(Adnkronos) – How much daily well-being should be sacrificed to favor the tourism boom? This is the question Japanese authorities are asking themselves as they try to manage the inconveniences caused by mass tourism, especially international tourism, which has reached record levels.
In Otaru, a small town on the island of Hokkaido, security checks have been introduced to prevent tourists from stopping on a scenic road, Funami-za, which offers spectacular views of the harbor and the sea. This measure was taken in response to accidents, including the death of a Chinese woman hit by a train while trying to photograph a scene from the Chinese film Cities in Love. The woman’s husband said his wife had not noticed the train arriving as she was focused on the photo.
Tourism in the northern island of Hokkaido has increased significantly, and Otaru – once a quiet town with just over 100,000 inhabitants – has seen unprecedented growth in tourist numbers. In the first half of 2024, approximately 98,000 foreign tourists stayed at least one night in Otaru, the highest figure since 1997. The city is also a popular destination for tourists staying in Sapporo, the main urban center of the island, so the actual number could be even higher. Local authorities have reported that road congestion and difficulty for vehicles to pass have become significant problems, with tourists also encroaching on private property in an attempt to take photos.
Japan saw a record increase in visitors in 2024, with 36.7 million tourists, and the government has set a target of reaching 60 million visitors by the end of the decade. While this influx has brought economic benefits, with tourism spending reaching a total of ¥8 trillion (about 50.8 billion euros), it has also created inconvenience in the most frequented cities and tourist regions. The growth in tourism has been driven by the weakness of the yen and the increased number of international flights to Japan, with tourists mainly coming from South Korea, China and Taiwan.
However, besides the economic benefits, ‘overtourism’ has caused problems such as overcrowding, litter, outdoor drinking and generally inappropriate behavior towards local customs. In response to these episodes, such as the case of a Chilean influencer who filmed himself training on a sacred torii (temple gate), the authorities have begun to take stricter measures. In Tokyo, the news of an American tourist arrested for engraving his family’s names on a torii at the Meiji Jingu shrine caused a stir.
For Mount Fuji, one of the most popular tourist destinations ever, Japanese authorities have introduced various measures to discourage the foreign ‘invasion’, limiting the number of daily visitors, imposing entrance fees and building screens to prevent crowding at certain viewpoints. Recently, the Japan Tourism Agency published 22 pictograms inviting tourists to behave more respectfully, such as traveling light so as not to block access to trains and buses and not to jump queues.
