There is a meme circulating that the typical millennial midlife disaster unfolds like this:
- Take up operating.
- Make home crops your whole character.
- Purchase an air fryer.
- Begin planning a visit to Japan.
Initially, ouch. However second of all, the accuracy.
The attract of Japan has known as to travellers (younger and outdated, for the report) for years, however particularly because the finish of the COVID-19 pandemic. The distinctive mixture of cultural traditions and cutting-edge modernity, its emphasis on wellness and aesthetic of consolation, and its pure landscapes and widespread points of interest are simply a part of what makes Japan so interesting to many.
Final yr, Japan was named the perfect nation to go to on this planet by the Conde Nast Readers’ Alternative Awards.
And now, bolstered by a weak yen, it is also extra reasonably priced, resulting in an unprecedented journey growth that noticed the nation cross the 10-million customer mark at its fastest-ever tempo this yr. For a lot of, it is a great addition, after tourism to Japan was all however halted for greater than two years through the pandemic, because the nation put up a few of the world’s strictest border controls.
However now as Japan grapples with the surge, it has a brand new downside: overtourism, with crowds affecting every little thing from a few of its most sacred traditions to growing housing and resort costs.
“I am blissful there are such a lot of guests to Japan, however I am agonizing on daily basis,” Yoshiki Kojima, who owns an IT firm, advised the Japan Occasions in January about his struggles to search out reasonably priced resort rooms for his staff after they journey to Tokyo.
“I’ve already given up,” Natsuki Sato, a mom who realized she couldn’t afford to purchase a house as a result of she lives close to a widespread ski resort the place tourism has pushed up property costs, advised the Australian Broadcasting Company on April 12.
And now, to assist cope, a few of Japan’s hottest tourism locations are reportedly rolling out a two-tier pricing system on every little thing from eating places to theme parks.
International demand for matcha is skyrocketing, however consultants say Japan’s restricted manufacturing and declining variety of tea farmers are inflicting provide shortages. As Leanne Yu reviews, some Vancouver companies hope by straight sourcing from matcha farms, it should assist reduce the affect.
Canadian visits on the rise
Arrivals of overseas guests for enterprise and leisure reached 3.5 million final month, bringing the full via the primary quarter to 10.54 million, information from the Japan Nationwide Tourism Group (JNTO) confirmed.
Final yr, Japan reached 10 million guests in April.
For the entire of 2025, vacationer arrivals are on tempo to eclipse final yr’s all-time degree of 36.87 million. The nation’s famed cherry blossom season helped enhance demand in March, which noticed report arrivals for any single month amongst travellers from the US and Canada, the JNTO mentioned.
And Canada was among the many high 20 international locations whose residents have visited Japan just lately, with 44,500 visits from Canadians recorded in February alone, up 31 per cent from final February. Over 550,000 Canadian vacationers visited final yr, up 37 per cent from the yr earlier than.
Proper now, $1 Cdn will get you about 103 yen — or in different phrases, a bowl of ramen can value about $5, and a normal resort room about $200 an evening.
The weak point of the yen towards the Canadian greenback is an enormous draw proper now, says Aaron Petrowitsch, 32, a Calgarian who travelled to Tokyo and Kyoto for his honeymoon in February.
“Lots of people do not need to journey to the States proper now, and truthful sufficient,” Petrowitsch advised CBC Information. “However different locations the place your cash goes a good distance, Japan is unquestionably a type of locations.”
He and his spouse Sarah had initially deliberate a visit to Japan in 2020, which they needed to cancel on account of COVID-19 journey restrictions. After they rebooked for his or her honeymoon, Petrowitsch says he was pleasantly shocked that the journey could be extra reasonably priced than it might have been 5 years in the past.
“It is getting increasingly widespread, that is for certain,” Petrowitsch mentioned, including that about two weeks after he obtained again to Calgary, a colleague of his travelled to Japan together with his girlfriend, and he is aware of a minimum of one different colleague planning a visit.
Overtourism
However as extra vacationers flock to Japan, a lot of them impressed by social media, what’s known as overtourism has turn out to be a scorching matter.
“The problem shouldn’t be a lot with too many individuals going to Japan, however with too many individuals going to the identical locations whereas they’re there,” James Mundy of Inside Japan defined on the Accountable Journey web site.
“What vacationers and native communities need to do shouldn’t be typically harmonized,” Kenji Hamamoto of the Japan Tourism Company advised Journey Voice, a Japanese journey information website, in January.
Some areas and points of interest have taken additional measures. The historic geisha district of Gion in Kyoto, for example, has banned vacationers from a few of its alleyways and personal streets in an try to manage those that have reportedly tried to drive geisha and maiko to pose for images or touched their kimonos.
Vacationers flocking Kamakura for a photograph op have turn out to be so problematic that the city had so as to add safety guards to maintain individuals away from its famed railway crossing.
And in Fujikawaguchiko, so many individuals have blocked roads or trespassed to get an Instagram-famous picture of the Lawson Comfort Store by Mount Fuji that authorities needed to put up a barrier to dam the view. (They finally, quietly, took it again down, CNN reviews.)
In the meantime, a 400-year-old temple in Kyoto has been suffering from litter and unauthorized picture shoots. And Mount Fuji has turn out to be so overcrowded and littered by vacationers that some have known as it “trash mountain.”
Two-tier pricing?
To handle overtourism, some vacationer hotspots are growing their costs. Beginning in July, anybody who climbs Mount Fuji must pay 4,000 yen, or about $39 Cdn, for a allow — double the worth of final yr’s so-called “vacationer tax.”
Beginning subsequent yr, Himeji Citadel in western Japan will cost vacationers greater than double its regular charge. A brand new nature-themed park known as Junglia Okinawa is charging 8,000 yen for a one-day cross for vacationers, versus 6,300 yen for residents.
It has been reported that some eating places are charging a vacationer tax, akin to an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant in Tokyo that gives a reduction for residents of Japan.
And in 2023, officers rolled out a 100-yen vacationer tax to guests at Miyajima, house to the UNESCO World Heritage Itsukushima Shrine, to anybody coming into “by boat.”
Petrowitsch, from Calgary, says he did not actually discover a two-tier system on his go to, and when there was a cheaper price for Japanese locals, it was “minimal.” He additionally says it probably will not deter him from visiting once more, except the value distinction turns into drastic.
“We had such a good time.”
