Opinion: The superficial notion of Japanese as 'polite people'
Commentary:
Inbound tourism seems to be at record levels in 2024 and maybe 2025 too, but what has caused the sudden increase in tourists who want to travel to Japan. In 2019, there was a record year of 31 million so all sudden travelers want to travel to Japan.
Many countries in Asia might be just a hospitable as Japan so why Japan and not China or South Korea or any other country in Asia.
Of course the weak Japanese yen might be a big reason to go to Japan as the weak yen gives tourists more purchasing power. But you still have to pay for airline tickets which have gone up significantly since the pandemic.
Foreign tourists in Japan want to experience many things including food that is best or most popular in Japan.
And yes, unfortunately, not all tourists are nice or polite as evidenced by the situation near Mount Fuji and the Lawson convenience store as tourist trying to take pictures and disrupting many of the locals in that small town
Over-tourism has become a major challenge for many cities such as Kyoto which has considered an over-tourism tax that will be charged for those staying in hotels in the Kyoto area.
Yes, these and many other challenges that rude foreigners do in Japan unfortunately these days.
It reminds me of my time on Guam and working at a coffee shop in the largest hotel there, where many foreigners from a certain country which I won't mention didn't know how to be polite in and around the coffee shop area.
A person of the same country said they are new to traveling and haven't learned what is rude and not rude yet in other countries.
Yes, most likely, many travelers from different countries don't know how to be polite when traveling and yes, even those from the US can be the worst sometimes even in 2025.
Even though those examples were about Japan in the 60's and 70's and they were just beginning to travel abroad, but today its just as bad in any country these days.
But fortunately it seems the Japanese have learned how to be more polite when traveling abroad some might suggest the most polite travelers now in the world.
Yes back in the 70's Japanese tourists probably had a superiority complex and might be why they treated others in Asia not so good back then and maybe even some today.
But unfortunately, there are still examples of Japanese immigration treating Caucasians better than those from Asia countries.
But the same can be seen in South Korea too as they sometimes don't treat Asian tourists very good except they want their money of course.
It must be considered that not all Japanese travelers are polite and not all Chinese tourists are bad, as there are good and bad in all countries.
For example, I know of examples of rich Japanese who think they are better than anyone else and they act like it and are very rude to anyone who is not rich.
And yes, there TV shows that like to criticize foreigners in Japan and they only see a few incidents and not look at the big picture related to all the polite foreign travelers from a country, such as China who never cause any problems.
Over-tourism can be very challenging in Japan as the crowds and such could cause some tourists to be less polite and might forget how to be polite in Japan.
Every country probably has experienced its version of international thugs at one or another as people are people and anyone and everyone can be not so polite about something.
And yes, no country is superior to any other country despite what the current US administration thinks at this time.
All countries have good people and not so good people and all countries have polite travelers and not so polite travelers.
Lets stop blaming a few that are not polite and thinking all people from a country are the same way, as some people think. Not all people from a country are the same.
Have a nice day!
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