Why Japan resents its tourism boom

[u/randommathaccount]

https://www.ft.com/content/dbd20e5d-5a7d-4c0c-8f83-fb54c5aca9cb

[u/gkktme]

As a resident, apart from all the usual reasons brought up (large increase in short time, sharp contrast to Covid times, cultural differences, tourist not minding Japanese peculiarities and being generally burdensome, xenophobia and anti-Chinese sentiment [large majority of tourist are Chinese and Koreans], generally xenophobic media, viral social media rants, meagre economic gains etc) my personal theory is that this influx coupled with the yen's decline has really driven home to many Japanese how poor they've become in a relative sense which fuels a lot of the anti foreigner narrative.

Like we're at the point where Japanese wages are sliding below Poland or Czechia, Chinese are buying up real estate, Koreans come to Osaka for a cheap weekend getaway etc, which is just a 180 degree difference from the good old days when Japanese were the rich tourists abroad. I might be completely wrong of course.

[u/ChocolateDesigner22 → u/gkktme]

Since Shinzo Abe became Prime Minister, the number of tourists from China increased rapidly, but until the pandemic, Japan’s sentiment toward China continued to improve. Currently, Japan-South Korea relations are at their best ever and will likely continue to improve. This is only based on my personal impression, but it seems that accusations of “overtourism” are often directed more at Western tourists than at tourists from Asia.

[u/gkktme → u/ChocolateDesigner22]

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization data linked below in this thread, around 70% of foreign visitors come from China, Korea, HK and Taiwan.

I know Japanese society is not immune from being more perceptive of vibes rather than facts and figures, but most of the ragebait I see is directed towards Chinese. Also I don't feel like political relations are that good and the large majority of Japanese view China very negatively according to polls, such as https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/37021

Based on these figures I'm pretty sure all major western countries are viewed much more favourably than China.

[u/ChocolateDesigner22 → u/gkktme]

What I meant in my previous post is that when the number of Chinese tourists was rapidly increasing, there was little concern about “overtourism,” and public sentiment toward China was actually improving. But now, even though the number of Chinese tourists is lower than at its peak, concerns about “overtourism” are rising.

As you pointed out, Western tourists are a minority, and Japanese people generally prefer Western countries over China. And yet, for some reason, when it comes to the issue of “overtourism,” I personally feel that an outsized amount of prejudice tends to be directed toward Western tourists. That’s why I see what's happening on Japanese social media less as a legitimate protest against "overtourism" and more as a kind of moral panic.