How Crowded Is Kyoto Now Without International Tourists?

Above, Kinkakuji in 2015. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The last time I was in Kyoto was in October 2015 and all of the popular tourist attractions were teeming

with people. The "overtourism" in Kyoto got so bad in recent years that the locals started complaining.

Well, since early last year when the pandemic started, Kyoto has not been so crowded since foreign tourists have been barred from entering Japan.

A new article in Japan Today takes a look at some of the popular tourist attractions to see how crowed they are (or aren't) these days.

They begin with:

TOKYO - In recent years, Kyoto has been buckling under the strain of overtourism, with congestion, bad behavior, and etiquette problems becoming so widely reported in news reports that some people in Japan now totally avoid going there.

That all changed at the beginning of last year, however, when the coronavirus pandemic shut the country off to international tourism. The normally crowded tourist sites in the ancient capital became a lot quieter, and locals starting visiting again, not only to see the beautiful shrines and temples in the city, but to view them as they used to decades ago, before overtourism stole their quiet beauty.

Now, as the country begins to open up and people start traveling more freely again, there have been mixed reports about the number of tourists in Kyoto, with some reporting that the crowds are back at the city’s magnificent tourist sites.

We decided to take a look for ourselves to see what the crowds are really like right now, so sit back, relax, and join us as we take you on a virtual tour of some of the most popular spots in Kyoto, starting with:

To read more, go here.