to take the local train rather than the Shinkansen.
Another guy on phone talking about his sexual exploits in detail and how easy it is to bring girls back to his Airbnb. Just loud enough for the whole train carriage to hear.

 

[Doggyfong]

Iirc China only lifted the travel ban to Japan sometime in Aug or Sept. So the main flood of tourists should be starting anytime last month or this month.
Winter is coming.

 

[CharlieSimms]

Americans do a lot of things. Cutting lines is not generally one of them. Getting loud if someone else does or appears to, now that yes.

 

[SoFreshSoClean]

Also keep in mind that all of us foreigners are now first assumed to be tourists (yes, I know it hurts…), so it’s as much on us as on everybody else to be the good kind of people (the kind that figures out the natural flow of circulation on the street ; the kind that patiently waits in line because you’ve figured out it will actually go quicker than trying to armwrest your way in ; the kind that speaks at appropriate volume to hear and be heard, not to lead a rally ; the kind that reads the forum carefully before storming through red light districts ; so on and so forth).

I fondly remember the covid years where we finally had the “oh he must be a resident” pass at first impressions 😌

 

[CharlieSimms]

Easily resolved. I have in 5 colors. Japanese Only??? Psh, not in this uniform it ain’t!! 👍

 

[Alice]

Also keep in mind that all of us foreigners are now first assumed to be tourists (yes, I know it hurts…), so it’s as much on us as on everybody else to be the good kind of people (the kind that figures out the natural flow of circulation on the street ; the kind that patiently waits in line because you’ve figured out it will actually go quicker than trying to armwrest your way in ; the kind that speaks at appropriate volume to hear and be heard, not to lead a rally ; the kind that reads the forum carefully before storming through red light districts ; so on and so forth).

I fondly remember the covid years where we finally had the “oh he must be a resident” pass at first impressions 😌

Yes, I hate it when shop staff in stores I have been going for a decade speak English to me even if I answer them in Japanese.

I’ll definitely not be well behaved in the sense of modesty though, f that.

 

[SoFreshSoClean]

Yes, I hate it when shop staff in stores I have been going for a decade speak English to me even if I answer them in Japanese.

I feel so seen 😂

I’ll definitely not be well behaved in the sense of modesty though, f that.

Amen to that! As you shouldn’t 👏🏼

 

[Sudsy]

On my most recent trip to Tokyo a few months ago I didn't encounter any loud Chinese tour groups.

That’s because the Chinese government weren’t allowing package tours yet.

 

[menomaene]

I've been living in in Kobe and actually went to Kyoto for the first time because my friends from America were visiting. Going to the main tourist spots was an utter disaster. Shoulder to shoulder moving over large areas. We immediately peaced out of there. I also took them to Hiroshima (my second time) and there were obnoxious foreigners on the train making fun of the drivers voice.
It's embarrassing af to be another foreigner around that.

 

[psd]

I walked through Harajuku recently to get to the JR station and it's so weird, you turn the corner into Takeshita(?) dori and it's wall to wall tourists.

 

[Sudsy]

Just got back from a business trip yesterday and damn…. the tourists in the airport are insane. What really blew my mind this time is 50+ of them in line to buy skyliner tickets from the vending machine when all 6 counter staff were idle. Is it really that hard to have a human interaction?

 

[kirayamato]

it reached 96% tourists pre-covid. I guess we will soon break the pre-covid record.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/10/18/japan/foreign-visitors-september/

came across a girl profile for hoteheru osaka.
seems they are more accepting inbound tourist lol

外国人対応

インバウンドOK

 

[Sudsy]

it reached 96% tourists pre-covid. I guess we will soon break the pre-covid record.

To paraphrase Carl Panzram, I wish they all had one neck, and I had my hands on it.

 

[Sawako]

You can find places to visit that aren't so busy and full of culture - countless shrines and temples in Chichibu (nice mountain range) to Nagatoro. Or, in Wakayama, Koyasan is a must place to visit ... Too many lovely places including Mount Bandai area... even in Tokyo you have hidden gems...

 

[jn234]

If we ignore Chinese tourists for now (which seem to be the most annoying in my experience (the groups of retirees)), Japan is currently very popular on Tiktok etc. so I suspect the profile of the average westerner tourist has changed. Maybe its better to just let the weebs in since they are obsessed with the country and know all the rules.

 

[jn234]

I was in Tokyo in September a couple years before Covid and it felt like there was only a small fraction of western tourists compared to now. Maybe its just that October is a very popular time, since the weather seems to be perfect (better than September) - I guess all of us gaijins read the same blogs about when to travel Japan.

 

[Jimmy Chu1969]

You mean those people I photographed were not authentic geisha? 😮

But yeah, Japan was great before it came on the radar as a major tourism spot. Travel was more fun in general when it was a more exclusive thing to do. But with current fuel prices it will probably go back to that anyways

Real Geisha are there, but you need to be in the right place at the right time to see a real one. Apprentices are often photographed. And kimono wearers are often mistaken for Geisha.

 

[Keihan]

While I'm all in favor of shitting on Chinese tourists for acting like Chinese tourists, I just passed through Japan earlier this month and was absolutely stunned by the lack of curb-squatters from the Middle Kingdom. I was actually curious, is October some sort of special month in China, where Big Brother doesn't allow foreign travel? Is there some cultural significance, like October being the designated month to stay home and bang gongs, burn mosquito coils and eat bats and mongoose from the wet market? I mean, I wasn't in-country very long but did my usual pass through Kanto/Kansai and was very, very pleasantly surprised to see very few of them, and actually quite few tourists in general, and that includes the usual assortment of fat, sweating, disgusting Americans, bitching at the JR staff counter because they can't understand why their stupid fucking rail pass doesn't let them on the Nozomi.

On that note, I decided to forego my rail pass benefits and pay to ride the Nozomi for once. Absolute bliss. Absolute, gaijin-free, tourist-free, Chinese-free, rage-free bliss. No more fucking Chinese tourists piling their suitcases in the middle of the walkway or trying to sneak into the reserved cars and acting surprised when they get caught. No more foul-smelling hippies with their dumb fucking massive backpacks taking up all the shelf space, waking me up while they try to practice their fucking language skills and take selfies with the JR snack cart girl.

I've committed myself to making more money, so that I can forever afford to only fly JAL or ANA business class and therefore fly only into NRT Terminal 1, rather than Terminal 2 (where all the foreign and Chinese flights come in) and then only ride the Nozomi Green Car where--with the new rail pass price hikes--I figure you'll see a unicorn before Chinese tourist willing to pay that much for the upgrade. Motivation comes in many forms.

 

[Doggyfong]

I was actually curious, is October some sort of special month in China, where Big Brother doesn't allow foreign travel?

China just allowed their citizens to travel to Japan, but seems like polluted waters are keeping them where they are.
According to Nikkei, there isn't many flights flying in from China or the weakening economy.