As Japan continues to see record numbers of inbound foreign travelers, the concept of overtourism has become a hot topic, particularly in Kyoto, which receives an especially large portion of overseas visitors. However, Kyoto has always been one of the most heavily traveled parts of Japan, dating back to the days when it was the political and economic center of the country, and its temples and shrines have been drawing travelers, all of whom also needed places to eat, sleep, and make merry, for centuries.
While some of the issues Kyoto is dealing with, such as bus crowding, stem from the sheer number of tourists, a lot of what gets lumped in with “overtourism” is really a matter of more total tourists exacerbating the problems caused by the proportion of them with bad manners, and the latest example of that is taking place at Kodaiji, a temple in the Higashiyama district on the east side of Kyoto.
Kodaiji was founded in 1606 by Nene, the widow of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three great samurai lords who brought an end to Japan’s centuries-long Sengoku period civil war. In addition to historically significant architecture and works of art, Kodaiji has a lovely moss garden and bamboo grove walking path, but the beauty of the temple grounds is being increasingly marred by ill-mannered tourists who leave behind cigarette butts, drink containers (some still partially filled with liquid), and sticks from ice cream bars atop stones and behind structures, according to chief priest Koin Aoyama.
▼ In the video here, Aoyama can be seen inspecting a bamboo and stone partition that sections off an off-limits-to-visitors section of the temple, which has been damaged by a visitor.
“Even if we try to clean up the trash, [the area] never stays clean,” laments Aoyama, who’s clearly frustrated with the litterers as well as people arriving with professional photographers for photo shoots, something the temple now forbids due to damage caused to the grounds and the inconvenience to other guests, and which multilingual written notices are posted about. Aoyama says he’s tried verbally cautioning people as well, only for them to react in a way that conveys they don’t understand Japanese, or at least claim to not understand. He then tries explaining the problem in English, he says, only go get the same reaction, that they can’t understand what he’s saying.
Japan is, generally, aware that there are a number of finer points of Japanese etiquette that may not be readily apparent to overseas tourists, and most locals are willing to overlook non-malicious faux pas and focus on the positive feelings of people from other parts of the world taking an interest in their culture. Littering, though, is a fundamental breach of common courtesy, and the sort of thing that can sour the atmosphere so much that facilities feel forced to adopt less visitor-friendly operational policies, so let’s hope that Kodaiji’s visitors, as a whole, start minding their manners better, and soon.
Source: FNN Prime Online via Livedoor News via Otakomu
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28 Comments
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lordoflys
You can't have it both ways. Some littering and "bad" behavior comes with over 2 million visitors. Take what steps are necessary. The money is rolling in....put up a more substantial "fence" rather than a bamboo pole or two. Hire real foreign security. Not just a college student or two. Finally, pull your tourism budget.
kurisupisu
Oh dear, oh dear.
Taking in bags and bags of yen, the Buddhist priest of Kyoto are complaining?
Simple and trivial problems, solved in a day or less lol.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Are there garbage cans? Then the temple knows what they can do...
purple_depressed_bacon
Perhaps if they, oh I don't know, installed some of these nifty things called rubbish bins around the area...
tora
And what is the purpose of the tourist tax that is imposed on travelers to Kyoto again? Kyoto: where have the billions gone?
stormcrow
Unfortunately, they probably do understand. They just don't give a damn.
Do it like they do in Singapore. Fine them, then it'll stop.
Moonraker
Looks like we are all getting tired of the hypocritical whining about tourists. On the one hand there is gloating about the tourist numbers with every tourist regarded as a vote for Japan's uniqueness and then every opportunity is taken to use a few of these tourists' behaviour to show the locals how special Japan is and how those barbarians will never understand its uniqueness.
tamanegi
I wish the J locals who frequent my local park in East Osaka would also heed some of this article. The trash problem was especially bad after last Monday's national holiday. The fly- tipping problem is also getting worse too.
wallace
They could try garbage bins.
Trapped
Stop relying on retirees to volunteer to pick up litter and instead employ some people to maintain trash cans. Easy.
Burning Bush
They might have a point. Charge entrance fees that are pre booked. This stops over crowding and keeps the bored tourists out.
Oh, and increase the English proficiency across the board would help as well.
Jolyon
See here’s the dilemma - if you buy something to eat or drink, it comes with plenty of packaging. If you look for a bin to place it in, THERE ARE NONE, anywhere. So you walk round holding the wrappers and the sticky cup for a while looking for somewhere to get rid of it ….
Go see how other cities deal with this problem.
jackandjill
Ban the consumption of all foods.
wallace
The majority of tourists domestic and foreign are not English speaking.
itsonlyrocknroll
The hospitably industry sector is is vital to J economy.
Manage the miscreants accordingly, if measures are needed to introduce financial forfeit to discourage littering, deal with that, just as importantly provide clear waste disposal.
N. Knight
Those tax exempt priests can use some of their extra funds to install a few rubbish bins and extra clean up crew. Instead they bitch & moan.
wallace
They sell food and icecream within the temple grounds.
Nifty
So yes, lots of trash cans, emptied two or three times daily, especiall near foo vendos. This justifies posted 30000 yen fines for littering for first offense, 50000 yen therafter. Use the fines to pay for garbage truck and drivers. The problem is fixable, but not through polite signs.
Nifty
Especially near food vendors. Sorry.
Burning Bush
If that is true, then you are asking for a litter problem, eh?
Burning Bush
Doesn't mean they are deaf, dumb and blind.
Seems our tourists are doing the a gaijin smash and
wallace
The largest groups of foreign tourists are Chinese and South Koreans. They don't usually speak English.
"Oh, and increase the English proficiency across the board would help as well."
How does that help?
MontiePieThong
It doesn't matter how much "tourist tax" one pays, there is not excuse for littering and desecrating sacred grounds. Personally I found Kyoto to be quite beautiful and I made every effort to leave it that way but I did notice that it's not a very "friendly" place to visit in Japan but to a certain extent I understand why with all those foreigners trying to sneak in shots of women in traditional clothing walking around. However, it was very unpleasant to be refused food service in a Bistro when other Japanese people were coming and going and having food service. They even resorted to taking away the menu and giving the flimsy excuse that it was an old menu and yet they wouldn't bring a new one to the table and all I could get was a beer and nuts. Consequently, one visit to Kyoto is enough for me. I prefer Tokyo and Osaka.
Burning Bush
How do you know?
Speed
No trash cans anywhere.
Dave Fair
We have a park a stone throw away and we always find litter about. But what don't we find at all, a single trash bin! And BTW what don't we have any, foreign tourists so who to point the finger at? If you want the tourists and the yen they bring in, pony up and deal with the issues, put a few trash bins in convenient places and problem more or less solved. Maybe even pretend to be Eco-friendly and have separate bins for burnables, pet bottles and non-burnables and show them that good ol' Kyoto Protocol spirit, (京都議定書, Kyōto Giteisho)
wallace
Burning Bush
The largest groups of foreign tourists are Chinese and South Koreans. They don't usually speak English.
The figures are available from the Japanese Tourist Board.
Burning Bush
I would love to see the figures and how JTB came to such a conclusion as "Chinese and South Koreans. They don't usually speak English."