While Kyoto has always been among the nation’s top travel destinations, the surge in inbound tourism is creating overtourism woes in a city where the travel infrastructure isn’t on the same large scale as Tokyo or Osaka.
But in addition to some unpleasant side effects stemming from Kyoto’s sky-high popularity with overseas visitors, the city’s tourism scene is now also being affected by certain aspects of the traditional Japanese travel experience that foreign tourists are less enthusiastic about.
With Kyoto being considered the heart of classical Japanese culture, many visitors to the city opt to stay in ryokan, Japanese-style inns. Ryokan don’t just offer classical accommodations, though, they usually offer in-room meals as well, and the orthodox plan is to book a package that includes dinner for each night you’re staying, along with breakfast the following morning. Ryokan meals, especially dinner, are typically served in-room and feature a wide array of traditional dishes such as grilled fish and nimono (simmered meats and vegetables), with the exact fare chosen by the chef.
▼ Nimono
Many ryokan take great pride in their food, with some becoming as famous for their cuisine as their guestrooms. However, some Kyoto ryokan are paring back their meal offerings, and some abolishing them entirely, following lukewarm receptions from foreign travelers.
That might seem odd, considering that Japanese food has never been more popular internationally than it is now, and that “eat Japanese food” is almost always one of the first answers tourists give when asked what they want to do in Japan. However, many of the most popular Japanese dishes overseas, like ramen, curry rice, or wagyu steak, aren’t usual components of ryokan dining. Sushi is also rarely part of a ryokan meal, and even sashimi is usually a minor side dish, not the main focus, especially at ryokan in far-from-the-coast locations like Kyoto.
In other words, there’s sometimes a sizable gap between the kind of Japanese food that foreign travelers envision when they book a with-meals ryokan package and the Japanese food that they’re actually served. The expectations-versus-reality discrepancy is probably particularly large at ryokan in Kyoto, since many of the foods the city is famous for among Japanese travelers, such as yudofu (simmered tofu) or dishes made with locally sourced Kyo-yasai (Kyoto-grown vegetables) feature subtle seasoning and delicate flavors. This is leading to cases of large portions of meals going uneaten, foreign travelers attempting to cancel their meal reservations mid-stay (despite the ryokan having already committed to purchasing the necessary ingredients), and requests for partial refunds which require ryokan to attempt to coordinate with overseas credit card companies with whom they have no common language to communicate in.
There’s also the more straightforward issue of foreign travelers who have done their homework realizing that their ryokan’s meals don’t appeal to them, and who thus book a no-meals package.
But even if foreign travelers aren’t showing high demand for Kyoto ryokan meals, can’t the ryokan still keep offering them based on demand from Japanese travelers? That’s easier said than done. With the inbound tourism boom, foreign guests now outnumber Japanese ones at some ryokan, sometimes by a very wide margin. With Japanese guests being the minority, and not even all of them opting for meal packages, it’s becoming prohibitively difficult for some ryokan to continue with the expenses of maintaining and staffing a kitchen if only a small fraction of their guests are eating at the inn.
Ryokan facing this problem have been coping in various ways. Some have started offering breakfast only, sometimes shifting to a breakfast buffet with simpler fare such as rice, miso soup, toast, or curry, more in line with what’s offered at budget-conscious business hotels, and serving the unclaimed leftovers to the staff. Others have switched to offering bento boxed meals instead, a much smaller-scale operation than the traditional multi-course meals. Then there are those ryokan which have simply called it quits entirely as far as cooking goes, and now act as intermediaries for foreign travelers wishing to book a table at restaurants outside of the inn.
It’s worth noting that even among domestic Japanese travelers, especially budget-minded or adventurous ones, there are those who prefer to book ryokan stays without meals, preferring to explore the city’s restaurant scene at night and grab a quick bite to eat from a convenience store in the morning. With inbound foreign tourism being especially influential in Kyoto these days, though, a lack of demand from the demographic could cause major shifts in whether the city’s ryokan keep cooking or not.
Source: Toyo Keizai via Livedoor News via Jin
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
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-- Japan’s 10 best ryokan inns and top 10 hotels, as chosen by foreign visitors
-- Travel back in time to this timeless Japanese hot spring inn from the Taisho period【Photos】
© SoraNews24
26 Comments
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Jolyon
Instead of giving up, the ryokan should find out what their visitors ACTUALLY want and devise a menu that offers a range of dishes that caters for their customers.
divinda
Hopefully they stop giving heaping portions of rice which western customers rarely eat much of anyway (and when they do, they first douse it with a heap of soy sauce).
According to government reasoning, this will apparently take the increased demand off the domestic rice market and the prices for us normal consumers will dramatically fall back to normal.
falseflagsteve
It’s horrid and old fashioned you see. An aquired taste for a tourist for sure. I went to one of them places once, never again I’m afraid. Modern hotels for me, I enjoy comfort and you can get that comfort at a good price in Japan.
wallace
Last November, we stayed in a beautiful Ryokan near Fujii with a suite room, western beds, and its own little onsen that my wife and I enjoyed together. In the evening, we had a 12-course Kaiseki meal. The best we never had. With tuna jaw, never had that before. Great breakfast. We paid a bit more than for a hotel room. We'' be going back to that place.
When we visit a foreign country, we want to eat the food of the country.
Wasabi
When you decided to come to Japan you must accept everything. If you do not like it, do not eat it and go to MacDoc if you like.
Japan do not need to change their tradition because of visiteur.
wallace
I would not visit any country where I didn't want to eat the food. I know many do. Brits on their fortnight summer holidays want to eat "fish&chips" every night without trying the wonderful Spanish cuisine.
BB
I had to host a high-flying work colleague who claimed she loved sushi. We went to a nice place and sat at the counter for an 'omakase' course. She refused to eat half the items placed on her plate, so I had to quietly grab them. Never again. The ones who think they know are the worst.
deanzaZZR
I'm pretty sure visitors from East Asians by and large are very happy with the amazing Kaisei meals served in Kyoto.
Breakfast could be the most challenging for Westerners who do not expect fish, rice and miso.
deanzaZZR
@Jolyon They should contact the staff before they arrive if they have special food needs. When visiting mountainous areas we now let them know that we do not eat horse meat for example.
GuruMick
Tourists are morons mostly, if complaining about the food.
I read some fools review of a Mt.Koya San temple lodging food...."oooh too bland "
Bring some of your own Tabasco, smuggle in a 6 pack of beer, and some pork crackers.
Then ask yourself...."why am I an intolerant person unable to handle a change in diet for 1 or 2 days "?
finally rich
Can't blame the poor fellas...whenever I'm in a situation that gets me with no other option but to eat the (mostly pricy) traditional banquet of kaiseki ryori, I start getting hungry again the minute I'm looking for my shoes to go home, nothing else in mind but a succulent whopper or the like.
BarfoCrapa
Why not offer airplane food? Or have refrigerators and microwave ovens in the room with TV dinners ready for guests. While we're at it, we can get rid of the tatami floors and replace them with carpets so we don't have to take off our shoes. Ice and beverages down the hall next to the fire exit and elevators. Lose the sliding doors and all that stuff. C'mon, get with the times, Kyoto!
wallace
I'm just back from having a very tasty Kaiseki lunch in a hotel on a mountain with views of the Seto Sea. ¥3,500 including tax, no service charge.
MattoGatto
When we travel to another country, we want only local cuisine, always.
Newintokyo
As the saying goes, When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
zulander
I don't like paying extra to sleep on the floor.
To each his own.
wallace
No one sleeps on the floor in a ryokan.
Yarnaby
I will try most food and was raised to not 揀飲擇食, but that’s not everyone. It’s nice if people can at least give food new to them a try; however, if they tried it and didn’t like it, that can’t really be helped either. Plenty of ramen, sushi and steak restaurants everywhere. Maybe after a few days of big bold flavours, some might be in the mood for subtle and delicate. Or not, which is also fine (it’s their vacation to do as they please).
Cosell
Sounds interesting. Think I'll give it a go.
HopeSpringsEternal
It's a classic case of expectations being too high and busy hotels being short-staffed and struggling with food and other inflation etc. Naturally, they're cutting corners to save time and money, so the 'experience' suffers.
Nobody should be surprised, Japan's suffering huge labor shortages and hotels are among the worst. Making it even worse, these same tourists have a largely positive surprise buying food at Convenience Stores!
chatanista
wallaceToday 02:32 pm JST
I'm just back from having a very tasty Kaiseki lunch in a hotel on a mountain with views of the Seto Sea. ¥3,500 including tax, no service charge.
Very nice. That is a pretty good price for a Kaiseki and a sea view..
albaleo
Is that not because many Japanese find Kyoto food terrible? I'm thinking especially of those from Osaka.
wallace
chatanista
Hotel Manyo Cape
ホテル 万葉岬
https://www.manyoumisaki.jp/
https://www.manyoumisaki.jp/restaurant/
aaronagstring
Hang on, weren’t foreigners being blamed for the lack of rice? Now they don’t like traditional Japanese fayre…..? Which is it?
virusrex
Not really, people travel to have new experiences, but that does not mean that they have to accept everything, some of the new experiences can simply be that the tourists become aware they don't like some things and that is fine.
One of those traditions being omotenashi, or trying to please guests as much as possible, many places will find this a tradiction that they don't want to change even if you tell them to do it.
Diver Down
If you don't like sleeping on a futon on a tatami, book a business hotel or a western room. If you don't like traditional kaiseki style cuisine, don't book a traditional ryokan. Traditional ryokans are a package deal experience, from the initial welcoming, the tatami room, enjoying some tea with a sweet, taking a great bath in their onsens and very much enjoying the cuisine. Of course tourists don't have to like everything they find in the country they visit, but there should not be a guarantee to find your usual western food wherever you want either. Japan can offer normal beds and westernized food outside of a ryokan. Don't push to change the ryokan experience just to please a few people who don't want to experience it or don't like it. Nobody is forcing them to go to these ryokans.