Tradition vs tourism debate clouding future for famed local festivals

Japan: slowly starting to realize that there are other people in the world.

Sorry. Don’t see the benefit of reducing residents’ access to already-crowded local festivals for the benefit of spoiled, wealthy overseas visitors.

Apparently unpopular opinion: Japan is being ruined by tourism.

The Aomori Nebuta festival was in no fear of not attracting visitors to see it, they just wanted to cash in on the rich foreign visitors that come to see it. And as for the temple priest, for you it is a religious event, but for even the majority of Japanese it is a show, so who cares if they drink alcohol. And you can be damn sure that the locals are drinking everywhere as well! Hypocrite!

Why not open dedicated theme parks for the most famous o-matsuri such as the Gion and Nebuta - and have re-creations of the festival floats and ceremonies for foreign tourists?

That way, it would have a lot of the tourists in a specific site to satisfy their curiosity for the ancient festivals, they could eat and drink alcohol to their hearts content (and not have to worry about incurring the wrath of Shinto priests for doing so). The theme parks would boost employment in the area for part-time actors and caterers, translators and so on.

Ninja and Samurai replica "villages" have been very popular and lucrative - not to mention many castles in Japan are recently built replicas - so why not think outside the box a little?

I've lived in Japan over three decades. Alcohol has always been available at the majority of festivals I've attended. Especially in Kansai.

Weird article, mixing 2 different things at times.

Locals have been searching for ways, sometimes with little success, to keep their traditional events alive, or just revive them to a point where they can emulate some of their past glories.

The festivals selling premium seats are certainly not the ones having troble to survive.

Tourism.... Premium seats, some certainly is japanese tourism too.

Alcohol is a big part of every matsuri I've been too, not selling it at the VIP seats is a bit weird, but who cares really. Go drink afterwards.

If they're getting 140,000 in attendance, they aren't worried about "the survival of the festival." They're worried about how to bring in more cash.

the Yoiyama float procession parade, the Gion Festival's showcase event designated in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, alone drew roughly 140,000 people to watch along its route on July 17, 2024.

> The decision to introduce exclusive seats demonstrates the lengths Japanese municipalities feel they need to go to ensure the survival of their festivals,

I’ve been to a lot of local festivals in many different areas. They are a great part of Japanese culture. These festivals should be kept whatever it takes.

Asking 140,000 people to donate a few coins each, chucking them into a giant offering box on a slow moving truck should pull in some cash.

The religious festivals I've been to have not been solemn occasions. Japanese people know how to have a good time.

As for alcohol, the geisha district of Kyoto has always been sustained by hospitality that involved sake. The route into Meiji Jingu Shrine in Tokyo is walled with sake barrels. Sake brewing was done in shrines and temples at some periods of Japanese history. There are even Shinto rituals that include drinking sake.

Sit the rich folks at windows where they can get a good view of events, and be served more discretely.

Excessive financial demands on event holders aren't restricted to Japan. Quite a few events in the UK have been cancelled recently due to expensive health and safety requirements, despite having been held for decades without them. These demands will end them eventually.

Fight: There is one in the exhibition centre dedicated to the float of the Aomori Netuba on the Aomori docks.

Sometimes you're hot, sometimes you're not.

Looking forward to the "tourist bubble " bursting and the chattering class moving on to the next destination.

Then headlines will bemoan the "death of local events due to small crowds"

We always enjoy a good matsuri.

KazukoHarmonyToday  07:20 am JST

Sorry. Don’t see the benefit of reducing residents’ access to already-crowded local festivals for the benefit of spoiled, wealthy overseas visitors.

It’s called MONEY. That’s the bottoms line!!!!!

Cue the Ohio Players: Money. Money money money moh-nay. Give me cash money.

"It was uncomfortable for me to see spectators drinking alcohol as if they were watching a show (in 2023). We agreed that we wanted to make a better Gion Festival," said Nomura, who ultimately compromised and remained on the board.

Yeah, sure. He gets his (probably very sizable) cut either way. I bet nobody has ever consumed alcohol while watching that show. Uh-huh. What's the new term for this again? Virtue signaling.

There’s a fine line between religion and business. It’s often difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins.

Japan either adapts to new ways of pulling in the cash or the people will have to learn to cope with hunger (again)

Premium seating is catering to the wealthy and a money-grab. Festivals were and should remain for the people - first come, first serve.

Many of these that are now charging for the best spots on the routes never have had attracting people. In fact, they seem to have gotten more and more crowded over the years.

Alchohol and matsuris go hand-in-hand in Japan and always have. Even more so in the past. It's very big part of these festivals whether "religious" or not.

Has the elephant in the room been addressed? An aging population that shrinks by nearly a million per year has a very hard time attracting enough youth to carry on its traditions. Add to that the competition from anime, sports and K-pop and traditional events can barely compete, if at all. Population decline is carving out Japan's traditions, along with internationalisation.

Weird article, mixing 2 different things at times.

Yep, its a bit "throw enough modernity-based problem mud at the wall of tourism and see what sticks".

Matsuri, even little local ones, need huge amounts of preparation and volunteering. This may not be such a problem for big ones in regional cities, but is a huge issue in depopulating little towns. Our local one now carries the omikoshi around the neighbourhood on a kei truck because there are not enough people to carry it. If that sounds like some affront to Japanese traditions, it was my Japanese neighbours' idea, not mine. At least we still have a festival, which everyone seems to enjoy.

Given the huge amount of volunteering and prep involved, I have no problem at all with revenue-raising activities. Once upon a time, local businesses, all the shopkeepers in the shoutengai etc. would have chipped in, but such communities are being progressively destroyed. If rich tourists will pick up the slack that the Aeon supermarket, whose presence killed the shoutengai, will not, we should be grateful to them. I don't hear of people volunteering to pay higher taxes to keep their local festival free of VIP seating.

Cue the Ohio Players: Money. Money money money moh-nay. Give me cash money.

What song is that? I know a great funk song with a "money money" chant and flanger guitar intro but its by the O-Jays.

I've lived in Japan over three decades. Alcohol has always been available at the majority of festivals I've attended. Especially in Kansai.

The complaint made is not about alcohol really, it's about "foreigners" drinking alcohol. They can't say it out loud, but all them idiots are thinking it.

I mean really, what's the point of even going to a festival here if there isnt any alcohol!

I thought most religion in Japan was a business, the wedding business, the funeral business, the blessing business, the car park business, the souvenir business. Should I include the tax avoidance business?

Most Japanese are not religious and will tell you Japanese are not religious.

Regarding business this used to be belong to to Shintoism until Christianity moved into it in a big way y cutting prices.

Buddhism seems to be much more into the funeral business.

I feel any religion that charges admission fees rather than welcoming visitors has become a business.

As others have said, alcohol seems an essential part of festivals as are tekiya.

Tourism may have a positive effect on some festivals by making them safer by removing some of the tradition, the tradition of danger. Will Kishiwada and Onbashira and other dangerous festivals sell grandstand seats from which tourists can see Japanese risking and possibly even losing there lives?

https://japancheapo.com/entertainment/japan-deadliest-festivals/

Japan is being ruined by tourism

This country's failing economy is still barely standing thanks wholly tourism. If it wasn't for the massive rubber band of tourism slowing a complete free fall in the yen, we'd be paying twice as much for food, petrol, you name it.

Every Japanese company has posted a loss in the last two years from Nissan to Sony. Stagnation has well and truly caught up here and at some point the 0.9 birth rate was going to catch up to us. Complain all you want, I couldn't care less to see a couple of sacred rocks suffer vs. our economy.

What is killing these festivals and events is the dwindling population and the reluctance of younger individuals to participate. Selling tickets is BS... they're basically selling themselves out in my book. Tourism isn't killing Japan... don't blame it on that. The Japanese Govt. is killing Japan... they will not open the country to immigration properly.

I mean really, what's the point of even going to a festival here if there isnt any alcohol:

First it really a family event where you can take your children to enjoy the festive atmosphere; Then only to be destroy by a drunk foreigner yelling out soft casual racist remark. Yes he got destroyed and not by the drink. Odate Taiko festival 2015 where the locals can really whack a drum or a offensive drunk.

"It is our dream for our very famous festival to be known by people around the world!"

[people from around the world show up]

"Japanese only!"