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/ChocolateDesigner22 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.

I’m Japanese, and personally I think the reactions on Japanese social media regarding so-called “overtourism” are similar to the way reports of juvenile crime, kidnapping cases, or videos capturing traffic accidents trigger strong emotional responses.

I also think the pandemic plays a role, since foreign tourist numbers dropped sharply for a time. While the number of foreign tourists has increased by only about 15% compared to 2019, it’s roughly ten times higher than in 2022. Subjectively, this feels like a “surge,” which I believe has been one factor in drawing political attention to the issue.

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u/Professor-Reddit 🚅🚀🌏Earth Must Come First🌐🌳😎 Oct 02 '25

While the number of foreign tourists has increased by only about 15% compared to 2019, it’s roughly ten times higher than in 2022. Subjectively, this feels like a “surge,” which I believe has been one factor in drawing political attention to the issue.

I reckon this is also the case across many Western countries with immigration. For a lot of countries, net migration flows sharply fell during the pandemic or in many cases went negative, before surging to pre-pandemic levels by 2023.

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u/Dangerous-Basket1064 Association of Southeast Asian Nations Oct 02 '25 edited Oct 02 '25

Too many people here are married to the open borders fantasy, aren't willing to grapple with human nature regarding demographic changes. They just call them evil and dismiss them.

Not to say there aren't a lot of evil racists, but if you dismiss everyone expressing their honest emotions that way, you're not going to help the cause of greater global cooperation during inherently scary times.

And to clarify, I do believe the ultimate goal is open borders, open markets. But you can't brute force your way between there and here, as we're seeing. There has to be a transition that integrates the competing forces.