Overtourism in Japan, and How it Hurts Small Businesses
Small businesses open to serve communities, not to go viral. When TikTok collides with Japanese cocktail bars, owners end up in tears. Algorithms + cheap travel + 500M new middle class travelers = overtourism crushing the character of cities.
tl;dr
Great cities are built on small businesses that serve communities, not viral masses. A Kyoto bar owner was found in tears after being TikToked—he opened it for locals, now only gets tourists he can't talk to. Overtourism stems from algorithms + cheap travel + explosive middle class growth (China: 30M to 500M middle class in 25 years). The solution? Redirect committed tourists to B-side Japan (Yamaguchi, Toyama, Morioka) while extracting wealth from the masses via higher taxes.
My Thoughts
I have been in Japan this year after postponing my trip for 5 years, probably after dreaming of this trip for at least a decade… And I could not agree more with this article.
I am a bit tired of the “insta-photo” tourism, of the top 10 things to visit in Tokyo from 10 different influencers which is basically a copy and paste with different videos. I love learning something new, feeling like I am in those places as an observer and not necessarily altering the works of it.
I like to invest in my trips: I studied Japanese, I rented a car to visit remote areas of the country, I adventured into places where there were only retired people enjoying some games after a good onsen bath. This is my kind of tourism, and I like to believe it is a more healthy/sustainable one.
“The cocktail bar owner in tears because he opened it for locals and now only gets tourists he can’t talk to” That image haunts me, and I do not want to be part of it, ever. This is what happens when algorithms decide what deserves attention at scale. Small businesses aren’t built to handle viral fame, nor should they have to.
But I will create a whole blog post about how I approach visiting new places. In the meanwhile, give it a good read and think about your own approach to tourism.
This is my personal commentary on the original article. Please read the original article for the full context.