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Not all Chinese tourists behave unruly, but the ones that do get so much public attention that it casts the rest in a bad light. Just to be on the safe side, China even launched a program to discourage such behavior.
Such misconduct has forced the hand of an unlicensed leisure equipment rental store owner at a Miyakojima beach in Okinawa Prefecture. A sign advertising the rental of a beach parasol set for 2,000 yen had been erected, with another line stating “For Chinese: 20,000 yen”.
Unless the parasol came with air conditioning and a personal butler, no sane person would fork out 20,000 yen to rent an umbrella for a day. The proprietor had been tending his store for 14 years, but only recently put up the sign in July. He had this to say:
“Chinese tourists have terrible manners. I tolerated them for years, but since I didn’t want to lend it to them this time, I decided to charge them ten times more.”
The sign quickly led to complaints of discrimination, to which the owner replied:
“I’ve experienced a case where five Chinese tourists sat on a chair meant for only one, breaking it in the process. I didn’t want to lend it to them simply because I didn’t want any more broken chairs. It isn’t discrimination.”
While we’re uncertain if his claims are true, it did seem that the sign was set up in frustration rather than for financial gain. Although asking for recompense for broken equipment would have probably been a better alternative.
Nevertheless, the owner did eventually take down the sign amid mounting criticism. However, we’re merely scratching the surface of an underlying issue.
Since beaches are covered by Japan’s Seacoast Law, they’re currently managed at the prefectural level. But with many unlicensed marine leisure stores (such as the one upcharging Chinese tourists) popping up unchecked at the beaches around Okinawa’s Miyakojima city, the city council demanded the prefectural government crack down on illegal operators. However, the prefecture argued that since every city’s beach is different, the cities should manage their own beaches instead.
In short, the city council wants the prefectural government to deal with (ie: pay for) getting rid of the illegal stores, while the prefectural government wants the individual city councils to deal with them.
All this pushing of responsibilities has the Miyakojima Tourism Board throwing up its hands in the air and basically telling the two sides to get their acts together and sort it out soon, though with more diplomatic words.
For the sake of both tourists and honest operators in Okinawa, we hope so too. In the meantime, perhaps Okinawa could take a page from Kyoto and create guidelines for ill-mannered tourists.
Sources: Yahoo! Japan, Miyako Shinpo via Hachima Kiko
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© SoraNews24
27 Comments
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Mike L
O MO TE NA SHI!
lucabrasi
Daft. How do you prove a customer is Chinese?
Disillusioned
How do you prove a customer has bad manners? I know plenty of Japanese with extremely bad manners too.
If you have ever tried to set up a business in Japan, you would not find it surprising that so many people avoid registering a business. The cost is exclusive and the paper trail is exhaustive.
Mocheake
I seriously hate it when someone points to some other group's supposedly bad behavior in order to justify their bias. How about a sign that says if you break it you pay the full cost plus administrative fees or something to that effect? No one group has a corner on bad behavior. Every group is guilty
talaraedokko
Total lack of imagination. 14 years and hasn't learned to work with foreigners? Maybe he should be a tourist in China. Let's see how he feels being in a foreign land & getting ripped off for being foreign. Maybe old historic emotions get mixed in.
Welcome to the land of the rising sun.
nakanoguy01
well, unless you're deaf, you can probably hear that they speak...wait for it...CHINESE!
the chinese are still making this guy money so he should be greatful they are renting from him. and as for the broken chair, just ask them to pay for it. no biggie.
Toasted Heretic
Some tourists are rude, some are not. Some locals are honest, some are into making a fast buck.
Yubaru
This author is writing this article from Tokyo, which tells me they know little if anything about the way Okinawan's will argue with each other, and I guarantee you it ain't diplomatic!
Not down here, wrong language and wrong word.
DaDude
and let me tell you, China is one of the worst countries in the World for marking up prices for foreigners. They can get away with it because they don't put a sign out there that your price is going to be 10 times higher than a native's. If he wanted no controversy, he should have had no price sign then give the price when they walk up and ask. Anyways forget this moron, go support the local home center and buy a parasol for under 1000yen.
lucabrasi
@nakanoguy
A large amount of people from Peru, Brazil, the U.K., France, Singapore and Malaysia speak Chinese.
Dan Lewis
He should have priced the chairs at 20,000 yen, with a local discount (which he could apply at his discretion for people of other countries)
dcog9065
If the Chinese tourists didn't pay for the broken chair, he could require a deposit before giving the chairs. Also, he could make it 1 chair per person as a requirement or something like that as well, however that may make the chair deposit quite expensive.
I can see how what he did is discriminatory, however I'm not really sure what the operator can do if he is experiencing constant unacceptable behaviour from a particular group of people. Business operators also require access to recourse
JeffLee
He had ONE chair broken after serving what, hundreds? thousands? of paying customers. So he effectively bans a large segment of his client base? Yep, really astute businessman, there.
Reminds me of the story of the izakaya operator in Shinjuku in the 90s who banned all foreigners because one beer glass (which are given to businesses free) was stolen by a group of eikaiwa teachers, who had until that point been frequent and lavishly spending customers.
Kobe White Bar Owner
I get it, some Chinese can be very load and unruly. We get them in our place but J late teen/early 20's still get the prize for worst manners every day of the week and twice on sunday.
Steven Fennel
Im sure in the same position the Chinese would do the same thing....
Halwick
Charge locals 2,000 yen. Charge Chinese (read: Gaijin) 20,000 yen. I wonder what he charges Americans, especially U.S. military? 40,000 yen? And if you fly Ospreys, 100,000 yen?
Well, you gotta admire the Okinawan entrepreneur chutzpah (or whatever the equivalent is): one price for Okinawan locals, much higher price for Gaijin Tourists.
chugmagaga
So stupid, just charge them in case of any damage. If they laugh louder or chat louder that is only because of their culture and because they are enjoying. Grow up!!!!!!! for Gods sake.
kohakuebisu
The beach I take my kids to sometimes has a car park that is advertised as 1000 yen, or more if you use the beach hut next to it. However, every time I go there in my car with an "out of prefecture" number plate and my gaijin face, the kid collecting the money tells me the price is "1500 yen". They accept 1000 yen when you say that's what's written on the Internet.
Middleoftheroad
I have had places let me know I was not welcome, and I just walked out and found a place that was happy to take my money. People have the freedom to do and charge whatever they please in my opinion, I don't like when government at any level steps in, there will be others who will step up and rent to them, and the one who won't, will most likely go out of business. In the end things always have a way of working themselves out with out government interference.
Chinese my be bad for rudeness, but Americans top the list when it comes to being arrogant and loud, in my area we have a US base, they talk so loud that you can hear them talking outside of their house from a good 500 meters away at times, throw trash anywhere they please, and will not return any greetings whatsoever! You may ask why the landlords rent out to these people, well because they charge 2 to 3 times the rent that they would charge a Japanese. When I rented a house way back the first thing the agent ask is if I was a "Base person", when I said I was not, some would say they only rent to "Base people"! It has always been that way, and even though laws have changed and agents no longer turn you away, they still charge the "Base People" way more!
Go to Akihabara and just sit and wait, you will learn how to spot them in about 10 minutes or so!
Kaerimashita
Surely if he is unlicensed they can just close him down? Or don't you need a licence to rent beach stuff? In which case why tell us he is unlicensed?
Strangerland
So, if a business owner doesn't like black people, or women, they should be able to charge them more, or refuse them service?
Middleoftheroad
@Strangerland
Sure, why not? Would you really want to go into a place that did not want you there? If you knew you were getting overcharged and stayed, then you are just as much to blame for keeping them in business.
Would you want to go into a place that was forced to serve you against their will?
When you see a members only sign on an entrance these days, that is their way of getting around the law. I could not care less, I just go to a place that will accept me!
People need to stop crying about everything and just go to places that want you there, and treat you fairly.
Kobe White Bar Owner
@ middleoftheroad
Totally agree with your above comment mate. Not every place is made for every customers horses for courses and all that. I for one would happy charge old men who are alone and already well past their limit 5000Yen for a beer nope lets make that 10,000.
Am i being ageist or lacking tolerance for a section of society i do not wish to have aything to do with anymore???
Toasted Heretic
Where do you draw the line at? Old people? Women? Black? Mixed race? Single mothers?
It's a slippery slope, when you take a moment to contemplate...
Not saying you are ageist, sexist or racist, btw. Just genuinely curious.
quercetum
No concept of discrimination when as he discriminates.
Kobe White Bar Owner
@ Toasted Heretic
For me its more about peoples behaviour and how they treat others plus how loud they are. Personally i dont care where you come from or your age. I'll judge you by what you say and how you act/treat others. My issue above about drunk old boys was just that they are loud selfish and have little to say but say it far to loud hence the expensive beer.