70% of inns without foreign guests wish to keep it that way: survey

Friday 10th October, 06:40 AM JST

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uperjer at 10:56 PM JST - 13th October

say what we will, but unless we're citizens of the country, we don't have the right to complain. keep in mind that unless you are a citizen, you don't have any right to complain about how japanese people feel about their country, feel about foreigners, or want to run their businesses.

keep in mind that most stereotypes exist for a reason. there is always some johnny gaijin that will muck things up. that's life. deal with it. just suck it up and try to make lemonade out of the lemons that you get. or conversely, complain endlessly on a news site about how japanese are xenophobic and racist. i'm sure that'll win the hearts and minds of the millions of japanese people that read an english-language news source.
HaroldSteptoe at 01:05 AM JST - 14th October

uprjer- To accept injustice is the fool.

these "people" are a disgace to the name of Japan. It harks back to bad old adys of prejudice. Japan should be ashamed of Japanese peoples cultural insensitivity.

In this instance the Japanese are in the wrong. Japan has signed UN agreements to treat all including tourists equally.

You don't have to be a citizen to complain ,a resisent, permanent or whatever is paying taxes, so shouldn't be trodden down by a racist society.
flyingfish at 04:19 PM JST - 14th October

and the new tourism minister(not the old one who said japanese dont like foreigners) says that they know that some people dont want foreign tourists but have no intention of trying to change peoples mindsets.

well what the hell are they doing then?? can you imagine a minister in the west getting away with a comment like this??
GenevaMan at 06:56 PM JST - 14th October

Those ryokan are not making money anyway. People posting here know how to behave in a ryokan and any average Westerner is able to understand the rules in a blink of an eye. Saying that language is a problem is a big joke anyway. Millions of Japanese are visiting Europe every year; of course they never speak the language and behave sometimes in a rude manner in European standard (in some countries, you HAVE TO give a tip, for example). One of my friend works for a travel agency and told me that japanese guests are the most annoying, as they are all smiley but write letters once they come back to their beloved island. Anyway, I think those people should get down of their soapbox; as they can also make some money in the process.
cleo at 07:56 PM JST - 14th October

those people should get down of their soapbox; as they can also make some money in the process.

If the ryokan owners were parading through the streets with placards saying 'Foreign visitors go home', then fair enough. But no one is on a soapbox as far as I can see (except the poor paranoid souls who have convinced themselves that Everyone in Japan is Looking at them, and No one in Japan wants to Sit Next to them in the train). The ryokans that hadn't had any foreign visitors last year were asked if they'd like foreign guests to come, and some of them said No Thank You. That's all.

If you've ever filled in one of these questionnaire surveys in Japan, you know that answering 'Yes I Am Interested' to the most innocuous-looking question will get you inundated with advertising gumph and eager salesmen trying to sell you whatever it is you may have expressed a very mild interest in, preferably in large amounts and at inflated prices. The ryokan owners wouldn't have been being overly paranoid if they'd assumed that answering 'Yes We Would Like Foreign Visitors' meant that next morning they would have on the doorstep five coach-loads of folk who don't know how to use the bath, don't appreciate natto, don't fit into the XL-size yukata, stick out either end of the futon and complain about all of the above in a language the ryokan owner doesn't understand. For a little hole-in-the-wall family-run concern, it simply isn't worth the bother. That's not to say that individual travellers or family groups would be turned away for the sin of being furrin. In most cases, quite the opposite; the ryokan would go out of their way to make sure they were able to provide a satisfactory service, and would probably die a thousand deaths at the embarrassment of the too-small futon and nightwear.
GenevaMan at 08:17 PM JST - 14th October

@ cleo. I quite agree with your point. However, I really think that the average BillyBobSmith won't go to a ryokan, and that people who make the move to book a night or two in a ryokan (that you usually have to make in japanese by the way) is aware of the do and don't's. I know that a bunch of foreigners are paranoid about "segregation" in Japan. Funny, when you think that in some neighborhoods, in US for example, you cannot make it to other side of the street if you are white. But on the other hand, I am quite sure that a large amount of japanese people should definitely get down of their soapbox and stop giggling and panicking whenever someone who looks a bit different shows up. Let's look at the fact (this survey for example): a lot of japanese people DO have some irrational feelings toward foreigners (Westerners, Asian or whatever) and should definitely make some efforts; do we, foreigners need to teach them a lesson? Yes, by beeing humble and respecting their traditions, and perhaps giving them some kokorozuke.
cleo at 09:15 PM JST - 14th October

I really think that the average BillyBobSmith won't go to a ryokan

I know that and you know that, but the Tochan and Kaachan who run that little 3-room ryokan up in the mountains don't know that, especially if they're being asked to fill in surveys about why they aren't going to go out of their way to attract foreign customers. Why make an effort to attract the kind of customer you aren't used to dealing with, when you're already doing well enough as you are? Should every Toyota salesman make an effort to sell Nissan cars, too? Should every car salesman make an effort to sell Christmas trees?

And in 99% of cases, let's not forget, BillyBobSmith will be made perfectly welcome. Much more welcome than the shopper in search of a Christmas tree will be in the Toyota dealership.

I think you're mixing your metaphors in a quite unforgivable manner, by the way; the ones doing the giggling and panicking are not on their soapboxes, they're trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible in case someone notices them and speaks to them in English. The ones on the soapboxes are the ones complaining about being looked at by the locals.

:-)
uperjer at 10:12 PM JST - 14th October

uprjer- To accept injustice is the fool.

these "people" are a disgace to the name of Japan. It harks back to bad old adys of prejudice. Japan should be ashamed of Japanese peoples cultural insensitivity.

In this instance the Japanese are in the wrong. Japan has signed UN agreements to treat all including tourists equally.

You don't have to be a citizen to complain ,a resisent, permanent or whatever is paying taxes, so shouldn't be trodden down by a racist society.

you should really try posting when you're not drunk. then maybe you won't look completely retarded.

think about what you're saying. they should be ashamed of their culturally cultural insensitivity? isn't that part of japanese culture? and UN agreements mean nothing. the UN only wields as much power as the member countries choose to give it.

and i still have yet to see how a preference can be considered an injustice. does the article say that 70% of ryokans refused to have a foreign tourist? no. it says they don't prefer them.

who cares if it's racist. it's their country. if you don't like it, either become a citizen and complain all you want; or conversely, get out.
GenevaMan at 11:42 PM JST - 14th October

@ cleo.

"in 99% of cases, let's not forget, BillyBobSmith will be made perfectly welcome">

that's true

Much more welcome than the shopper in search of a Christmas tree will be in the Toyota dealership.

I am sorry but you are the one who is

mixing your metaphors in a quite unforgivable manner

And no, I am not complaining about how I am looked by the locals; your last comment is biaised, sorry about that. I told you that I don't give a duck about this so called "racism" in Japan (cf. my second comment). I just think a lot of japanese people are missing quite a lot of oportunities, financially and culturaly.
cleo at 01:53 AM JST - 15th October

Genevaman -

I wasn't suggesting that you were complaining about being looked at, and I apologise if that is the way it came across; but look back up the thread (or on any thread where the topic has anything to do with the Japanese/non-Japanese interface) and you'll see plenty of that type.

Whether people are missing financial and/or cultural opportunities is surely up to the individual to decide. Not every little rural onsen wants to be a huge multi-trillion yen enterprise; and the whole point of many of the little rural onsens is that they offer their customers a step back into a nostalgic Japan of old (which is probably no more genuine than the traditional Victorian Christmas, but in either case, who cares?), not a leap forward into globalisation.

And I offer no apologies at all for metaphors mixed, extended, puree'd or pulverised. :-)
nigelboy at 10:09 AM JST - 15th October

In an ideal world, these small innkeepers would PREFER for every foreign tourtists to be fluent in Japanese. And at the same time, most foreign tourists would PREFER for every small innkeepers to be fluent in English. But the reality is just the opposite. Hence, the result is majority of the smaller inns never had foreign guests.
GenevaMan at 06:06 PM JST - 15th October

@cleo

Whether people are missing financial and/or cultural opportunities is surely up to the individual to decide.

Correct, however a bit sad when we know that (Quote Ryo Ito, Spokesman for Affairs and Communications Ministry)*

“The business environment has become very harsh,”

But anyway, I won't cry a river, I feel more sorry for them than anything else.

I was thinking about what would be a European equivalent of those small rural onsen. I came up with BnB, where you share as much privacy with the landlord as in those ryokan. A lot of BnB in continental Europe offer a similar picturesque step back to some "I don't know when" golden age and I am quite sure they wouldn't reject anyone. That's also why I thought many Japanese people have irrational feelings about foreigners. No complaining here, just find funny that "no smoking" and "no foreigners allowed" are here on the same level. O kyaku sama no tame... ROFL.

And I offer no apologies at all for metaphors mixed, extended, puree'd or pulverised.

That's all fine. ;)
cleo at 07:49 PM JST - 15th October

A lot of BnB in continental Europe offer a similar picturesque step back to some "I don't know when" golden age and I am quite sure they wouldn't reject anyone.

I'm sure they wouldn't - just like Tochan and Kaachan up in the mountains. And, also like Tochan and Kaachan, they're probably not that eager to make huge investments in overhauling their facilities/offering alternative menus/taking language lessons etc on the off-chance that a couple of furriners might want to stay. (Granted, language probably isn't the issue it is in Japan). If they come, fine. If they don't, fine.

I really don't see the difference.
nisegaijin at 03:39 PM JST - 16th October

this is misleading. correct explanation would be language barrier, rather than nationality. How come a question of "what if the guest spoke Japanese" didn't come up?
klesha at 05:55 PM JST - 16th October

While in the States I often vacationed in Maine. The coast is peppered with bed & breakfasts, the equivalent of ryokan here. I'd bet my bottom dollar if you asked 100 of the proprietors of these establishments if they would like to have foreign guests who don't speak English well enough to manage basic affairs during their stay, 70% or more would say, 'No'. I’m sure in either case, in Japan or in the States, they’d be happy with the increase in revenue. However, they’d probably be thinking about the extra revenue = aggravation factor. Most would probably be happy to chug along with their current situation than deal with aggravation the extra income would bring with it.