nishimark

Illustrated dos and don'ts when touring Kyoto.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/30/tr...des/index.html

RichardInSF

Not exactly welcoming, is it?

nishimark

Yep, it has that Kyoto feel to it.

acregal

What a great way to welcome tourists there!

At least this has Japanese people in it - usually Japanese illustrations have people with big eyes and brown hair. I was actually pretty confused by the ads for the Kyoto subway - I couldn't tell if they were trying to encourage pedophiles to take upskirt pics of high school girls or have people take the subway.

Japanese people pretty regularly violate some of those as well.

armagebedar

Surprised it's only in English -- I would have thought they'd go for the usual mix of Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia that seems to be common on these sorts of warnings...

mjm

Other than the typical lack of proofreading, conceptually it all seems common sense. If you've lived here. Probably a good idea to remind the tourists.

railroadtycoon

The one posted on the CNN site is the English version, but I've also seen a Chinese version and I'm guessing they are rolling out other languages as they print and translate them.

Some of the items are "common sense" but as you know there are lots of folks out there who lack them. Though some things are useful, like taxi doors.
However if someone is not going to pay attention to the NO PHOTOGRAPHS posted sign at some places, I doubt they are going to pay attention to some pamphlet.

mkjr

This is fantastic!!!! What a great idea.

I could see some - those perhaps who pay lip service to these simple things - being annoyed by this. Me, no way.

I would people in YYZ to respect the smoking rules.

5khours

Thank god we have bureaucrats with free time on their hands.

acregal

At least in Kansai, tons of Japanese people have issues with biking while drunk, parking the bike in the road, giving priority seats to people in need, and canceling at the last minute. The stuff about taking pictures of trains and making room for others is a national thing here.

pdxkankuu

Kyoto (and Japan in general) has tons of ignorant tourists. Why not try to educate them?

I fail to see the problem here. >.>

basscadet75

The problem is no one wants to believe they're the problem.

I'm not sure what it is about Kyoto, but it definitely has a greater share of poorly-behaved English-speaking tourists than other places I've been to in Japan. It's probably partially that so many tourists there seem to be in large groups (class trips, adult tour groups), which makes it easier to feel like you're in a traveling bubble of your own culture, not somebody else's. As both a westerner and someone who's used to tourists in my own hometown (New York), *I* get annoyed at a lot of the western tourists in Kyoto and how they behave. So I can only imagine what the residents there must think.

abmj-jr

I don't want to point fingers at my fellow Americans as I see other tourists behaving just as badly. I think a significant percentage of tourists are inexperienced in different cultures and see the temples and palaces of Imperial Japan as some sort of theme park rather than as a city where people live, work, pray and generally have their existence. They behave as they would in Disneyland or someplace similar. Everything is so different that it just doesn't seem real.

Also, with the advent of less expensive travel, we see folks who just shouldn't be allowed out without a keeper. I am reminded of a redneck who, upon seeing a lovely and elegant young lady visiting a temple in kimono, loudly exclaimed to his wife - "look, its one of them geeshas." Worse was the Aussie who, upon seeing me first ask permission and then photograph another young kimono-clad girl, ran over and grabbed her, putting his arm around her so his wife could get a picture of him with her. The girl looked terrified. I quickly apologized to her even though I wasn't at fault. When I tried to explain the problem to the guy he just stared at me like I was speaking Greek. I had gotten my picture so why shouldn't he? Reminded me of tourists getting photos with Goofy or Mickey at D-land. The difference, of course, was that the girl was not an actor in costume, put there for photos.

You see "clueless tourist syndrome" everywhere. I don't see a problem with trying to educate a few of them.

mjm

Throughout the country there are classless and/or ignorant people who will do these things yes. Kansai is no exception in that regard unfortunately. The vast majority of Japanese when acting and reacting in public however will be more likely to adhere to the rules than not. It is a group culture. America has no such thing. Individuality is prized and this leads to a lack of group manners. Remember outliers and exceptions are, well, just that.

evergrn

This is just part of Jpn's warning-obsessive, quick-to-admonish culture. That aspect of the culture has bred many positives. So I can understand to an extent. But as Richard says, this is not a very welcoming message and I wonder if it's worth it. To be fair, Japanese people can also be guilty of poor manners, too. In some settings (like onsen), they can be worse than foreigners.