Aug 16, 2024
Is your locale suffering from overtourism or is it...crickets?
I've lived on the periphery of Tokyo, commuted in for some years, and finally pulled back. Is the city or region you live in crowded with tourists from abroad or is it an off-the-beaten track location? Do the claims of "overtourism" ring true to you or do you think it's overblown?
Best Answer
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on Aug 26
Over-tourism is real in Kawagoe! Its become a real problem this year, but its building for years. I first noticed it last year when my "secret" parking spaces that were always a safe bet were all full on a weekday. And for the last year you can't just "walk" down the street, you have to shuffle at a snail's pace behind all the tourists! Its got so bad that we never ever go to the tourist area of Kawagoe on a weekend and even on a weekday I'll only go early morning or after dusk!
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on Aug 17
I don't think our area is prone to overtourism since we're in the countryside, but I do see an uptick in visitors at certain times of the year. For instance, at the moment the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is on, and I do think it draws more people to Niigata. The other timeframe is ski season, but neither feels unmanageable because it's not like we were all hustle and bustle here to start with. I think a lot of regional areas really want tourists, so I think the overtourism thing is concentrated to the areas that get almost every traveler (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka). I did actually see an article that people were canceling trips after the megaquake warning, so I wonder if that will see a drop in overall numbers for at least a little while.
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on Aug 26
@BigfamJapan I've visited Kawagoe in the last 12 months...And it was crazy crowded on the main street, but on the back streets up to Kawagoe Goten, the palace, it was quiet. In the early evening, I walked over to the kura storehouse streets and the crowd had thinned out, but still dense with foreign tourists. Also in the last year, I've been to Ashikaga, Tochigi, and Sakura (the one next to Narita) and no crowds. Unless there is an event on, these places are not getting visitors from abroad. Another place I visited last year, Odawara, is worth a visit for the castle and villas but again, virtually no visitors from abroad when I was there. However, getting through Odawara Station was stressful because it's jammed with foregin visitors headed for Hakone.
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on Sep 4
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on Sep 4
@Eli My impression is that interesting places within the 23 wards aren't suffering overtourism at all. I often take visitors from abroad to Katsushika Ward to see Mizumoto Park and Shibamata where we seldom encounter other foreign visitors. The locations appeal to visitors interested in slow tourism, history, urban landscapes, etc. May I ask, which ward/city you're in?
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on Sep 27
Saw this during the week and thought it was an interesting read: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Travel-Leisure/Japan-a-tourism-hot-spot-is-losing-its-passion-for-travel It mentions that more Japanese people are opting to stay domestically instead of traveling overseas (I'm sure the yen rate is impacting that). I wonder if that increases the feel of overtourism in some places, since you not only have a surplus of international visitors, but domestic travelers as well.
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on Sep 27
@genkidesu That news item also suggests that, because Japanese workers have limited leave, so they're squeezing trips into brief domestic trips.z But are they crowding into the same places inbound tourists are flocking to?
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on Jan 26
@TonetoEdo missed this back months ago (I feel like sometimes I don't get notifications on Q&A replies!) but I actually saw a press release not too long ago from Agoda, the travel platform, sorta on that topic. https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000007.000152576.html It was looking at the fastest growing tourist spots across Japan - Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture was #1 for international visitors, and Saitama was #1 for domestic travelers. Encouraging to see something other than the usual spots, but I guess if Saitama is dealing with overtourism in places like Kawagoe then maybe it's not the best.
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on Jan 27
@genkidesu Thanks for the link to the Agoda data! It's great to see Matsuyama City getting more international attention. When I lived there 25 years ago, it was pretty much an unknown destination for visitors from abroad.
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on Aug 23
I'm in a suburb of Osaka and we get tourism at Minoh Waterfall, which is especially overcrowded during the fall. It seems more manageable than Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka City. Overtourism is very real in those cities, plus seasonally there are huge groups of students on their school trips. We went up to Furano Hokkaido in July and it seemed like it was about 80% foreign tourists. It is probably a big help to their economy and not awful like the hotspots in Kyoto.
10 Answers