Japan's Foreign Tourism Boom Struggle

Above, the stage of Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto. Kyoto is practically overrun by overseas tourists, and the
residents don’t like it, despite the boost to the local economy, according to the article. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan is on the way to achieving or surpassing its foreign tourism goals. The problem is that tourist-oriented businesses are hard-pressed to accommodate foreigners.

The Japan Times has an article on Japan's struggle in dealing with the foreign tourism boom.

They begin with:

With the population shrinking and the government leery of allowing more immigrants into the country, foreign tourism has become an effective economic stimulus. In fact, its success has exceeded anyone’s wildest dreams. More than 28 million tourists from abroad visited Japan last year, and it seems for sure that the stated goal of reaching 40 million tourists a year by 2020 will be achieved if not surpassed, with or without legalized casino gambling, which is part of the official tourism plan. 

That said, a downside has emerged — something the media is calling “kankō kōgai,” or “tourism pollution.” However effective the tourism promotion scheme has been, it didn’t take into account the numbers that actually materialized, nor the fact that many places, even those ostensibly set up for tourism, are not capable of handling the amount of traffic they’ve seen.

To read more, go here.