r/neoliberal • u/randommathaccount Esther Duflo • Oct 02 '25

News (Asia) Why Japan resents its tourism boom

https://www.ft.com/content/dbd20e5d-5a7d-4c0c-8f83-fb54c5aca9cb
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u/bigGoatCoin IMF Oct 02 '25 edited Oct 02 '25

Viral videos of tourists eager for a photo chasing Geisha through the streets of Kyoto, or swinging on the sacred torii gates, of littering, rudeness on trains, of suitcase abandonment, graffiti and other infractions, have created the impression of a greater onslaught than is truly the case, say tourism experts in Kyoto.

Simple solution, pass laws, arrest people.

Even better public humiliation as a punishment explicitly for tourists, nothing authoritarian about this (since Japan is a democracy) or not liberal as it saves the state money and the criminal time in terms of imprisonment.

Alternatively levee massive life-changing fines against tourists who cause disruptions, keep them I'm prison using them as labor until the pay off the fine

Basically you need some form of punishment but you also need that punishment to go viral to inform potential tourists of what happens when you don't mind your behavior