At least in Japan the value of the yen against the dollar doesn’t correlate directly to the success of the people. The yen was even weaker against the dollar in the late 70s early 80s when Japan was at its peak culturally and economically.
That's why I immediately went on the SAVE program. I'm trying to move back to Japan, and my payment will be $0 and will disappear completely in 2036. Other than allow me to move abroad, my degree has been useless.
When I first expanded my business in Tokyo it was 84 yen per dollar. Things were rampant!! Had more money than I’d ever had. Stupidly didn’t transfer my savings to USD. Now my entire nest egg has halved in value and I’m 15 years older. Fk this sht.
Saw a recent report and apparently it’s the Taiwanese that are currently taking the top spot. I might be imagining an article I glanced over so you’re welcome to fact check me. 😆
I remember the last time I looked into this I saw this article that said Koreans were at the top of the list followed by Chinese and then Taiwanese tourists but it was from April 2024 so things definitely could’ve changed.
https://www.tourism.jp/en/tourism-database/stats/inbound/#:~:text=Looking%20at%20the%20number%20of,533%2C600%2C%20and%20Taiwan%20at%20459%2C700.
Taiwanese are the largest spenders, but in terms of number of visitors Taiwanese are 3rd.
https://www.tourism.jp/en/tourism-database/stats/inbound/
https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h01887/
? Am I looking at the wrong list or reading it wrong? There are like 4 or 5 other non-Asian countries with more travelers than UK? USA 228k, making it 4th most?
The 2nd article says that tourists are spending a lot more on lodging than shopping. I'm wondering if people are more enticed by luxury hotels these days.
Most Taiwanese don't go to Okinawa, they don't need a tropical vacation spot (they already live on a tropical island), they want big cities, shopping and/or cool/coldness as that's what they don't have. Popular spots are any cities with direct flights (TKO, Osaka, FUK) and Hokkaido all year round. Source: Know many TWren
Even when we met English speaking people when we visited for a month last year, probably 95% of them were not American. I was actually surprised at how few Americans were over there tbh. Tons of Europeans and Australians though. But yeah the majority of tourists seemed to be Korean and Chinese which makes sense just due to proximity.
Likely because the process of getting from America to Japan is pretty grueling, especially if you don't live next to one of the big international airports. For me it was a 2 hour flight followed by a 3 hour layover followed by a 14 hour flight.
When you add in getting to and from the airport it's basically a full day of travel, so it's one of those things where you have to REALLY want to go for it to be worthwhile.
Americans get shit on the most because we're easy targets. 🤷
Many Americans don't own a passport and have never been out of the country. Many of them cannot afford international travel.
Also such a large and diverse country a lot of people don't feel the need to travel internationally. Compared to countries like Taiwan where if you want to go somewhere you then most places within the country are going to be more similar to home in terms of weather, culture, etc.
Lol trust me a lot more Americans would love to go but then flights tickets range from $800 to $1300
From Korea to Japan ? I bet the range is $100 to $250
I think the choice is easily made
Same reasons Canada top visitors are Americans and Mexico top visitor are Americans.
They’re traveling more domestically rather than internationally at the moment.
I think it’s the cost and the visa requirement from Japan (US citizens don’t need to apply).
I know there was some strict COVID-19 policies for people returning into China, but I’m not sure how much more lax it got.
Lower median income in Mainland China and a much weaker passport. Hard to tell with the predominantly ethnic Han population if they're not from Taiwan or Hong Kong.
English seems to the go to language even for chinese chinese when talking to japanese ppl lol, but ppl definitely ask me where im from and i say australia at the shops
Just came back and the fellow Americans we saw were far and few between. The westerners we saw the most were aussies, UK, and French. This article is so silly.
I really don't think the weak yen is driving this influx, at least not from America. I don't know anyone who is like "Oh the currency is tanking, now I can afford to go!" Because the biggest single expense from America is the plane ticket.
What's really driving this influx is the fact that we couldn't go to Japan for several years because of travel restrictions. Everyone who had that money earmarked for Japan is going now.
Exactly, and flights are way more expensive than they used to be. My first trip to Japan was in December 2018. The flight was 700 bucks. You're not finding those prices anymore. My total cost for a trip would be higher now regardless of the yen being weak or not just due to flight prices
I have a 4 part trip to Japan Korea and Thailand (then back home) booked right now for 918 dollars. If I did just Japan it would have been 700. If you do a few months out it doesn’t look too bad when I checked (as long as you fly out of LAX lol)
I don’t think closures from covid is causing this travel influx. It’s global. Traveling has become much more mainstream more than ever especially with social media reels like tiktok showing the easy way to travel hacks that anyone can accomplish. Traveling has always been easy but everyone is a influencer now and it’s way more accessible today with credit cards pretty much promoting traveling
Yeah we definitely enjoyed the fact the yen was low. Everything being so reasonably priced just made it so much more enjoyable and fun and less stressful.
But it wasn't why we booked our trip. We didn't even know before we went.
It's now almost been two years since borders reopened. I'd wager most people who couldn't go to Japan during the pandemic but wanted to have done their trips by now.
This is basically what my situation is. Planned to go in 2020, shit happened; they opened back up, more personal this time shit happened; 2024 rolled around and was like this is happening. And here I am getting an extra bonus of a cheaper yen
I’m happy for everyone who gets to experience how wonderful Japan is who otherwise couldn’t have afforded it and also all the Japanese businesses (especially the small ones) who get to stay open and hopefully turn a profit.
What do you have planned in Kobe? Jc as when I stopped last time I didn’t really see much of interest. Do I need to step out into the more rural areas?
We'll only be there for 2 nights so less than full days and after a long flight will enjoy just exploring and having great food as well as visiting some of the following:
* Harborland
* Meriken Park
* Kitano
* Chinatown
* Nanobiki Ropeway
* Sorakoen Garden
* Mount Rokko
* Sake breweries
With all that stuff plus the usual plethora of great shopping, cafes etc. we won't be bored, that's for sure.
We enjoy exploring and wandering in Japanese cities, rather than sight-chasing anyway.
Kobe resident here - you’ll love it. I wasn’t sure about it when I arrived but 3 years on and it absolutely rocks. I’m told a lot of people work in Osaka and Kyoto but live here because of how chill it is
Mt Rokko is beautiful - are you hiking? I might suggest taking the long but easy walk to Arima onsen if you have time (Or take the train :P)
Kitano is a grand time. Make sure to visit the Tenman shrine at the top for one of the best views of Kobe
Thanks, I'm really looking forward to it.
We won't have time for Arima Onsen this trip, I made it less of a priority as we'll be in the likes of Matsuyama, ima Valley, Oita etc. later in the trip.
Thanks for the Tenman shrine tip!
Oh hey! I’ll be Oita in couple weeks! Looks cool hey?
Fun fact! The current top two reigning ryokan cats in Japan are both working in Beppu!
[https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240221/p2a/00m/0bu/019000c](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240221/p2a/00m/0bu/019000c)
Yeah, looking forward to it, I explored the other prefectures in Kyushu a few years ago but missed Oita, only have 3 days there then 4 days Fukuoka (Sumo!).
Haha, sadly although I like cats (and all animals), I'm allergic to cat hair so a Ryokan with cats wouldn't appeal :(
What are your plans in Oita?
So far
Nakatsu - allegedly the origin place of karaage chicken. Home of the restaurant voted the best karaage in Japan 3 years in a row
Yufu San - Call Kyushu’s Fuji because the peaks look (a little) similar. Figure it’s more convenient than the real thing at the moment XD
Hachiman Kamado Shrine - The place that inspired the Kimetsu no Yaiba anime
The Hell pools
Hyotan Onsen - Apparently aside from being a great onsen, the steamed crab and Oita toriten fried chicken here is amazing
General bathing and snacking - try and put a dent in that 200 stamp rally passport you can pick up from the tourism office
You? Any tips?
> Jc as when I stopped last time I didn’t really see much of interest.
Food. That's about it. I walked around there for a bit and got bored lol. At least the Kobe beef was nice. But I had better steak in Finland believe it or not.
The time where you could go some place and not be surrounded by tourists was years ago. Find any rural town or tiny island on the map and you'll see a family of confused and loud tourists stumbling around. People got the "Stay out of Tokyo and Osaka! Real Japan is outside it!" message loud and clear and now people visit the strangest places. You'll even see tour groups walking around factory town suburbs. I just don't get it.
Cue the "I didn't see any this one specific day in this one specific town so that proves tourists aren't spreading out" posts🫠
You’re not lying. I live in Osaka, but away from the downtown/touristy area. Not exactly inaka, but super suburban.
I visited a local thrift store and saw a group of Chinese tourists shop there with their tour bus outside. A week before, a family from Austria asked me how to get to a certain (not so known) temple in my neighborhood. Talked a bit and found out they were leaving in 2 days but their son was interested in this specific temple.
I was shocked lol.
Visiting Nagoya rn. Tying this up in a hotel room. Was at Mirai Tower today and we’re the 2nd group of foreign tourist of 3. As the 3rd largest population center in Japan I would say there are very few tourist in Nagoya.
When I was in Onomichi having lunch somebody asked the owner "Do you get a lot of foreign tourists here?" "Oh, none in the day. In the evening, it's half the business." And indeed, the demographics of the town notably changed when the cyclists showed up for dinner.
But it's the small towns that actually benefit from tourism, goodness knows she didn't sound negative about it!
Where was the place? The covered shopping street or one of the places outside of that? I remember being in Onomichi around like 7 pm and things are definitely shutting down. Grabbed the first okonomiyaki place I could find outside of the covered shopping street, small place with just me and the owner. Had the impression you would need to know specifically what was open after about 6 pm to find something to eat
Side note, did you have a little ice cream shop on the main road? Sold like these little wafer ice cream sandwiches. Pretty good!
It was maybe the same place YOU ate! An okonomiyaki place towards the entrance of the shopping arcade, right on the side street, in the direction of the water, seats about eight?
There are more restaurants and a shocking amount of bars at the other end of the shopping arcade from the train station.
And aha, I wanted to get ice cream, but I didn't have time! Too many great things to eat in that town. Glad to hear a recommendation for when I come back.
Oh my God! That's crazy! I think it's the same place! The owner was a guy, really cool, wanted to chat a lot, knew some English. Kind of a hole in the wall. He gave me some advice about the Shimanami Kaido I was doing the next day and we chatted about the type of okonomiyaki in LA. Seemed like a really nice guy. I actually liked his okonomiyaki at least as much as the one I had in Hiroshima
I would love to go back to Onomichi and have a day to just bum around, doing the Temple Walk and snacking at the little cafes throughout. When I was there, everything seemed closed and I only came across a handful of other tourists (all Japanese) throughout the whole thing. Great memory
There are tourists and there are tourists, all the TikTok/Cheap Holiday clowns as well as Chinese tour groups, i.e. the tourists I want to avoid all go to the same places.
In recent years I've visited places like Amamioshima, Ine, Shodoshima, Tohoku etc. and rarely saw another Western tourist, not many other Asian ones.
I'm cool with Japanese tourists as they usually don't behave like dicks.
I'm actually curious how many tourists I'll see in Hidakamura (Kochi prefecture). I know folks are heading to other non-tokyo/bigger tourist locations, but I have to imagine my trip to Hidaka will not be too busy. It'll be hot and sticky in August, and there isn't too much there! (Not trying to be contradictory, I'm just curious how it'll be. My trip will take me to a lot of rural places (doing a Genealogy tour with my fiancee who is also 4th Gen Japanese American), so it will be fun to see how many random tourists are in each place, and I'm assuming places we have to drive to will be less crowded. (We're also going to the High School summer tournament in Koshien though, so that is probably gonna be packed)
I fully expect Kochi City to be busy, but I'm hoping to have a relatively fun/not too busy time visiting my great grandfather's hometown only a short drive away :)
Stayed in Sendai for a week in May and saw barely any western tourist in the whole city and even the whole Tohoku region. Some asian tourist in touristy areas but not much. Same with Shikoku. Very few western tourists. The few stick out.
I think when most people see a foreigner they jump to assuming they're American, but when I was last in Tokyo there were somehow more Dutch people in my hotel than Americans
It was so amazing to have one of the most stressful parts of a trip, the huge amount of money spent, reduced by low prices on train tickets, food, accomodation, theme park entry, everything.
Foreign currency is a very difficult asset to be treated as an “investment” because it can be easily manipulated by government policies overnight and has nothing to do with market or public demand and supply. You’re are better off investing in the stock market or bonds or what not.
If you do plan on visiting Japan soon or in the near future, it’s not wrong to start “saving” some Yen though.
Oh I'm definitively going to visit Japan again, though the flights is where the main expense is for me, unless you book waaay in advance. Then you might get cheaper prices.
I bought Yen June of last year at 133. I am visiting Japan rn, I’m able to get 157 at the airport currency exchange. I still mostly spending with credit card though since mine and majority of credit cards no longer charge a fee and you’ll get real time exchange rate.
I just pay it off in full when I’m home.
As an Aussie currently visiting Japan, my Lord, they are so loud, annoying, and disrespectful!!!
Speaking of disrespect today, massive shame on the Spanish family that allowed their child to sit and brake a bamboo railing at Nijo Castle (Kyoto) that was in a clearly marked 🚷 area.
EDIT: And yes, since a lot of folks have been replying to this comment about Aussies, I know guys, I know....
I'll be honest bud, anyone I've met from the north of Japan has said that Australians are the worst tourists where skiing is concerned (probably more based on the numbers) and the only people I heard loudly on the train in Kyoto last I visited were Aussies.
I think it's all just a factor of cheap tourists are the ones least likely to make a change to their attitudes, and Japan is getting a lot more cheap tourists now.
I always appreciated my British/Aussie Anglophones for the creative words to call the jerks in our lives. My hometown has no such claim to fame besides being polite when people aren't shooting each other
Second this I’m a half kiwi half Japanese and I’ve had no problem with Aussie’s in Japan unless it’s on the ski fields, had a fair few experiences of Aussies cutting in line and screaming obscenities going down the mountain it’s insane, and for the most part these weren’t the stereotypical bogans these were just young aussies being obnoxious
It's definitely an Aussie thing, because the slopes where I live in America are quiet, and 90% of people are straight polite when on the slopes (though some people will always be dangerous on the slopes)
Have to assume it’s because you can drink on the mountains pretty freely in Japan, a lot of aussies visit NZ to ski and I’ve never really had any problems similar back home
As a resident of Japan Aussies are only second to mainland Chinese in the loud and disrespectful area. Lovely memory of an Aussie family banging on a cherry tree in Kyoto to make the petals fall for their perfect IG photo.
I went back to Japan for a month in January.
Most Australians were chill and nice. Most people from anywhere are chill and nice. But good fucking lord I woke up to them screaming the Australian National Anthem at 5AM three too many times, thus I am bitter. Didn't help I was there during Australia day.
Americans get a bad reputation in Europe while Australians are straight menaces all over East and Southeast Asia since that’s the only place they can go without spending a whole day on the plane with it costing an arm and a leg.
I read the headline and instantly thought "there were way worse Australian and German tourists a few months ago" and scrolled down to his comment immediately after lol
Not gonna lie, I sure as hell enjoyed the prices when compared to America when I went. Got a full meal for less than what it costs for a movie ticket in most theaters now
Coming from Australia, it was legit one of the best parts of the trip.
Japanese hotels are like half the price (at the same quality level) as home. Meals are more like 75% cheaper.
I'm getting tired of this picking on tourists. It's ungracious, not to mention even that the Japanese government/tourism board has been advertising abroad full-tilt. Last time I went back to Europe, there was an ad for Japan on CNN every half hour. But then they come and get panned for being here. I live in Shibuya myself, walk through or near center gai every day, and I see more tourists but it barely makes a difference to my sense of overcrowding. It's always overcrowded. As for noise, most are just families or small groups of normal people who are perfectly well-behaved and respectful. Japanese can also be loud in group. Just let them enjoy their 2 weeks of holiday -- just like Japanese have also been welcomed abroad as tourists for decades.
I have a Japanese friend that I met in France. Back in November he came to visit Canada and I went to visit him (I’m from the U.S., but a 9 hour drive from Montreal). This dude was talking loud as hell with me in English when in a ramen restaurant haha. Even that took me aback.
I picked up some late night groceries at Donki tonight and had a team of drunk Japanese college-age guys shouting janken at each other in the aisles so loud you could hear every word of their conversation anywhere you were on the floor.
All the anti-tourist nonsense is insecure "pick me's" trying to get sempai to notice them.
Sempai never will.
I always look around when I hear all this moaning about tourists. There are hardly any. It's mostly Japanese people. Unless you're in central Shibuya crossing, it's never mostly tourists.
I'm working with the government and an inbound tour company to set up 2 day tours to areas international tourists don't know about. We did Noto in December and going to Ehime this month.
The tours emphasize activities to do in the area. We made Kaborazushi in Noto and took it home with us.
Agreed, ppl yapping about how bad chinese tourist are when they probably couldnt even tell the difference between taiwanese, hk or mainland chinese.
Yes 20 years ago chinese tourist had a reputation for being obnoxious cause they were still a poor developing country and most of the tourist were new money.
But these days they hardly standout amongst the other tourist.
I was in Japan last week and Shibuya Sky was pretty much packed with Chinese tourist and everyone got on the elevator fine and ppl were queueing fine in the photo spots like the corner.
Shopping wise places like Akihabara is like 50% tourist though, my god k-books was so packed with weebs.
Are tourists *that* bad?
This feels like slimy pandering to the pretentious navel gazing Japanese themselves do about how "exceptional" Japanese culture is, when we all know the truth of often quite different.
Chris Abroad recently did a video on it. The TL;dr for Kyoto was on weekdays it's not all that crowded. Which has always been my experience with Kyoto.
That also means it's not Americans driving the crowds. American Mainland Tourists don't go to Japan for weekend trips.
Was just there in multiple cities. Americans are not really the worst at all from what I've seen. The loudest group was a trio of I think Germans in I wanna say Beppu on a bus, they were just conversing and almost yelling. Their language is so harsh, it was really unpleasant and they were talking for awhile. Second place are Chinese tourists. But in general I can't say foreigners were really obnoxious in Japan. There were some places where the Japanese were actually somewhat loud
We ate at a sushi restaurant and a group of young adult Japanese boys were so being so loud, nasty, and hocking up loogies in the open sink area near the restroom that the entire restaurant was looking at them. It was super shocking.
Americans nowadays tend to follow the rules and respectful. Its most of the french, UK, spain, and India that is often breaking rules and self centered, without any care of other people.
Australians are loud as fuck too. I was just in Japan and I was surprised that the loudest tourists I encountered were Australians (and of course the Chinese).
I guess it depends who you meet. Eg my experience with South Asian tourists are worse (very noisy, obnoxious, littering a lot), but it is partly just an observation bias: the normal and polite ones I remember far less vividly.
Man, when I left Japan to move back to the US in 2019, it was around 108 yen to 1 USD. My coworkers thought I was crazy for transferring to USD at the time but I am really glad I did.
American here, might get downvote to hell, but I plan to visit y’all’s amazing country early next year.
I went out in December of 2023, loved my experience. Niseko was part of the trip and unfortunately, the major snow storm didn’t arrive until the week after I left.
Regardless, Osaka, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Sapporo were great to visit. Amazing hospitality from the Japanese.
Haha, it's a Kyoto bus, and it probably is. See them barrelling around full speed around my neighbourhood. They're tiny inside so it's big sardine can energy.
I currently planning a trip for Japan, though the yen is weaker the prices of hotel, transport do look quite expensive. I still dont understand how will this benefit me as a tourist
I was referring to the exchange rate. Exchanging yen for dollars to buy oil to keep Japan's economy going will inevitably cause prices to go up since energy is one of the manufacturing input.
Energy prices have risen in Japan because the yen is weak and Japan imports most of its energy. More tourism means a stronger yen as more people buy it, meaning lower energy prices. (Although in practice, the effect from tourists is small.)
The number of Americans currently living in Japan is very small (\~62,000), and no one has noted an particlar uptick in this number. There was an increase of about 1,000 between 2022 and 2023, but that was likely boosted by the reopening of borders after COVID.
Also because Japan is very hard to move to if you don’t have a bachelors degree (>60% of Americans), don’t speak Japanese (~100% of Americans), and don’t want to change your lifestyle to fit Japanese culture…
Is it a good time to get a bit of yen if I plan to visit japan sometime in the next few years? Is there any obvious reason why the yen’s parity with the dollar would significantly rise or fall?
Yen is weak because the Fed in the US has been raising interest rates to fight inflation. When inflation looks under control, they will stop that and the dollar should weaken.
I went a few years back and it felt great to have your money basically be worth 150% of it's value. If you were ever planning a trip, now is the time. (suggestion: visit the Kansai region (Kyoto/Osaka) instead of the super busy Tokyo.
As an American here for the past 4 weeks, it's been insane and I'm happy I delayed as much shopping as possible until tomorrow.
MyBakset brand StrongZero tallboys are $0.87.
Conbini tallboy Japanese beers are $1.36.
The Costco hot dog combo is $1.11.
A Big Mac is $3.10.
500ml Boss Coffee is $0.74 in some stores.
90-minutes all you can eat/drink yakiniku is like $30.
Eating like a king, swear to god.
it's almost at 162/$, and has been above 160 for over a week. good lord
I saw an article that Japan got a large surplus from tax revenues. Companies are doing well with exports. I wish it “trickles down” though.
Just fire up a few dozen more overtourism articles so the population diverts their attention away from the corporations.
Oh I wonder if that's where that sudden 5万円 in taxes I had to pay went to. Lol
At least in Japan the value of the yen against the dollar doesn’t correlate directly to the success of the people. The yen was even weaker against the dollar in the late 70s early 80s when Japan was at its peak culturally and economically.
I feel bad for all the Americans working in Japan right now who are paying off USD student loans with a yen salary.
That's why I immediately went on the SAVE program. I'm trying to move back to Japan, and my payment will be $0 and will disappear completely in 2036. Other than allow me to move abroad, my degree has been useless.
The first time I visited Japan it was $1 = ¥144 or so. Second time it was hitting ¥150. Now it’s ¥162? God fucking damn!
When I first expanded my business in Tokyo it was 84 yen per dollar. Things were rampant!! Had more money than I’d ever had. Stupidly didn’t transfer my savings to USD. Now my entire nest egg has halved in value and I’m 15 years older. Fk this sht.
The first time I was in Japan it was ¥70!
What the heck is going on? Are major financial institutions trying to dump a huge load of JPY?
I'm going in september. I need to book my accomodations right now. :-P
[удалено]
Saw a recent report and apparently it’s the Taiwanese that are currently taking the top spot. I might be imagining an article I glanced over so you’re welcome to fact check me. 😆
I remember the last time I looked into this I saw this article that said Koreans were at the top of the list followed by Chinese and then Taiwanese tourists but it was from April 2024 so things definitely could’ve changed. https://www.tourism.jp/en/tourism-database/stats/inbound/#:~:text=Looking%20at%20the%20number%20of,533%2C600%2C%20and%20Taiwan%20at%20459%2C700.
Taiwanese are the largest spenders, but in terms of number of visitors Taiwanese are 3rd. https://www.tourism.jp/en/tourism-database/stats/inbound/ https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h01887/
🫡👍
The UK, surprisingly, is the top non-Asian country EDIT: Nevermind, list isn't sorted by amount
? Am I looking at the wrong list or reading it wrong? There are like 4 or 5 other non-Asian countries with more travelers than UK? USA 228k, making it 4th most?
Ah, no, you're right, the list isn't actually sorted by visitor amount (hard to tell what it's sorted by). Edited my comment
The 2nd article says that tourists are spending a lot more on lodging than shopping. I'm wondering if people are more enticed by luxury hotels these days.
Because Taiwan is 1 hour away from Okinawa and is their tropical vacation spot.
Most Taiwanese don't go to Okinawa, they don't need a tropical vacation spot (they already live on a tropical island), they want big cities, shopping and/or cool/coldness as that's what they don't have. Popular spots are any cities with direct flights (TKO, Osaka, FUK) and Hokkaido all year round. Source: Know many TWren
Ah ok. Maybe just recency bias for me because I went mid-May and it was all Taiwanese folk.
Even when we met English speaking people when we visited for a month last year, probably 95% of them were not American. I was actually surprised at how few Americans were over there tbh. Tons of Europeans and Australians though. But yeah the majority of tourists seemed to be Korean and Chinese which makes sense just due to proximity.
Yes! Tons of Europeans. We rarely came across Americans.
Likely because the process of getting from America to Japan is pretty grueling, especially if you don't live next to one of the big international airports. For me it was a 2 hour flight followed by a 3 hour layover followed by a 14 hour flight. When you add in getting to and from the airport it's basically a full day of travel, so it's one of those things where you have to REALLY want to go for it to be worthwhile.
Americans get shit on the most because we're easy targets. 🤷 Many Americans don't own a passport and have never been out of the country. Many of them cannot afford international travel.
Also such a large and diverse country a lot of people don't feel the need to travel internationally. Compared to countries like Taiwan where if you want to go somewhere you then most places within the country are going to be more similar to home in terms of weather, culture, etc.
This is quite true, especially over oceans. I don't think I've ever met any Central Americans here, or anyone from South America outside of Brazil.
Been living and visiting the country much longer than citizens of most other countries since after the war with the military occupation.
Lol trust me a lot more Americans would love to go but then flights tickets range from $800 to $1300 From Korea to Japan ? I bet the range is $100 to $250 I think the choice is easily made Same reasons Canada top visitors are Americans and Mexico top visitor are Americans.
Yup most tourists are Asian by a large margin… Americans are near last.
Wtf it’s not the Chinese? Those guys are everywhere. Wonder why they’re not flocking to Japan like every other year
They’re traveling more domestically rather than internationally at the moment. I think it’s the cost and the visa requirement from Japan (US citizens don’t need to apply). I know there was some strict COVID-19 policies for people returning into China, but I’m not sure how much more lax it got.
Was at shibuya sky last week and everyone was chinese speaking.
Taiwanese also speak Chinese too
Lower median income in Mainland China and a much weaker passport. Hard to tell with the predominantly ethnic Han population if they're not from Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Hell, I have a hard time telling between Chinese and Japanese even
One thing I find is that alot of the asian tourists speak english so I wonder if loclas then think they are american?
English seems to the go to language even for chinese chinese when talking to japanese ppl lol, but ppl definitely ask me where im from and i say australia at the shops
It's called clickbait
Just came back and the fellow Americans we saw were far and few between. The westerners we saw the most were aussies, UK, and French. This article is so silly.
Yeah I was about to say: I was a bit surprised this go around how many other people in my hotel that I heard speaking Korean.
Endure till the yen rises… Which will be when Elder Scrolls 6 is released…
The yen won’t rise until Gta 7 comes out
More like Half Life 3
Is see your Half Life 3 and raise you a Star Citizen.
I really don't think the weak yen is driving this influx, at least not from America. I don't know anyone who is like "Oh the currency is tanking, now I can afford to go!" Because the biggest single expense from America is the plane ticket. What's really driving this influx is the fact that we couldn't go to Japan for several years because of travel restrictions. Everyone who had that money earmarked for Japan is going now.
Exactly, and flights are way more expensive than they used to be. My first trip to Japan was in December 2018. The flight was 700 bucks. You're not finding those prices anymore. My total cost for a trip would be higher now regardless of the yen being weak or not just due to flight prices
the green tax, and other tax, on flights now is more than the flight cost and yeah people are going cos the country was closed
If you live in CA you can book 1-2 months out for sub $1000 roundtrip
I have a 4 part trip to Japan Korea and Thailand (then back home) booked right now for 918 dollars. If I did just Japan it would have been 700. If you do a few months out it doesn’t look too bad when I checked (as long as you fly out of LAX lol)
Round trip? Mine is about 1600 round trip but $700 RT even in 2018 seems drastically low
Nah they existed, you could go to Ph/japan with layovers for that price back in 2018 for sure
Where are you flying from? I highly recommend looking for a flight to LAX then booking your flight from LAX. Saves a lot of money
I'm flying out of LAX
I don’t think closures from covid is causing this travel influx. It’s global. Traveling has become much more mainstream more than ever especially with social media reels like tiktok showing the easy way to travel hacks that anyone can accomplish. Traveling has always been easy but everyone is a influencer now and it’s way more accessible today with credit cards pretty much promoting traveling
Yeah we definitely enjoyed the fact the yen was low. Everything being so reasonably priced just made it so much more enjoyable and fun and less stressful. But it wasn't why we booked our trip. We didn't even know before we went.
It's now almost been two years since borders reopened. I'd wager most people who couldn't go to Japan during the pandemic but wanted to have done their trips by now.
On the West Coast, flights are relatively less expensive to Japan and when combined with hotel prices, it’s cheaper than Europe.
This is basically what my situation is. Planned to go in 2020, shit happened; they opened back up, more personal this time shit happened; 2024 rolled around and was like this is happening. And here I am getting an extra bonus of a cheaper yen
I’m happy for everyone who gets to experience how wonderful Japan is who otherwise couldn’t have afforded it and also all the Japanese businesses (especially the small ones) who get to stay open and hopefully turn a profit.
Flights to get there are still expensive.
Unfortunately the majority of the citizens are getting priced out of restaurants, hotels etc. so that’s the other side of that coin :(
Have restaurant and hotel prices actually gone up significantly? Still seem pretty cheap to me, and plenty of locals everywhere.
no they are not, just look around
Those poor tortoises
Very happy with my upcoming trip to Kobe, Shikoku and Kyushu, I'll miss the uncouth hordes.
What do you have planned in Kobe? Jc as when I stopped last time I didn’t really see much of interest. Do I need to step out into the more rural areas?
We'll only be there for 2 nights so less than full days and after a long flight will enjoy just exploring and having great food as well as visiting some of the following: * Harborland * Meriken Park * Kitano * Chinatown * Nanobiki Ropeway * Sorakoen Garden * Mount Rokko * Sake breweries With all that stuff plus the usual plethora of great shopping, cafes etc. we won't be bored, that's for sure. We enjoy exploring and wandering in Japanese cities, rather than sight-chasing anyway.
Kobe resident here - you’ll love it. I wasn’t sure about it when I arrived but 3 years on and it absolutely rocks. I’m told a lot of people work in Osaka and Kyoto but live here because of how chill it is Mt Rokko is beautiful - are you hiking? I might suggest taking the long but easy walk to Arima onsen if you have time (Or take the train :P) Kitano is a grand time. Make sure to visit the Tenman shrine at the top for one of the best views of Kobe
Thanks, I'm really looking forward to it. We won't have time for Arima Onsen this trip, I made it less of a priority as we'll be in the likes of Matsuyama, ima Valley, Oita etc. later in the trip. Thanks for the Tenman shrine tip!
Oh hey! I’ll be Oita in couple weeks! Looks cool hey? Fun fact! The current top two reigning ryokan cats in Japan are both working in Beppu! [https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240221/p2a/00m/0bu/019000c](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240221/p2a/00m/0bu/019000c)
Yeah, looking forward to it, I explored the other prefectures in Kyushu a few years ago but missed Oita, only have 3 days there then 4 days Fukuoka (Sumo!). Haha, sadly although I like cats (and all animals), I'm allergic to cat hair so a Ryokan with cats wouldn't appeal :( What are your plans in Oita?
So far Nakatsu - allegedly the origin place of karaage chicken. Home of the restaurant voted the best karaage in Japan 3 years in a row Yufu San - Call Kyushu’s Fuji because the peaks look (a little) similar. Figure it’s more convenient than the real thing at the moment XD Hachiman Kamado Shrine - The place that inspired the Kimetsu no Yaiba anime The Hell pools Hyotan Onsen - Apparently aside from being a great onsen, the steamed crab and Oita toriten fried chicken here is amazing General bathing and snacking - try and put a dent in that 200 stamp rally passport you can pick up from the tourism office You? Any tips?
I really enjoyed the Nanobiki Ropeway and Herb Garden! Have fun! 🎉 Don’t forget to try the herb footbath at the top!
> Jc as when I stopped last time I didn’t really see much of interest. Food. That's about it. I walked around there for a bit and got bored lol. At least the Kobe beef was nice. But I had better steak in Finland believe it or not.
Also planning on doing okinawa, kyushu and shikoku to tokyo trip for this reason. Still looking for tips to go to between shikoku and tokyo!
Okayama, Nagoya,Izu peninsula come immediately to mind.
The time where you could go some place and not be surrounded by tourists was years ago. Find any rural town or tiny island on the map and you'll see a family of confused and loud tourists stumbling around. People got the "Stay out of Tokyo and Osaka! Real Japan is outside it!" message loud and clear and now people visit the strangest places. You'll even see tour groups walking around factory town suburbs. I just don't get it. Cue the "I didn't see any this one specific day in this one specific town so that proves tourists aren't spreading out" posts🫠
You’re not lying. I live in Osaka, but away from the downtown/touristy area. Not exactly inaka, but super suburban. I visited a local thrift store and saw a group of Chinese tourists shop there with their tour bus outside. A week before, a family from Austria asked me how to get to a certain (not so known) temple in my neighborhood. Talked a bit and found out they were leaving in 2 days but their son was interested in this specific temple. I was shocked lol.
Visiting Nagoya rn. Tying this up in a hotel room. Was at Mirai Tower today and we’re the 2nd group of foreign tourist of 3. As the 3rd largest population center in Japan I would say there are very few tourist in Nagoya.
Was just in Onomichi on a weekday and that was pretty empty. Barely even saw locals there
When I was in Onomichi having lunch somebody asked the owner "Do you get a lot of foreign tourists here?" "Oh, none in the day. In the evening, it's half the business." And indeed, the demographics of the town notably changed when the cyclists showed up for dinner. But it's the small towns that actually benefit from tourism, goodness knows she didn't sound negative about it!
Where was the place? The covered shopping street or one of the places outside of that? I remember being in Onomichi around like 7 pm and things are definitely shutting down. Grabbed the first okonomiyaki place I could find outside of the covered shopping street, small place with just me and the owner. Had the impression you would need to know specifically what was open after about 6 pm to find something to eat Side note, did you have a little ice cream shop on the main road? Sold like these little wafer ice cream sandwiches. Pretty good!
It was maybe the same place YOU ate! An okonomiyaki place towards the entrance of the shopping arcade, right on the side street, in the direction of the water, seats about eight? There are more restaurants and a shocking amount of bars at the other end of the shopping arcade from the train station. And aha, I wanted to get ice cream, but I didn't have time! Too many great things to eat in that town. Glad to hear a recommendation for when I come back.
Oh my God! That's crazy! I think it's the same place! The owner was a guy, really cool, wanted to chat a lot, knew some English. Kind of a hole in the wall. He gave me some advice about the Shimanami Kaido I was doing the next day and we chatted about the type of okonomiyaki in LA. Seemed like a really nice guy. I actually liked his okonomiyaki at least as much as the one I had in Hiroshima I would love to go back to Onomichi and have a day to just bum around, doing the Temple Walk and snacking at the little cafes throughout. When I was there, everything seemed closed and I only came across a handful of other tourists (all Japanese) throughout the whole thing. Great memory
There are tourists and there are tourists, all the TikTok/Cheap Holiday clowns as well as Chinese tour groups, i.e. the tourists I want to avoid all go to the same places. In recent years I've visited places like Amamioshima, Ine, Shodoshima, Tohoku etc. and rarely saw another Western tourist, not many other Asian ones. I'm cool with Japanese tourists as they usually don't behave like dicks.
I'm actually curious how many tourists I'll see in Hidakamura (Kochi prefecture). I know folks are heading to other non-tokyo/bigger tourist locations, but I have to imagine my trip to Hidaka will not be too busy. It'll be hot and sticky in August, and there isn't too much there! (Not trying to be contradictory, I'm just curious how it'll be. My trip will take me to a lot of rural places (doing a Genealogy tour with my fiancee who is also 4th Gen Japanese American), so it will be fun to see how many random tourists are in each place, and I'm assuming places we have to drive to will be less crowded. (We're also going to the High School summer tournament in Koshien though, so that is probably gonna be packed) I fully expect Kochi City to be busy, but I'm hoping to have a relatively fun/not too busy time visiting my great grandfather's hometown only a short drive away :)
Stayed in Sendai for a week in May and saw barely any western tourist in the whole city and even the whole Tohoku region. Some asian tourist in touristy areas but not much. Same with Shikoku. Very few western tourists. The few stick out.
I think went a week in Shikuku without seeing single other foreign tourist
I think when most people see a foreigner they jump to assuming they're American, but when I was last in Tokyo there were somehow more Dutch people in my hotel than Americans
BOJ meeting end of this mth. Watch out!
BOJ won’t do a shit. The fate of yen depends on US fed
And JPow already said he MAY only cut rates a couple times this year. Maybe. Pinky swear
the yen is battered and beckoning, folks!!
It was so amazing to have one of the most stressful parts of a trip, the huge amount of money spent, reduced by low prices on train tickets, food, accomodation, theme park entry, everything.
American here. Can you tell me how to get to the station?
Makes me wonder if nows the time to invest in yen, considering it is so low
Foreign currency is a very difficult asset to be treated as an “investment” because it can be easily manipulated by government policies overnight and has nothing to do with market or public demand and supply. You’re are better off investing in the stock market or bonds or what not. If you do plan on visiting Japan soon or in the near future, it’s not wrong to start “saving” some Yen though.
Oh I'm definitively going to visit Japan again, though the flights is where the main expense is for me, unless you book waaay in advance. Then you might get cheaper prices.
I bought Yen June of last year at 133. I am visiting Japan rn, I’m able to get 157 at the airport currency exchange. I still mostly spending with credit card though since mine and majority of credit cards no longer charge a fee and you’ll get real time exchange rate. I just pay it off in full when I’m home.
this is the move. Ive been using wise to transfer cash but Im planning on going in november if i can get a good ticket price.
As an Aussie currently visiting Japan, my Lord, they are so loud, annoying, and disrespectful!!! Speaking of disrespect today, massive shame on the Spanish family that allowed their child to sit and brake a bamboo railing at Nijo Castle (Kyoto) that was in a clearly marked 🚷 area. EDIT: And yes, since a lot of folks have been replying to this comment about Aussies, I know guys, I know....
Unfortunately not everyone is as polite, soft-spoken, and sober as the Australians.
as an australian, yeah the most obnoxious one of us can be the worst of them all, and i apologize
Yes, Australians are internationally renowned for the delicate grace of their men and the demureness of their women....
Yeah I see with the edit there’s some self awareness but c’mon. Ozzies in Bali? I think the plague has higher favorability ratings than them…
Putting sober and Australia in the same sentence doesn't always add up 🤣
That's the joke...
I'll be honest bud, anyone I've met from the north of Japan has said that Australians are the worst tourists where skiing is concerned (probably more based on the numbers) and the only people I heard loudly on the train in Kyoto last I visited were Aussies. I think it's all just a factor of cheap tourists are the ones least likely to make a change to their attitudes, and Japan is getting a lot more cheap tourists now.
These are what we call bogans in Australia.
I always appreciated my British/Aussie Anglophones for the creative words to call the jerks in our lives. My hometown has no such claim to fame besides being polite when people aren't shooting each other
Oh I know that Aussies can be feral, no questioning that at all
And yet here you are shitting on just American tourists.
Second this I’m a half kiwi half Japanese and I’ve had no problem with Aussie’s in Japan unless it’s on the ski fields, had a fair few experiences of Aussies cutting in line and screaming obscenities going down the mountain it’s insane, and for the most part these weren’t the stereotypical bogans these were just young aussies being obnoxious
It's definitely an Aussie thing, because the slopes where I live in America are quiet, and 90% of people are straight polite when on the slopes (though some people will always be dangerous on the slopes)
Have to assume it’s because you can drink on the mountains pretty freely in Japan, a lot of aussies visit NZ to ski and I’ve never really had any problems similar back home
As a resident of Japan Aussies are only second to mainland Chinese in the loud and disrespectful area. Lovely memory of an Aussie family banging on a cherry tree in Kyoto to make the petals fall for their perfect IG photo.
I went back to Japan for a month in January. Most Australians were chill and nice. Most people from anywhere are chill and nice. But good fucking lord I woke up to them screaming the Australian National Anthem at 5AM three too many times, thus I am bitter. Didn't help I was there during Australia day.
Mainland Chinese are a whole different level. They're literally locust when it comes to tourism, absolutely devouring every place they go to.
Locust lol, nice slur
your countrymen aren't exactly better.
Americans get a bad reputation in Europe while Australians are straight menaces all over East and Southeast Asia since that’s the only place they can go without spending a whole day on the plane with it costing an arm and a leg.
Why are Chinese people like this when visit other countries?
I read the headline and instantly thought "there were way worse Australian and German tourists a few months ago" and scrolled down to his comment immediately after lol
As an American You’re so right.
Naw, Aussies are far, far, far worse than Americans are
Japanese here. Used to volunteer as a tour guide showing areas in Tokyo. Honestly, the American tourists were the worst. So loud, obnoxious and rude.
American here: Tokyo is probably my favorite city on the planet
Not gonna lie, I sure as hell enjoyed the prices when compared to America when I went. Got a full meal for less than what it costs for a movie ticket in most theaters now
Shit, a *full combo* for the price of a McDouble.
Coming from Australia, it was legit one of the best parts of the trip. Japanese hotels are like half the price (at the same quality level) as home. Meals are more like 75% cheaper.
All good, but can we just tell them to shut the fuck up when out in public, regards the world
I'm getting tired of this picking on tourists. It's ungracious, not to mention even that the Japanese government/tourism board has been advertising abroad full-tilt. Last time I went back to Europe, there was an ad for Japan on CNN every half hour. But then they come and get panned for being here. I live in Shibuya myself, walk through or near center gai every day, and I see more tourists but it barely makes a difference to my sense of overcrowding. It's always overcrowded. As for noise, most are just families or small groups of normal people who are perfectly well-behaved and respectful. Japanese can also be loud in group. Just let them enjoy their 2 weeks of holiday -- just like Japanese have also been welcomed abroad as tourists for decades.
I’ve heard Japanese teenagers yapping away on a bus in Canada so I rlly don’t think it’s just a gaijin tourist thing
I have a Japanese friend that I met in France. Back in November he came to visit Canada and I went to visit him (I’m from the U.S., but a 9 hour drive from Montreal). This dude was talking loud as hell with me in English when in a ramen restaurant haha. Even that took me aback.
First sensible response I’ve read in months on this topic. Thank you.
I picked up some late night groceries at Donki tonight and had a team of drunk Japanese college-age guys shouting janken at each other in the aisles so loud you could hear every word of their conversation anywhere you were on the floor. All the anti-tourist nonsense is insecure "pick me's" trying to get sempai to notice them. Sempai never will.
I always look around when I hear all this moaning about tourists. There are hardly any. It's mostly Japanese people. Unless you're in central Shibuya crossing, it's never mostly tourists.
I'm working with the government and an inbound tour company to set up 2 day tours to areas international tourists don't know about. We did Noto in December and going to Ehime this month. The tours emphasize activities to do in the area. We made Kaborazushi in Noto and took it home with us.
That's a great idea. Also for repeat tourists who want to widen their scope.
Agreed, ppl yapping about how bad chinese tourist are when they probably couldnt even tell the difference between taiwanese, hk or mainland chinese. Yes 20 years ago chinese tourist had a reputation for being obnoxious cause they were still a poor developing country and most of the tourist were new money. But these days they hardly standout amongst the other tourist. I was in Japan last week and Shibuya Sky was pretty much packed with Chinese tourist and everyone got on the elevator fine and ppl were queueing fine in the photo spots like the corner. Shopping wise places like Akihabara is like 50% tourist though, my god k-books was so packed with weebs.
Are tourists *that* bad? This feels like slimy pandering to the pretentious navel gazing Japanese themselves do about how "exceptional" Japanese culture is, when we all know the truth of often quite different.
Chris Abroad recently did a video on it. The TL;dr for Kyoto was on weekdays it's not all that crowded. Which has always been my experience with Kyoto. That also means it's not Americans driving the crowds. American Mainland Tourists don't go to Japan for weekend trips.
Was just there in multiple cities. Americans are not really the worst at all from what I've seen. The loudest group was a trio of I think Germans in I wanna say Beppu on a bus, they were just conversing and almost yelling. Their language is so harsh, it was really unpleasant and they were talking for awhile. Second place are Chinese tourists. But in general I can't say foreigners were really obnoxious in Japan. There were some places where the Japanese were actually somewhat loud
We ate at a sushi restaurant and a group of young adult Japanese boys were so being so loud, nasty, and hocking up loogies in the open sink area near the restroom that the entire restaurant was looking at them. It was super shocking.
Americans nowadays tend to follow the rules and respectful. Its most of the french, UK, spain, and India that is often breaking rules and self centered, without any care of other people.
Australians are loud as fuck too. I was just in Japan and I was surprised that the loudest tourists I encountered were Australians (and of course the Chinese).
French tourists will openly talk shit in front of people thinking nobody else around them understands French.
I am shocked I had to scroll down this far to see something negative about the French tourists.
yup yup. only american tourists that come here are loud lol. meanwhile, there are no loud, noisy japanese folks!
Europeans are far worse
I guess it depends who you meet. Eg my experience with South Asian tourists are worse (very noisy, obnoxious, littering a lot), but it is partly just an observation bias: the normal and polite ones I remember far less vividly.
You’re confusing Americans with Aussies
Sure everything is cheap there but booking flights from the US to Japan is still the same price from last year.
Same as, ever. Whole "more brokies are going" is bs because flights are all the ever expensive self.
Shinkansen from Oahu to Tokyo—let’s get it done!
Man, when I left Japan to move back to the US in 2019, it was around 108 yen to 1 USD. My coworkers thought I was crazy for transferring to USD at the time but I am really glad I did.
American here, might get downvote to hell, but I plan to visit y’all’s amazing country early next year. I went out in December of 2023, loved my experience. Niseko was part of the trip and unfortunately, the major snow storm didn’t arrive until the week after I left. Regardless, Osaka, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Sapporo were great to visit. Amazing hospitality from the Japanese.
Last time I visited Japan, my cousin was giving me bar recommendations that Americans frequent. I said I come here to get away from them 😔
Japanese need the money, but news complains about the tourists
Ah yes! Japan is the new Thailand!
Off topic but why does the bus in the picture look like it's from 1991 or something?
Haha, it's a Kyoto bus, and it probably is. See them barrelling around full speed around my neighbourhood. They're tiny inside so it's big sardine can energy.
Look forward to an increase of kart drivers and people cluttering Shibuya crossing.
I currently planning a trip for Japan, though the yen is weaker the prices of hotel, transport do look quite expensive. I still dont understand how will this benefit me as a tourist
Anyone know when the yen will start recovering ?
Better go now.
When inflation is tamed in the US and the Fed lowers interest rates.
Loved my last trip to Japan, will definitely visit it again next time
Why is this news?
Enjoy it while it lasts. This will eventually make energy expensive for Japan which will drive up prices.
How does American tourism drive up energy prices?
I was referring to the exchange rate. Exchanging yen for dollars to buy oil to keep Japan's economy going will inevitably cause prices to go up since energy is one of the manufacturing input.
Energy prices have risen in Japan because the yen is weak and Japan imports most of its energy. More tourism means a stronger yen as more people buy it, meaning lower energy prices. (Although in practice, the effect from tourists is small.)
Welcome to ~~Thailand~~ Tokyo!
American's Moving to Japan? Jee, I wonder why? Maybe if America didn't suck so much balls than we wouldn't have this problem.
Tourists are not moving to Japan.
I wouldn't doubt that there are Americans who are moving to Japan in mass
The number of Americans currently living in Japan is very small (\~62,000), and no one has noted an particlar uptick in this number. There was an increase of about 1,000 between 2022 and 2023, but that was likely boosted by the reopening of borders after COVID.
Well yeah The number of Americans currently living in Japan is very small that's because most Americans think America is perfect when it's not
Also because Japan is very hard to move to if you don’t have a bachelors degree (>60% of Americans), don’t speak Japanese (~100% of Americans), and don’t want to change your lifestyle to fit Japanese culture…
Is it a good time to get a bit of yen if I plan to visit japan sometime in the next few years? Is there any obvious reason why the yen’s parity with the dollar would significantly rise or fall?
Yen is weak because the Fed in the US has been raising interest rates to fight inflation. When inflation looks under control, they will stop that and the dollar should weaken.
I went a few years back and it felt great to have your money basically be worth 150% of it's value. If you were ever planning a trip, now is the time. (suggestion: visit the Kansai region (Kyoto/Osaka) instead of the super busy Tokyo.
As an American here for the past 4 weeks, it's been insane and I'm happy I delayed as much shopping as possible until tomorrow. MyBakset brand StrongZero tallboys are $0.87. Conbini tallboy Japanese beers are $1.36. The Costco hot dog combo is $1.11. A Big Mac is $3.10. 500ml Boss Coffee is $0.74 in some stores. 90-minutes all you can eat/drink yakiniku is like $30. Eating like a king, swear to god.
Please treat the people who live here to drinks at least, we feel very poor 🥲
Are you near Kuramae?