Japan to OK train fare hikes for holidays, weekends due to 'overtourism' concerns

Overseas tourists can go any day of the week. Such measures hit working Japanese who only have weekends and public holidays.

The last 4 paragraphs say it all. Small, trivial and isolated incidents portraying a problem where there is not really a big issue other than a Japanese person saw a tourist do something.

Don't forget to add "And they touch the Sakura flowers in the spring, with their dirty hands"

operators to raise railway fares during holiday seasons and weekends as a crowd control measure, amid concerns about "overtourism"

That fares will apply to people who live and works in Japan and want to enjoy their holiday and weekend too, so it just another way to make some money out of them.

Yeah, raising prices on holidays, that’ll stop tourists won’t it.

Wow

I have never smelled so much BS.

Japan to OK train fare hikes for holidays, weekends due to 'overtourism' concerns

Neo-feudalism in action.

The service, zero hour contract workers who have to work these weekends and holidays will be getting a regressive added tax.

Which they may be able to wrangle out of employers or maybe not.

While the tourism operators since the pandemic have been get all kinds of government subsidies.

Even for the awful salaries they complain about that contribute to a labor shortage.

Xenophobia 101.

Raise train fares on the weekend and to the good spots?

If you want the hundreds of millions that tourists bring, it comes with the good and the bad and the crowded and the shocked local at the sight.

The punishment doesn’t even fit the crime or solve the problem.

The last thing a big corporation such as JR needs is the go-ahead from the government to gorge prices.

I suggest limiting the number of trains that run per day and once they are full, customers can try again next time.

The government should be targeting budget domestic flights instead, to reduce willy -nilly superfluous travel and carbon footprints.

What's next, introducing a special tax for having weekends and holidays?

Seems like Premium Fridays has morphed into Overcharged Weekends.

How about just putting on more trains if they want to solve the problem of overcrowding? Oh yes, that costs money!

Losers: local people

Winners: railway operators

numbers of tourists will not be reduced by this, it is merely the govt acquiescing to the railway lobby to gouge more money from ‘the foreigners’.

So cynical.

As the Japanese are the largest users of almost any service in Japan then it is largely they that will bear this burden.

Using tourism as a ploy to hike rates is complete and utter tripe!

As usual they are blaming the foreigners. Most tourists within Japan are Japanese.

What happens to people that works on holidays and weekends? they get an special pass?

In some areas and during certain periods, there has been an impact on the lives of local residents due to inbound tourists, such as bad manners,

Let's insult foreigners, we just want their money anyway.

Oh, great, raise rates, fares and all the cost of what is already for the average person too expensive to travel during the holidays. Booking a hotel room, rent a car, book a flight already at a premium during national holidays, then raise the prices? But it is okay, we'll just blame the foreign tourists. Greed breeds more greed.

Dumb.

Where there is a real over tourist problem this won’t even deal with the problem. While an overburden of tourists is a recognised problem in many popular tourist spots around the world, this doesn’t address the underlying and often localised problem. This is just a cynical money gran.

Naked greed using foreign tourists to gouge ordinary Japanese.

Gran = grab! Oh for an edit button.

numbers of tourists will not be reduced by this, it is merely the govt acquiescing to the railway lobby to gouge more money from ‘the foreigners’.

Not just foreigners, everyone. Foreigners is just the excuse - Unfortunately at the same time, drumming up the same old trope -Blame is all on foreigners.

This is what happens when you have a complacent public that does not complain when the gov rapes it in all orifices.

They should have tripled rates during the morning crush years ago to force teleworking.

Japanese workers who "enjoy" likely the least flexible work schedule of any G7 nation will get hosed. Well done, LDP.

So, how is it that raising fares in public buses and trains supposedly helps against having too many vehicles around tourist spots?

an increase in sightseeing vehicles has resulted in traffic congestion.

problems have been created by tourists littering, as well as their increased presence on a public road to take pictures

In Kyoto, buses packed with tourists carrying large amounts of luggage have become an issue, while some have taken pictures of geisha and their apprentices, called maiko, without permission.

All those meaningless troubles have existed well before the inbound masses do come here. It has just increased with tourism but the article blames the inbound tourism.

Yesterday, and article about Ibaraki was mentioning the non attraction of the prefecture. Industrial areas coastline near Kamisu and Kashima are full of garbages.

Rising fares the weekends will only hit the locals and benefits the railways. Hope the locals will complain

Trains are already cheaper than other major tourist destinations in the West after the depreciation of the yen. Even hiking prices by 100% won't really stop the tourists from taking advantage of the convenience of moving around in on time and clean trains. On the other hand, the locals are being punished by unnecessary price increases when there is already enough pressure from the inflation and stagnant wages. Overall, a terrible idea that I'd expect from the minds that have been plaguing this country for decades.

The Japanese government said Wednesday it will allow operators to raise railway fares

Government has no business in dictating to businesses how they set their prices.

This is central planning insanity.

Not a word about jacking up road tolls in high demand seasons, which would be far more effective.

Still it is a lot cheaper than UK trains/tubes and Japanese service, cleanliness, punctuality, facilities etc. are one of the best in the world. Comes in top 3, with Swiss and HK.

Flights and hotels are more expensive during holiday seasons, highway tolls too

If you're bothered about jr charging a couple of thousand then you're probably not traveling during obon anyway

So Tourist can still get a discount on JR travel pass available to oversea visitors, But hike up fares for the locals. Just drop the discounted pass system for overseas visitors.

Blaming foreigners, AGAIN. Anyone surprised? Japan's reputation is tanking. If they are going to insist on being openly hostile and doing everything their way... Perhaps it's time for other countries to rethink the visa waver for Japanese nationals?

Japanese government is becoming scarier. Japanese government is becoming totalitarian government.

Like the Saitama leaving children at home idea last week, I doubt this idea is going to remain afloat for too long.

In the meantime, the forever tourists are going to have to tighten their suitcase straps and eat Yoshinoya.

Japan's reputation is tanking.

This is silly. 9/10 people I tell overseas that I lived in Japan talk about how much they want to visit. You clearly haven't been out of Japan and are living in a bubble if you think the above is true.

We are pretty much back at the pre-pandemic peak level of tourists now, so they are still coming in droves.

Indeed. Remember the days when the frequent fliers here were saying no one will ever come back to Japan because of masks and stuff like that.

Cheers to that falsehood.

Japan's extensive national holiday system is a huge culprit. Nearly the entire country is on the move during the state-designated holiday periods. A much more effective and fairer policy is to drastically reduce and abolish many state holidays ("Mountain Day" and "Golden Week, etc,) and allow people to choose their own vacations, rather than having the govt and corporations choose for them.

Disgusting to use foreign visitors as an excuse. The fact is, if you are spending big bucks to come to Japan, the train costs are not going to be much of a problem and there will likely be few complaints.

In reality, this is going to hit residents the hardest. It's a devious way of bumping up the prices. Compared with other countries, the cost of rail travel is relatively reasonable. I can understand the need to raise prices, but it is rotten to the core to cite over tourism as the reason for doing so.

""The Japanese government said Wednesday it will allow operators to raise railway fares during holiday seasons and weekends as a crowd control measure, amid concerns about "over tourism" due to a rapid recovery in people traveling since the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.""

There is NO SUCH THING CALLED "over tourism", this is just another BUZZWORD excuse to hike fees, that's all.

No JR pass and now additional fees for local people, another proof of stupidity and disconnected government !!!

The only ones suffering from this will be the Japanese population.

“So Tourist can still get a discount on JR travel pass available to oversea visitors.” Actually, contrast that with this, “The popular and super useful Japan Rail Pass increased its prices by a whopping 65 percent as of October 1 2023.”

If you have spent a fortune on airfares and hotels, I’m sure a higher price rail fare will not stop traveler's.

Last month we had a couple of days in Fukuoka. It was surprising how few tourists were around.

The government and prefectures really need to get there heads together and work out once and for all how to get tourist out from the Golden Triangle. A good start may be to talk with tourists and find out what stops them visiting the rest of this beautiful country.

Locally our cities tourist information is very much aimed at internal traveller's. It is like they assume you know an event is happening, so it’s ok to only publish details a week or two before. We have a Shinkensen station but you do not see many western travellers.

The only ones suffering from this will be the Japanese population.

It's true. With the current weak yen, Japan is actually very affordable for tourists, and raising the fares slightly won't make much of a difference, nor hold the tourists back. It's the Japanese people who will feel the pinch.

..........provided the price increases are not intended to boost revenues.

Coffed on my Coffee over that one.

JR is greedy

This is very common practice around the world. Airlines have been doing it for a long time it is cheaper to travel midweek than on weekends. If you want to travel please make plans appropriately.

I highly doubt the tens of millions of foreign tourists desperate to get to Japan ASAP will be put off by train fare increases.

This harms the Japanese tourists probably more.

Raise prices to discourage a major source of income. Sure, that makes excellent economic sense! (sarcasm)

Part of the global war on tourism. Combine with the hike in the JR pass and this will lock international tourists into their arrival cities, rather than spreading them (and their spending) out. It will make busy places busier and quiet places quieter.

This is very common practice around the world. Airlines have been doing it for a long time it is cheaper to travel midweek than on weekends. If you want to travel please make plans appropriately.

have you not read the comments. This directly affects Japanese who have very limited times to take time off and they will bear the brunt of this policy. And it will not relieve the crowds. Just hitting the average “Jun/Junko” in the nuts after being slapped with crazy prices of gas, food etc. Sounds like some with connections to railway companies got greased to pass this. lobbyists ….??

Tourists are super happy Yen is in the muds. They are exchanging thousands of USDs at cheap price. You think they would stop at mere 10 cents increase on train fare? gtfo

Moonraker

Overseas tourists can go any day of the week. Such measures hit working Japanese who only have weekends and public holidays.

They're the ones they want to keep away. Don't wanna scare away the foreign tourists and their money because of overcrowding.

Great idea. My family and I love travelling locally. Kyoto is is one of our favourite destinations. But now that the JGov in its genius is looking to discourage foreign tourism with higher transportation costs, they will also put off locals too. Way to go geniuses.

A licence 'to kill the golden goose' in one foul stroke.

It was said circa 260 BC in a Aesop fable, "Careful what you wish for." Tourism was stimulated by the government and the Japanese and foreigners responded. Plus the exchange rate is 149.7 yen to $1.00 USD. Wonderful.

too me it seems japan really wants to make people live in poverty here as the price hikes keep escalating over Ukraine war. Nothing positive from this outcome other than crime will be on the rise. Japan has some hidden agenda we all don’t know but will be faced with.

The pandemic decimated Japan's thriving tourist industry.

Never has the opportunity to revive the Japan hospitality sector than encouraging foreign tourists to spend spend spend in a competitive global market.

Japan Tourism Statistics.

https://statistics.jnto.go.jp/en/

The Tourist industry/sector is vital to Japanese economy.

The Japanese government said Wednesday it will allow operators to raise railway fares during holiday seasons and weekends as a crowd control measure, amid concerns about "overtourism" due to a rapid recovery in people traveling since the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.

The government also decided at a ministerial meeting on promoting tourism to relax rules around introducing express bus services, in order to directly connect train stations and tourist spots and alleviate traffic jams, which can disrupt local residents in nearby areas during their commutes.

To put barriers in place at this moment to leverage opportunities to return Japan as a premier go to hot spot is economic delinquency.

Hey, Japanese residents. You know that one day off you get each week. Well, if you want to travel anywhere by train on that day you have to pay more now. Why? Its becasue tourists or something. Thanks for playing.

The Japanese government said Wednesday it will allow operators to raise railway fares during holiday seasons and weekends as a crowd control measure, amid concerns about "overtourism" due to a rapid recovery in people traveling since the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.

Please spare me the B.S. We all know this is just a way to increase profits plain and simple. Does anyone honestly believe that raising fares is going to decrease people traveling? Give me a break!

So this is basically raising the living cost for those who live and work in Japan, and squeezing them out of their weak yen wages, and not "an overcrowding control" for tourist as they say.

A lot of the tourist areas need an overhaul for transport and services sure but price hikes probably won’t quell foreign demand since they are not in the know to notice. Domestic travel will feel it though.

But also they are trying to get people to spend more but also trying to keep them away? Pick a lane

Like I have mentioned japan is living in a state of confusion and delusion

Feeling the omotenashi? This is probably one of the Japanese economies last hope to keep chugging along. Tourism, basically free money. Yet all you hear about is the PROBLEMS of over-tourism? Really guys?

Ever heard the saying never look a gift horse in the mouth?

If you are going to raise train fares don't use the gaijin as an excuse. Own your own work!

pollution and littering

simple fix, add far more rubbish/trash bins around, local governments refuse to do it.

people are shopping eating local foods and they expect people to carry their rubbish around with them all day

But also they are trying to get people to spend more but also trying to keep them away? Pick a lane

Japan new travel camapign should be.

Welcome to Japan, spend all your money, get your stuff then GTFO

Is this to discourage tourists from travelling to popular destinations with their Japan Rail Passes or is it to discourage other people so that they can get more tourists with big bags on the trains? Surely the times when trains are most crowded are weekday rush hours. How about discouraging travel on trains during the rush?

Regarding the litter problem problem, how about reinstalling the litter bins that have over the years disappeared?

This sounds like the kind of idea cooked up during a booze-soaked evening at a Ginza hostess club, attended by some pliable politicians and rail company bosses. With the railway companies footing the bill, of course.

I want the USA to increase the fee just for being Japanese for those living in the USA

The govt will:

allow operators to raise railway fares

relax rules around introducing express bus services

...as long as they have the permission of local authorities

Why does the govt. have such powers in the first place?

Japan: We welcome foreign tourists, but ........

More tourists means more 'paying' passengers means more 'revenue' for the transport operators. They're seeing an increase in revenue. This is a boom for the train operators. They're making more money.

And the government wants to increase transport fares to offset increased traffic, pollution, and littering caused by tourists????

And it would force residents not only tourists to pay more for overall commutation?????

One of their brilliant ideas is to increase buses which would actually increase traffic and pollution.

This is a really bad joke and insult to everybody.

So how many Japanese on this site think this is a good idea and why?

wtfjapanToday  10:33 am JST

But also they are trying to get people to spend more but also trying to keep them away? Pick a lane

Japan new travel camapign should be.

Welcome to Japan, spend all your money, get your stuff then GTFO

Kind of what I was thinking too. Can't have your cake and eat it too.

@roy

thanks for bringing that to my attention I will tone down but I’m just trying to express as being a foreigner aka American in Japan it feels like we are being treated badly and this article really shines the anti foreigner mantra it would not surprise me if other feel the same

Japan to OK train fare hikes for holidays, weekends due to 'overtourism'

yes, because foreign tourists follow dumb Japanese holiday seasons?

NO, other countries don't exclusively travel during obon and golden week, only Japan does. Fares to and from Japan are so during Late May and early September. You know, when normal people take trips, or any other month for that matter. Not "designated periods."

But you know who travels heavily during such times, yup, Japanese locals.

Good job screwing the regular people in Japan again, Japanese government. You morons sure are batting a .1000.

Not everyone who travels during the weekend is a tourist. People have other things to worry about. It would be unfair to commuters who are not travelling for tourism.

,",,,,, provided the price increases are not intended to boost revenues."

So what other reason is there?

It's really sad. I've noticed that most locals in Inaka are pretty sick of foreign tourists. I hear it all the time. Taking up spaces in hotels, giant suitcases on trains, wandering around the streets, and not being able to speak English to them. It sounds nuts, but I hear the complaints. Just wait for ski season is what I told them. All I got as a reply was "ya-da-ne". The shine has worn off and Xenophobia has reared its ugly head yet again.

They really don't want the business and these garbage measures to raise train fares will do nothing. As many of you have already pointed out - you've just screwed the local population. Thanks gov!

Solocals who need to work those days can just suck a lemon.

Visit Japan! But we prefer if you just leave an envelope of money at the airport. We don’t really want you running around disturbing the ‘wa’.

Train companies know most people who live here use their monthly provided ticket from their companies for weekend etc travel and for years they have been trying to figure out a way to get more from locals. Tax payer money built the system. Heavy subsidies are provided for maintenance. It’s all keep Japanese poor.

Just a big lie and theft at it's best.

Railway companies have been struggling with huge fixed costs while overall rider numbers declining for years. Scapegoating the temporary foreign traveler is way easier to explain than to acknowledge real issues

Foreign tourist don't need to represent a pain in the backside.

Just managed politely, they will thank you for it, and yes reward you with gold.

Tourist want to take in the sights, not just in the metropolises, but the hard to reach Indiana Jones cultural specialties.

Japan has hidden gems. train Journeys to sights that will take your breath away.

Kyoto foolish reticence, failure to take advantage of a gift that never stops giving, will have consequences.

I swear the J-Gov is being consulted by the same handful of people that stopped tourists from entering the country during Covid. A few paranoid baba's that own shops in Kyoto want their traffic flow to be just right. Not too busy, not to slow. Not too noisy, not too many foreigners especially. Just like how it used to be.

The consequences seem so obvious (and so unfair, really) that it is unsurprising that several others have made virtually the same point. Yet, currently 13 people have seen fit to downvote my original comment. I am very curious to know why; what alternative outcome is likely in their minds, or if they have facts that counter it or if I have committed a failure of logic somewhere.

John-SanToday  08:20 am JST

So Tourist can still get a discount on JR travel pass available to oversea visitors, But hike up fares for the locals. Just drop the discounted pass system for overseas visitors.

FYIthe price of the JR rail pass was just increased by 70 % in one shot at the beginning of the month.

Having said that it is still reasonable due to melting JPY.

If train operators are allowed to raise prices at certain time of the week they should also lower them when trains are empty. Most countries have a variable price according to time, day..etc which make it possible to travel for people who could not do it otherwise ( for ex students…etc ).

I'll boycott the trains and continue to drive my gas guzzler.

The government will try to take every yen out of Japanese and foreign tourists or tourists in general from this point on. Expect nothing but total and absolute greed for every yen this government can get their hands on.

Welcome to overgreedism!

You can see the hypocrisy of the Japanese government in one article Kishi-kun LDP was stating how they are taking action to counter the inflation and price hikes but now they are promoting price hikes…. Again delusional and to put the blame on foreigners making us look bad. The local Japanese will be giving us a dirty eye every time we ride public transportation

These guys are absolutely brain dead. This is nothing more than a pure money grab. Unless you're going to hike fares 4-5x it's not going to deter anyone from using the trains on weekends and holidays.

Since more people travel at weekends and national holidays for greater distances the fares should be cheaper during the period.

Has anyone in the Japanese government thought that us tourists spend a huge sum of money paying for flights to Japan, it costs us to use hotels, and food, by hiking up a price of a train or bus journey won't put us off as it's only a tiny present age of the cost of our holiday, some tourists have a dream of going to Japan and when they do, this bit of an extra cost is immaterial. So will it curtail tourists? I don't think so, but it will hit the avarage Japanese person with higher daily costs of life, so I would say it's counter productive,

BRING BACK THE TRASH BINS THAT HAVE DISAPPEARED. That will help with the trash problem-and for locals and tourists alike. Sheesh!!!!

They BEG the tourists to come back, then they spit on them.

This comes with a range of drawbacks that need to be carefully considered and balanced against the desired outcomes...cost burden on tourists, reduced tourism revenues, inequality and access issues, negative impact on local communities, decline in hospitality industry, incentive for black market alternatives, long-term reputational damage, impact on local attractions, complex implementation and enforcement, unintended consequences, negative perceptions of Japan and reduced cultural exchange...just to list a few!

They BEG the tourists to come back, then they spit on them.

And then keep begging, TV and radio commercials promoting tourism to places like Kamakura and Kyoto are still in the air.

I am sad disappointed with the governmant negitivity, the tone is disconcerting, frankly counter productive.

I have enjoyed my holidays with my family and nieces, the orient express style specialist seven stars carefully-crafted itineraries. Japans customer service.

It's also funny to see the oversensitive gaijin here getting upset if someone criticizes Japan.

'Oh no, you're so anti japan' wah wah wah

There are certainly many of them outside of Japan, and many of them inside of Japan. Was pretty funny to watch their mental gymnastics during Covid, in which the J-Gov essentially made it impossible for some of them to visit their friends and family for two whole years. I really have no clue what gives them such a misplaced sense of loyalty.

"you're nothing but a Japan basher!"

Sorry bud, but I choose to value my own needs before Nippon Kaigi's weird ideological objectives.

I get defending Japan to some extent, especially in certain situations. For example, I have no problem with the Yasukuni Jinja or Japan respecting their war dead. Even on immigration, there are some points I agree with, as far as not having open borders.

But we really have to acknowledge the fact that over the past four years, in terms of how Japanese have acted with regard to foreigners and tourists, on their end pretty much all common sense and rational thinking have flown out the window. It's literally like their brains stop working when they have to deal with non-Japanese people.

How to make the locals dislike inbound tourists even more. Punish the locals with higher train fares.

Our area is touristy but we have the same issues, people throwing trash out of car windows, photographers taking photos tramping over people's land, people parking in the middle of the road, sometimes in very dangerous spots, to take smartphone photos....

＠Kohaku:

I always see Japanese drivers dumping trash from their car windows, and even tossing small refrigerators and other larger items. I get on their case about it. I have also seen Japanese nationals on the inside of tracks photographing trains. Amazing and scary. If there happens to be a foreigner watching with their mouths open, I tell them that it is very common.

And talk about parking. I see so many people illegally parked and getting out and relieving themselves and the cars never have the plate number with a WA on it showing it is a rental.

Not sure where you live, but I never met a tourist who rented a car here.

Good luck and speak in Japanese to those people so much affecting where you live.

Yeah, I'd say quadruple the prices. It is annoying to travel on a crowded shinkansen.

Nothing will change.

Japan raising fares to control tourist crowds? Not all tourists are rich!

Is it fair to raise fares for the many poor tourists?

I returned this summer for a holiday and I admit I was shocked at the huge number of tourists in Kyoto and Tokyo. Kyoto was crazy and I have never seen so many Chinese and for some reason, Italians, on holiday.

However, remember that this summer was the first real return after covid lockdown etc and many of these tourists already had tickets and hotels on hold for a return.

Local tourism businesses must have been pretty happy with their revenues. And don't be fooled by their sometimes unfriendly appearance, they made really good money this summer.

And I don't get this thing about the trains. I had a rail pass, travelled from Tokyo to Kyoto and back, and my trains were fine in the middle of Obon. In fact there were far more Japanese on the trains. My impression is that the vast majority of tourists stayed within the cities they flew in to, be that Tokyo or Kansai.

Foreign tourists aren’t following Japanese holiday schedules - they follow the holiday schedules of their own countries! As many have already said, the only people who will feel the full impact of this are the locals. It’s like a slap in the face for those who might want to have a nice day off outside their home.

And many of us work on weekends! There are some companies that have a set budget for how much commuter transportation they will pay, and others that expect their employees to bear the cost themselves. How is this fair to such people?? Does Japan want more workers, or not??

Bring guided tours back.

People will still come and its an answer for overtourism

They do know that tourists are prevalent and present on weekdays too, right? They just stinks of a money grab and they're affecting the locals more than the non-locals since many Japanese people only have time to go on holiday during said weekends or holidays. What silly reasoning.

They do know that tourists are prevalent and present on weekdays too, right?

Yup. Foreign tourists don't have weekends because they are on holiday. Every day is a weekend.

Japanese people, not so.

To facilitate the opening of express bus services for ferrying travelers to popular tourist spots, the government will also ease rules by allowing operators to set fees merely by filling out an application, whereas they previously needed to obtain permission.

Pick a number, any number.

This reminds me of how people some more polite old people on crowded trains ease next to you by sitting on the edge of the seat, and gradually push their way back into a crowded seat,

so as to not offend the person next to them.

This fare increase Japan Inc is going about in the same way.

Start out slow, only in some areas, under the guise of "tourism", and then before you know it,

the rates everywhere are raised, and the outrage is minimalized, or so they think.

Why? Why do the Japanese govt. and the Japanese themselves, always fixate on keeping things the same when they really need to increase capacity for everyone. They complain about "manners"... screw off! If you want tourism you absolutely cannot expect every one to act Japanese. It is insanely laughable that the Japanese want everyone to change the second they enter the country. Perfectly good people... people with the same or better morals than the Japanese are stared at because they talk too loud in public. Or they leave trash laying around. Went back to the USA last week, for some reason there were public trash barrels everywhere... didn't have to litter because there was a place to put it. And when those Japanese tourists at the Soccer game picked up trash and threw it away... you know why they did it, because they didn't have to bring it back to the Hotel... there were trash bins all around the stadium. The idea that they could pick up trash and be able to throw it away in a bin... it was like Christmas. You don't see Japanese people picking up trash at a park in Japan... yeah, no place to put it.

NGL...Those Go-Kart tours are starting to look real good. Might be cheaper than taking the train or bus soon.

Kamakura was mentioned so I will respond to that. Kamakura has the worst infrastructure I have ever seen. It is a nightmare to get into that area. Over the past couple decades, the city of Kamakura has done nothing to improve traffic conditions. As far as the trash situation, maybe they should hold the "Summer Beach House Bars" more responsible.

Every year, on Earth Day, we volunteers find ourselves cleaning up trash from the previous year's summer nightlife.

LOL get everyone in the spirit of the season and hike rates only to see them stay there after the holidays. Nothing will change, blame it on tourism traffic, pollution and littering, after wanting tourists to return. This hike will only hurt the citizen of Japan because the foreigners will not know or feel the difference in paying because they will only think that is the expect fair where as Japanese know the fares and will realize the effect of the price hike.

I was in Kyoto for the weekend (not for sightseeing, but for the football) and TBH I was shocked at the amount of tourists. I haven't seen so many non-resident gaij in one place in my life. I know they were non-resident because most of them had no idea about Japan, spoke Japanese etc etc. I said to my wife that I would be well p**sed off if I lived here. i live near to Kamakura and the amount of tourists at that railway crossing is a PITA if you are cycling by or even worse driving, but Kyoto was on a much bigger scale and we weren't even hanging out at the major tourist sites.

As an aside I do love the look on the face of a noob-Gaij who asks a restaurant to customise a meal in some way (perfectly acceptable in most countries) only to be told "No". Haha! Welcome to Japan

This will put off locals more than visitors. If you have already travelled to Japan than you are more than likely willing to pay up as you probably won't be back anytime soon. Whereas us locals will be put off as things are already too expensive. Best to save on travel and make those mortgage payments instead.

I have JR stocks to hopefully this will push up the price and we will get more dividens.

Sorry for the typo!

So only the wealthy get to enjoy tourism in Japan?

So only the wealthy get to enjoy tourism in Japan?

For locals maybe, since this is the segment of the tourism that depends on holidays and weekends to travel, for tourist from overseas the cheap yean and the freedom to travel during weekdays still means it is cheaper than usual.