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Attracting More Tourists

Attracting More Tourists

Old Jul 25, 2016, 9:02 am
  #61  
 
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Originally Posted by AlwaysAisle
お茶の水女子大学、お嬢様大学ではないですか。

Not everybody can be called 「お嬢様」.

I have to talk to you with proper manner. Sorry any previous correspondences was not up to you standard and may have being offensive.

失礼をしました。
いえいえ、どういたしまして。
No, no, no worries.

決して「お嬢様」ではなかったのです。せっかく博士論文の研究に入学しており、彼女たちのように、一日中、 キャンパスの喫茶店に座り込んで、怠けるもんか?
No way was I a "rich young lady." I had gone to all the trouble of enrolling in order to research my thesis, so how could I spend all day sitting in the campus coffee shop, goofing off like them?

Last edited by ksandness; Jul 25, 2016 at 2:18 pm
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Old Jul 25, 2016, 9:17 am
  #62  
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Me thinks the lady doth protest too loudly. Perhaps not お嬢様 but rather お姫様.
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Old Jul 25, 2016, 11:39 am
  #63  
 
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Originally Posted by evergrn
I agree that konbini trash cans, in theory, are for trash generated from konbini purchases. But the reality is, most of the stuff people put in the konbini trash bins has nothing to do with the konbini purchase. Yes there're some konbinis where there's a few chairs for people to sit and consume food they'd just bought. But vast majority of people buy stuff at the konbini and walk right out with it, so there's not going to be much of any immediate trash generated from konbini customers.

I myself use konbini as a trash receptacle, and so does all my family in Jpn. I don't feel bad about doing it since I'm just throwing away a few little things and I'm stopping by to make a purchase. One should not be bringing in garbage from home, and I certainly don't do that, but there're actually people who do it. If you look inside konbini garbage bins, you'll often see plastic bags filled with garbage. And it's not seldom that I see people stop into konbini just to throw away stuff and then take off without shopping. Huge disservice to the konbini, who has to not only pay for the disposal but also sort out trash.
I mean, the vast majority of the trash I ditch in the konbini bins came from a konbini... just not necessarily the konbini I'm tossing it at. That I also learned that if I'm going to be taking up their time and resources like that I'm going to go in and buy something to show that I know it costs them something. Although that just means more trash down the road. And on it goes.
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Old Jul 25, 2016, 12:01 pm
  #64  
 
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Originally Posted by txflyer77
The only policy-type change I would like to see is the lifting of restrictions on solo travelers at ryokans. Finding ryokans that take singles can be trickythere just aren't that many, though at least Rakuten lets you filter for them. I realize that single supplements aren't unique to Japan but they still make solo travel outside the big cities trickier than it needs to be, unless I stick to business hotels.
I've noticed this getting a lot better! A lot more ryokans are offering to put up solo travelers during the week compared to say, 5 years ago, based on personal observation. This is at both high end and mid. I've found that while they may not offer the nicest large tatami rooms for less than two guests, if you book early, there may be regular or smaller regular rooms available for solos.
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Old Jul 25, 2016, 3:13 pm
  #65  
 
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I also toss some trash in Shinkansen trash bins. Usually bento leftovers and a bit of trash from my day bag.

Does anyone else separate their plastics, paper, and trash at business hotels? Some business hotels have the smallest trash bins. Those which have front staff which speak multiple languages should also upgrade their trash can sizes for all the trash a simple depato purchase generates.

Personally, I'd also like more ryokans to offer samue/jinbei in addition to yukata, especially in areas frequented by foreign tourists. Obi can be a bit tricky to tie and I recently saw one Japanese man at dinner who wore his yukata top wide open to mid-chest plus was a man spreader. Sloppy, accidentally dead, or mistaking toilet slippers is one thing, what should not be on display during dinner is another.

Do Prince hotels/resorts charge for children? Offhand, they're the Japanese chain I'd think of as offering rooms sized for families vs budget minded business hotels which usually only fit two. A kids stay/eat free campaign would probably help bring in foreign family travel as many Prince resorts are destination locations with free shuttles to public transit. I've also observed families spending a lot more in retail than I (or a couple) do.

Last edited by freecia; Jul 25, 2016 at 3:27 pm
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Old Jul 25, 2016, 5:27 pm
  #66  
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I'm going to go all controversial and against the grain here, and suggest that Japan drop these stupid tourism targets. It's bad enough as it is with all these ignoramuses from all over the world traipsing around and making a mess out of the finely-balanced web of Japanese society. Japan is a fragile society with too many unspoken rules and constraints, and I don't think these incursions from abroad can be withstood easily by the system as currently structured. And it is this system that makes Japan so intensely fascinating.

Adapting Japan to millions and millions of additional tourists is going to ruin it. I can't even begin to imagine how the infrastructure, standard operating procedures, and overall tin-earedness of the Japanese to foreign things could cope with a doubling of tourists.
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Old Jul 25, 2016, 6:23 pm
  #67  
 
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Originally Posted by Pickles
I'm going to go all controversial and against the grain here, and suggest that Japan drop these stupid tourism targets. It's bad enough as it is with all these ignoramuses from all over the world traipsing around and making a mess out of the finely-balanced web of Japanese society. Japan is a fragile society with too many unspoken rules and constraints, and I don't think these incursions from abroad can be withstood easily by the system as currently structured. And it is this system that makes Japan so intensely fascinating.

Adapting Japan to millions and millions of additional tourists is going to ruin it. I can't even begin to imagine how the infrastructure, standard operating procedures, and overall tin-earedness of the Japanese to foreign things could cope with a doubling of tourists.
I suspect there are more than a few who agree.
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Old Jul 25, 2016, 7:04 pm
  #68  
 
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Originally Posted by Pickles
I'm going to go all controversial and against the grain here, and suggest that Japan drop these stupid tourism targets.
My guess is that most of the people participating in this thread agree with you!

I have definitely found the massive uptick in tourists to detract from my enjoyment of visiting Japan. Not enough to stop me, though! I just go deeper and deeper away from the big main tourist spots.
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Old Jul 25, 2016, 9:58 pm
  #69  
 
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I just try my best to ignore all the other tourists. Haven't been much into going deeper because my reasons for visiting Japan are mostly in Tokyo and Osaka. That and I plan most of my visits as a couple days long at most as stopovers between North America and China.
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Old Jul 26, 2016, 7:39 am
  #70  
 
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Originally Posted by Pickles
I'm going to go all controversial and against the grain here, and suggest that Japan drop these stupid tourism targets. It's bad enough as it is with all these ignoramuses from all over the world traipsing around and making a mess out of the finely-balanced web of Japanese society. Japan is a fragile society with too many unspoken rules and constraints, and I don't think these incursions from abroad can be withstood easily by the system as currently structured. And it is this system that makes Japan so intensely fascinating.

Adapting Japan to millions and millions of additional tourists is going to ruin it. I can't even begin to imagine how the infrastructure, standard operating procedures, and overall tin-earedness of the Japanese to foreign things could cope with a doubling of tourists.
I agree, my personal thought is that Japanese government should not use their resources to increase tourists from outside of Japan. I do think Japan is already getting enough visitors from outside of Japan. Japanese government should put their resources in other area, such as a lot of industries in Japan which brought Japan into international level in 60s, 70s, and 80s, are now not doing well. I think Japanese government should focus on that area to bring more monetary flow into Japan, not tourism.
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Old Jul 26, 2016, 8:59 am
  #71  
 
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Originally Posted by AlwaysAisle
I agree, my personal thought is that Japanese government should not use their resources to increase tourists from outside of Japan. I do think Japan is already getting enough visitors from outside of Japan. Japanese government should put their resources in other area, such as a lot of industries in Japan which brought Japan into international level in 60s, 70s, and 80s, are now not doing well. I think Japanese government should focus on that area to bring more monetary flow into Japan, not tourism.
I think some changes would be good, like dropping the restrictions on single travelers, especially the restrictions on single women, or not allowing lodging and food establishments to ban foreigners.

I'm wondering if Japan really wants the type of tourists who like to recreate their home environment in a foreign country. There are already Western-style hotels, Western fast food chains, and bilingual signs at all the important points.

The determined traveler, the kind who doesn't curl up and whimper at the thought of anything foreign, can navigate Japan quite easily.

I was surprised to meet a young man who spoke no Japanese and had yet found his way to Koya-san on his fourth day in the country. Shortly after first arriving in Japan a few decades ago, I met a woman who also spoke no Japanese and was on her seventh trip, determined to cover the whole country. When I took students to Japan, some did nothing but complain about everything that wasn't just like the U.S., while others headed out on their own on the scheduled free days, explored, and even ended up being "adopted" for the day by Japanese families they encountered.

To a great extent, the question is not for Japan to adjust to visitors, beyond making sure that they don't suffer any discrimination. It's to attract visitors who will be willing to adjust to Japan. Beyond trying to dispel the myths about impossibly high prices, there is little the JTO can do.

I would even say that Japan does a better job of accommodating English speakers than South Korea does.
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Old Jul 26, 2016, 10:12 am
  #72  
 
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I would say another 20M tourists would probably add $25-30B in spend in Japan...so going from 20M to 40M to focus on tourism when there are economic issues is not a bad idea...but like i said, getting there will require a cultural shift.
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Old Jul 26, 2016, 10:55 am
  #73  
 
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I've never been to Japan (besides the airports) but reading the first page of this thread, it sounds like a difficult place to visit for a US American.
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Old Jul 26, 2016, 1:14 pm
  #74  
 
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Originally Posted by CrazyInteg
I've never been to Japan (besides the airports) but reading the first page of this thread, it sounds like a difficult place to visit for a US American.
It's really not. Few countries are easier to travel in than Japan.
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Old Jul 26, 2016, 3:34 pm
  #75  
 
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Originally Posted by txflyer77
Originally Posted by CrazyInteg
I've never been to Japan (besides the airports) but reading the first page of this thread, it sounds like a difficult place to visit for a US American.
It's really not. Few countries are easier to travel in than Japan.
I think this forum is scaring a lot people away from Japan. This is the reason you should not believe what you read on an Internet!

This is my view, I do not think Japanese government should get involved in tourism industry. I think let free market demand and supply lead the direction of tourism industry in Japan, rather than Japanese government getting involved. It is usually not a good idea for a government to get involved in something which should be left in private industry. See, we let Japanese government decide where Tokyo should have an international airport, and then we got Narita. If you have a choice, would you rather fly in and out of Haneda or Narita?

I do think people who have very strong negative opinions about tourism industry in Japan, then let the wallet do the talk.
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