Educating Tourists
- Thread starter Ukigumo
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- 26 Sep 2015
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- 26 Sep 2015
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Those were exactly the issues I was thinking of!
- 14 Mar 2002
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Well, she was a young, lean gymnast after all. That torii would probably crack under my weight.
Ukigumo
Sempai
- 15 Mar 2025
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- #7
Did she suffer any penalty for this? Imagine the uproar if this was done from a crucifix in a Chilean Catholic church
I was in Lincoln Cathedral (England) last summer and witnessed Chinese tourists picking up Bibles and posing held up next to their laughing faces, whilst leaning against the main alter. Church of England worshippers are too mild-mannered to have intervened
I was in Lincoln Cathedral (England) last summer and witnessed Chinese tourists picking up Bibles and posing held up next to their laughing faces, whilst leaning against the main alter. Church of England worshippers are too mild-mannered to have intervened
- 6 Mar 2003
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Surely a million visitors should allow them the budget to add some public trashcans.
- 12 Oct 2013
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Yeah, I thought that video went out of the way to find fault with the foreigners, too.
Eating ice cream while sitting on the stone ledge, leaving cucumbers on the counter while continuing to shop for veggies...it was all very petty. And it wasn't as if the shopkeepers were irate about it. I don't even know if they complained. It seemed the camera crew was determined to make an issue out of the super minor infractions.
"We Japanese don't put our items on the counter.." I stopped watching somewhere around there.
Eating ice cream while sitting on the stone ledge, leaving cucumbers on the counter while continuing to shop for veggies...it was all very petty. And it wasn't as if the shopkeepers were irate about it. I don't even know if they complained. It seemed the camera crew was determined to make an issue out of the super minor infractions.
"We Japanese don't put our items on the counter.." I stopped watching somewhere around there.
- 3 Aug 2007
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I don't see what the issue with any of them were honestly. The couple from New Zealand putting a package of cucumbers, that they were buying, on the counter was nonsensical to complain about. I have sometimes been holding a bunch of items in my hand when there was no cart or basket available and have had the employees say I could set them on the counter while I was looking. And I feel like the jab against the German guy was really pushing it. He was trying to make sure he did the right thing and the narrator was acting like he should have already known.
I would like to say, those first couple guys speaking in the beginning of the video, I don't think they would have been able to answer if you asked them for examples of the "various things" were. They are like the nuts here who blame foreigners for everything when they themselves often cause more issues then the those they complain against.
I would like to say, those first couple guys speaking in the beginning of the video, I don't think they would have been able to answer if you asked them for examples of the "various things" were. They are like the nuts here who blame foreigners for everything when they themselves often cause more issues then the those they complain against.
One change in tenor:
At/in the Omicho market is that now you can walk around and easily buy various 'street foods' that you can eat right then and there (eg, skewers). Some years ago that was not possible/available--plenty of things to take home to prepare and cook, but nothing precooked that you'd then eat while standing there.
It could easily be as busy then as it is now, but none of the crowd would be eating anything.
Not all arrivals are by train or plane. Those numbers at least may not be so overwhelming. Here are two shots of the port here--the first is a smaller ship at the dedicated "cruise terminal", and the second (because it's larger) parks/berths farther away. This is thousands of people arriving all at once--I've seen dozens of buses lined up to ferry people from here to the various sights. The logistics must be challenging.
At/in the Omicho market is that now you can walk around and easily buy various 'street foods' that you can eat right then and there (eg, skewers). Some years ago that was not possible/available--plenty of things to take home to prepare and cook, but nothing precooked that you'd then eat while standing there.
It could easily be as busy then as it is now, but none of the crowd would be eating anything.
Not all arrivals are by train or plane. Those numbers at least may not be so overwhelming. Here are two shots of the port here--the first is a smaller ship at the dedicated "cruise terminal", and the second (because it's larger) parks/berths farther away. This is thousands of people arriving all at once--I've seen dozens of buses lined up to ferry people from here to the various sights. The logistics must be challenging.
- 12 Oct 2013
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I didn't see the end of the video, so I don't know if any of those shopkeepers had any serious concerns, like; "when the foreigners sit on the curb, they block the entrance, so we're losing money" or "when foreigners put things on the counter, we are unable to make space for other customers, and so we are losing business", etc... I can see how those kinds of issues would be a headache for a small shopkeeper. But from what little I saw, like the guys sitting on the ledge eating ice cream, they weren't harming anyone, and weren't blocking anything. The old couple who put their cucumbers on the counter were obviously still shopping and maybe had no place else to put them, and, again, it didn't look like any major inconvenience to the shopkeeper. Also, in the US, you might be seen as suspicious if you wander too far from the cash register with merchandise in your hand, so maybe the old couple were trying to be thoughtful in their own way.
Anyway, it felt like that particular news crew was out on a mission to find annoying foreigner behavior™, and those minor things were the best they could come up with. So when the news crew puts a microphone in front of the shopkeeper's face and says, "don't you find it annoying when foreigners cause a nuisance?", the shopkeeper is obviously going to say yes. That is the essence of media-manufactured outrage.
I do think there are real problems when foreigners don't understand the rules and cause legitimate problems. Things like wearing shoes indoors and tearing up tatami mats in ryokan. Or going into a restaurant and demanding particular accommodations, when the staff only speaks Japanese. I have no problem with shops putting up signs saying, "we only speak Japanese", or that ice cream shop could put up a sign saying "don't sit here" (assuming its a real problem). But Japan needs foreign tourism, to some extent, and its Japan's stated policy to increase tourism, so somebody has to figure out how to manage the influx of people who don't conform to society's expectations.
(Plus, I bet there are Japanese customers who sit on that ledge and eat ice-cream as well... it seems perfect for sitting down and eating ice-cream on a hot day.)
- 6 Mar 2003
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I agree this video is trying to make something out of almost nothing.
1. First it talks about excessive crowds. As if there aren't times when hordes of domestic Japanese tourists cause the same kind of crowds at certain places.
2. Next a guy comments about people sitting on the ground. Curious to see what the next part of that discussion was. Logically it should be, we should add some public benches. Or maybe it was, they should squat like they're taking a Japanese sh*t like the Japanese do. And then they couldn't even find an image of people sitting "directly on the ground." They were actually sitting on stone blocks that were conveniently seat height. My son did that exact same thing last summer in that exact area (while the rest of us went to a gold-leaf ice cream shop) as were others.
3. And then the cucumber counter "incident." Ridiculous. The least they could have done was get the proprietor to feign disgust.
4. And quite surprised about the German guy who said they keep the wooden skewers for next time they buy a bento. Really? But even then they couldn't find a person throwing something out in the wrong category.
But the manner posters they came up with to solve the "problems" do make sense. Let people know what's expected of them.
1. First it talks about excessive crowds. As if there aren't times when hordes of domestic Japanese tourists cause the same kind of crowds at certain places.
2. Next a guy comments about people sitting on the ground. Curious to see what the next part of that discussion was. Logically it should be, we should add some public benches. Or maybe it was, they should squat like they're taking a Japanese sh*t like the Japanese do.
And then they couldn't even find an image of people sitting "directly on the ground." They were actually sitting on stone blocks that were conveniently seat height. My son did that exact same thing last summer in that exact area (while the rest of us went to a gold-leaf ice cream shop) as were others.3. And then the cucumber counter "incident." Ridiculous. The least they could have done was get the proprietor to feign disgust.
4. And quite surprised about the German guy who said they keep the wooden skewers for next time they buy a bento. Really? But even then they couldn't find a person throwing something out in the wrong category.
But the manner posters they came up with to solve the "problems" do make sense. Let people know what's expected of them.
- 26 Sep 2015
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The video reminds me of some of the weasel NHK news reports towards the end of the pandemic that had people 'debating' whether it was safe for Japan to let in foreign tourists (despite earlier in the year celebrating that Japanese people can once again visit Hawaii during Golden Week!). In these news reports, you'd get a few worried-looking shopkeepers in tourist areas and people on the streets making vague comments, all carefully edited to ensure that nothing directly anti-foreigner was broadcast but giving the viewer a sense of unease about foreign tourists. And these reports were usually strategically placed immediately after one giving some bad news about Covid. If people want to look at factors causing anti-foreigner sentiment in Japan, they could start with such examples of oh-so-polite xenophobia.I agree this video is trying to make something out of almost nothing.
1. First it talks about excessive crowds. As if there aren't times when hordes of domestic Japanese tourists cause the same kind of crowds at certain places.
2. Next a guy comments about people sitting on the ground. Curious to see what the next part of that discussion was. Logically it should be, we should add some public benches. Or maybe it was, they should squat like they're taking a Japanese sh*t like the Japanese do.
3. And then the cucumber counter "incident." Ridiculous. The least they could have done was get the proprietor to feign disgust.
4. And quite surprised about the German guy who said they keep the wooden skewers for next time they buy a bento. Really? But even then they couldn't find a person throwing something out in the wrong category.
But the manner posters they came up with to solve the "problems" do make sense. Let people know what's expected of them.
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- 6 Mar 2003
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I should add that on my trip there last month I probably did add to the anti-foreigner sentiment for at least one person. I was at the Yurakucho Bic Camera where there were hordes of tourists including myself. I was in the toiletries section and I made the terrible faux pax of unscrewing the (unsealed) cap off some cheap facial soap to check the scent. Just as I did that a clerk saw me and scolded me, telling me not to open containers. I gave him a sumimasendeshita and screwed the top back. No harm done to the product, only to the reputation of gaijin.
- 26 Sep 2015
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YOU ARE RUINING JAPAN FOR LAW-ABIDING FOREIGNERS LIKE ME!
- 14 Mar 2002
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You got away cheaply! I hope you were bowing profusely, at least.
Perhaps we residents should get some of these:
...or the French tricolor 
- 2 Jun 2005
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Oh wow have not heard the name Amy Chavez in years, so she is still out there. I doubt many casual tourists want to buy a book on etiquette and study it before their visit but maybe I am wrong. Those we see in the news are so really extreme like hanging from a tori and would not be fixed by such a book.
Ukigumo
Sempai
- 15 Mar 2025
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- #24
I didn't know the author was 'famous'.
I suppose you're right, the casual tourist won't read such a book before embarking on a visit of Japan. I do think a little pamphlet on etiquette could be given out on inward coming planes, perhaps sponsored by the Japanese tourist board or Sanseitō!
- 26 Sep 2015
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I think the Lonely Planet guide to Japan circa 2002 had the right idea. Be polite by the standards of your own country, and you'll be fine. All this stuff about etiquette booklets and, worse still, books is overkill and contributes to this 'unique Japan' nonsense.
