JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

japantodaykenji's past comments

• 

  0

  japantodaykenjiNov. 12, 2008 - 09:35PM JST

  To relax and get away, Japanese go by the tens of millions to hot springs, ski resorts, and on sightseeing bus tours throughout the country, especially in Autumn and Winter. The network is amazingly complex, with a stunning array of options and destinations, but is largely unknown to foreigners, who prefer to go sightseeing on their own, alone or in very small groups. The travel brochures and pamphlets are everywhere at any large train or bus station, and at all the travel agencies, but they are in Japanese, and often go unnoticed by foreigners.

  I took a number of JNTO special sightseeing bus tours with English speaking guides years ago, and enjoyed them very much. But I also felt uncomfortable with some of the other foreigners, naturally, as we all had very different expectations and interests. For the same reason, some tour operators might be reluctant to actively seek out foreigners to join their tours. I've been on the Japanese tours, speaking only Japanese, and found them very satisfying and at times even riotous good fun. Perhaps small bus tours could be targeted at a mix of English speaking Japanese and foreigners, but it might not be cost effective.

  Most Japanese also get away by returning to their hometowns and parents' homes at New Year's, O-bon, and Golden Week. Very relaxing sitting around all day eating, chatting and just hanging out with old school friends scattered far and wide by their work, and with families and relatives, which is the whole point.

  Foreign travel, however, is usually a non-stop sensory overload, on purpose, for a glimpse of something utterly different from their own culture. They're not looking to relax in a country where their language is not widely spoken and their customs are largely unknown.

  By the way, Japanese "in the sticks" do actually have exquisite Japanese manners, but don't know or care to follow the more outgoing, friendly public style, i.e., with total strangers, more common in most Western countries.

  Posted in: What does Japan need to do in order to attract more tourists?

• 

  0

  japantodaykenjiNov. 10, 2008 - 08:30PM JST

  I believe the article said that inns and hotels that didn't have any foreign guests last year made up 40 percent of the total surveyed. The 70 percent of that 40 percent of establishments, who said they don't want any foreign guests in the future, would likely include the very small and the very rural, so it is more likely that it is because they have no English, Korean or Chinese speaking staff and don't know what the needs of non-Japanese guests are, than that they are racist. There are also a large number of hotels that cater exclusively to Japanese businessmen, and who probably wouldn't want any Japanese women, laborers, students or families either.

  In any case, increasing tourism from abroad is the goal, and though the staff, and probably older managers, at such places may need to be educated in more enlightened attitudes or shown how to cater to foreigners, the government is probably trying to focus on the larger number of inns and hotels that are in fact on the tourist trail, and that welcome foreigners. The number of such places has grown overall, and will continue to grow. We all have stories of having experienced racism, but I think that using this poll as proof of insufferable and horrendous discrimination or xenophobia is untenable.

  Posted in: What does Japan need to do in order to attract more tourists?

• 

  0

  japantodaykenjiNov. 09, 2008 - 10:20PM JST

  Here's a very interesting site for those interested in the relative difficulty levels of Chinese and Japanese: http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2008/06/25/learning-curves-chinese-vs-japanese#comment-362562 Here's another, in .pdf format, showing a report from the US Foreign Service Institute, ranking the relative difficulty of learning the major world languages for a native English speaker. Japanese comes in at no. 1 in difficulty. http://www.nsa.gov/public/pdf/foreign_language.pdf

  Posted in: How difficult or easy is Japanese to learn, compared to other languages?

• 

  0

  japantodaykenjiNov. 09, 2008 - 10:10PM JST

  It's like being homeless--only a relative handful of people are chronically rude or homeless. It may look like a lot of people, but most of them are just passing through and will eventually move on.

  Posted in: Why are so many people rude in cyberspace?

• 

  0

  japantodaykenjiNov. 09, 2008 - 03:35PM JST

  Reading through all the previous posts, I notice that many express frustrations. This is perhaps natural and understandable, but the question is not "Why don't tourists come to Japan?" but more specifically, "What does Japan need to do in order to attract more tourists?" The government clearly does want to encourage tourism.

  Though the Japanese government may primarily be targeting nearby Asian neighbors who can get here easily, the people posting on this topic are largely from English-speaking countries. But as we do of course have constructive things to say, I'm glad to see that some people are indeed trying to answer the question asked. As for racism and xenophobia, sure it exists, but in every country, to varying degrees.

  I'm Caucasian-Asian, and have encountered hurtful attitudes in every country I've ever been to. No big deal. Whatever you look like or wherever you come from, you can play it to your advantage or disadvantage.

  Posted in: What does Japan need to do in order to attract more tourists?

• 

  0

  japantodaykenjiNov. 09, 2008 - 03:01PM JST

  Hi Sarge,

  The exchange rate was about 265 yen to the US dollar in 1985, then plummeted to 120 within two or three years. That brought the first large influx of English teachers to Japan to earn what suddenly looked like huge wages when reconverted to their own home currencies during the economic bubble here. Tourism was largely only for the backpacker and the wealthy, both before and since then, and even now. Compared to most other countries, there are still relatively few middle-class family options for visiting Japan available at the local tourist agencies back home.

  Europe and Hawaii are easy, but Japan is not. I think that anyone who can put together a satisfying and meaningful tour package for such people, with the right balance of the exotic and the familiar, and without the inevitable hassles, could make a lot of money. Local, temporarily resident English teachers are probably the very ones who could do that when they return home. They know more about Japan--from their compatriots' perspectives--than anyone else, and those who have lived here longest have probably read all the books and lived the daily experiences, and thus are best able to explain the reasons why exactly it is Japanese do or don't behave in what would would ordinarily be thought of as the "right way of doing things" in any other particular culture.

  Caveat: The ability to speak and read Japanese is essential for any would-be tour operator or guide. Many of the misunderstandings and rants that many of us foreigners occasionally have magically dissolve and evaporate when we read the fine print and converse in the local lingua franca.

  Posted in: What does Japan need to do in order to attract more tourists?

• 

  0

  japantodaykenjiNov. 09, 2008 - 01:45PM JST

  As the worldwide Japanese tourist boom in the 80's was facilitated by local Japanese tourist agencies designing tour packages that catered to exactly what Japanese wanted to see and experience abroad, I would suggest that those agencies simply help assist overseas travel tour operators create their own packages specifically aimed at the residents of that country. Japan is not the easiest place to have "fun" in, but many people around the world do want to visit. They just need homegrown guides who know what they will want to see and what they will want to avoid. I think that neither the Japanese tour agencies nor the Japanese government is really aware of what the people of say, Finland or Argentina, for example, need in the way of accomodations and sightseeing, nor what their pre-existing ideas of what Japan might be like really are.

  Posted in: What does Japan need to do in order to attract more tourists?

Follow us