How Japan is dealing with overtourism

In 2025, Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, Japan will finally arrive. The World Expo opens its doors in mid-April. Organizers hope the event will draw more than 28 million visitors, but here's the thing. Japan is a country known for its contradictions, and that includes its tourism. It wants to welcome foreigners, but it's also struggling with overcrowding. I'm Teresa Tang. CNA's Japan correspondent Mico Ishida joins me today. Hi, Mitch. Hi,

I've been to Japan once. I know only once, you know, what I remember, the food was good, locals were polite, it was fun. I liked it, but some people don't like Japan. They love Japan. They go back over and over again. Especially in the last few years, given the yen is so weak. As a local, do you understand the infatuation people have with your country? You know, what makes it so captivating?

Well, Theresa, I do travel throughout Japan as a TV correspondent. Honestly, before I became a correspondent a few decades ago, I didn't find Japan so captivating. No, I basically thought Japanese food tasted too salty, soy saucy, lots of miso. But because, you know, I've been traveling for this job, I realized that the experience is different in every prefecture

throughout Japan. There are 47 prefectures, the culinary experience, including the local catch, the fish, the kind of land, the climate, differentiates the kind of fruits, vegetables that are grown. And the landscape varies. Japan has its four seasons, cherry blossoms, the autumn leaves, you know, and as Japan is a volcanic archipelago, there are hot springs in most areas, and there are deep forests, the beautiful rivers, mountains, and the

most iconic is Mount Fuji. There are historic structures, you know, one of the most famous are in the old capital Kyoto. With the UNESCO World Heritage Temples and Shrines and in 2024, a record 36.87 million visited Japan. That's 15.6% more than in 2019. That's the year when inbound tourists recorded the most pre-COVID-19 times. And of course the yen's depreciation has had a big impact too to help draw inbound tours last year. But you know, really up until 25, 30 years ago,

inbound tourism was not vital for Japan's economy. Japan had enough domestic travelers with its huge population, but today with its declining population and a weaker manufacturing industry, except for the, you know, auto-making industry, tourism has emerged to become one of the most hopeful industries in Japan today. It sounds like there's something for everyone in Japan.

Let's talk about the World Expo. Many governments believe it's one of the big 3 events that can elevate a country's visibility on the world stage, you know, the other two being the Olympics and the football World Cup. Japan has hosted all of those events 6 times for the Expo, and this is actually the 2nd time the so-called World's Fair has been in Osaka. And I know you attended in the past. Can you tell me what that experience was like? Yes, well, I did cover the Tokyo Olympic Games of the

02 World Cup. And as to the World Expo, I covered the 2005 IT Expo. My impression of that time, it was just so crowded. I was there 3 to 4 times, but I never saw the most talked about attraction at that time. The display of the real mammoth excavated from Siberia. Yes, in Siberia, but I missed it. The queue was just too long. I was not there to actually cover the mammoth, but to cover the Singapore pavilion and some high-tech displays. I do remember seeing robotic vehicles. I think

I've tried some of them. The most memorable coverage was a joint concert by Japan's pop queen, Yumi Matsutoya and Singapore's singer Dick Lee celebrating um SG 40 at that time. And actually the 2005 IT Expo played a vital role to promote the three R's to reduce, reuse, and recycle, you know, that was a memorable time back then. Visitors are reported to have become more active with energy saving

due to their visit to reduce, reuse, and recycle. So the expo had impact on people's attitude and it's hoped the coming expo will have an impact too. And that was two decades ago, and now 20 years later, you've been given a media preview of the 2025 edition. What do you think people are going to be the most excited about? Is there a centerpiece to all of this? Is there a mammoth this year? Well, let me give you a big picture of the 2025 Osaka Expo. The main theme is designing future society

for our lives. Now, when you are there, you notice a big wooden structure surrounding the expo sites called Grand Ring. That's the centerpiece and it's regarded the world's biggest wooden structure with a circumference of 2 kilometers. It's built using Japan's traditional wood building technology, um, similar to that used to build Kyomizu Temple in Kyoto, which is a World Heritage site. Now, if you walk under it, it can help shield you from the rain and from the sweltering summer heat

in Osaka. You can walk on top of the ring, and from there, not only can you catch a bird's eye view of the expo site, you can see the city of Osaka and all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Now, media here highlight the planned display of an object from Mars. It's believed to be part of a meteorite. And it was discovered in Antarctica by Japanese who were therefore on their expedition. And those who who remember the 1970 Osaka Expo might recall seeing the rock of the moon,

you know, so the concept is kind of similar. We are not still informed enough to be excited about the whole expo, but we do know that there'll be Japan's anime singer. Ado, um, who will be part of the opening concert we hear Osaka's local orchestra will perform often. A flying car could be operated during the time we hear of an AI support for those with uh visually impairment. Including the exhibition of the most advanced medical and healthcare products.

There will be, you know, other than the anime singer, actual anime, manga, Japan's dialects and dying language, including the Ainu language and a wide variety of experiences. and displays are expected and organizers hope visitors to the 2025 Osaka Expo will go home thinking about how to save lives, empower lives, and connect lives and those are the sub themes of the expo. Yeah, interesting you brought up I knew. I remember we

did a podcast on that, right? One of Japan's dying languages. Mitch, as with any massive event, there are going to be challenges, no exception here. One thing people are hung up on is the ticket booking system. What's the big deal? Well, 14 million tickets went on sale from the end of November, but just a little more than half had been purchased as of the end of January. Now those uh tickets were purchased mainly by companies according to reports. The problem seems to be the fact that

tickets are not open ended. You have to book a specific date and time and actually I posed this ticket issue to the secretary general of the international body of the World Exposition, Mr. Dimitri Kurante. So let's hear from him. It's true that people have to buy one and then book a reservation slot, and that also could mean that people are delaying their purchase until they're ready to book that actual slot, whereas in previous expos you bought a ticket,

you went any day that you wanted. And adding to that, I do hear that Osaka governor is demanding that the organizers simplify the ticketing system. Otherwise, you know, it will also be a big problem to the government of Osaka who will have to perhaps handle the deficit if ticket sales are bad. I was also reading a news report from Japan that described the Osaka World Expo as quote, an event that few even want. That sounds pretty bad. What do you think?

What are locals telling you? Well, actually, you know, before I went to Osaka to cover the Osaka Expo preview, when I told my friends in Tokyo about it, they were like, uh. Is it actually happening? So that's the kind of reaction you get in Tokyo, you know, there's not much interest. They don't hear much about it. Then I thought, OK, if I actually go to Osaka, the reactions, you know, by the people there might be a little bit different and we might be able to start a good conversation

on the excitement building up towards the Osaka Expo. So I went there, asked around. OK, let's hear a comment from an Okonomiyaki restaurant owner Tomoharu Fukuda to hear what he says.

if people don't support. But if you actually look back at past expos in Japan, excitement took time to build up. This was. The case in Osaka 1970, also IT 2005. The fundamental problem currently is the limited information on what the visitors can expect. But once the expo kicks off, the local and international media are likely to cover extensively according to organizers, and they think that ticket sales will start to pick up. Now, the aim is to attract 28 million visitors during half a year.

That seems to be modest figure when you compare it to the 1970 Osaka, which in the end attracted more than 64 million. And you know, that was a record breaker, and that number was not broken until 2010 Shanghai Expo. Here's the funny thing though, Japan, on the one hand, they want to rev up tourism, they want to get those visitor numbers up for the World Expo. But on the other hand, over tourism has also become a problem, particularly in the country's three most visited cities.

We're talking Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, ironically, the venue of the World Expo. How bad is this over tourism in the country, Michio? OK, well, I live in Tokyo and it's pretty congested in the main part of Tokyo and the main cities, but I've Seen a horrible um footage of congestions in Kyoto going viral on social media, so congested tours can't even move off railway tracks, disrupting public transportation. In the past we've been hearing of GEICO and Michael, which the international community

call a Geisha. They were being chased by tourists who desire photos with them, but you know, GECO and Michael is still professionals. And it's they're not there for tourists, but they work as Gateo and Michael at restaurants and offer services to their customers and we do hear there are signs, um, put out calling for a band of paparazzi in the area.

There's some local authorities deciding to put a huge shield to cover the peak of Mount Fuji and Mount Fuji has been attracting a lot of tourists the past few years. Been overcrowding this convenience store known for its majestic view of Mount Fuji. So that cover up of Mount Fuji has been happening. But then I've, I've been hearing that visitors have been piercing holes on that cover so that they can get a shot of Mount Fuji. So well

that's still going on. And in Kamakura, which is the old capital of Japan near Tokyo, there's a site with a magnificent view of the sea. And the railway, which was the model for a famous animation. I think it was slum dunk. Tourists reported to be blocking the roads there, the traffic and leaving litter. But then, you know, I'm talking about all these negative impact of over tourism. There's an area in Osaka which I saw

has revived due to the inbound tourism. So it's not all bad, you know, with a lot of tourists coming to Japan. You don't necessarily want to discourage foreigners from visiting, but you do want to safeguard the country's integrity and its popularity as well. And one way is to make it more expensive to travel to Japan. Can you tell us how that's working? Tokyo was actually

the pioneer of slapping hotel tax since 2002. It's a very small 100 yen for accommodation that costs 10,000 to 15,000 yen a night, which is about maybe 70 to 80 US cents, and 200 yen for above 15,000. Now other Japanese cities and towns have decided to follow suit. Kyoto, which is the extremely popular old capital, has decided to set even higher hotel tax from March 2026. It's 10,000 yen, maybe about $80 US dollars for accommodation fee of more than 100,000 yen.

This is regardless of whether the person is uh from Japan or a Japan resident or from overseas. Now what Kyoto has done is it wants to prevent visitors from um traveling commuter buses. There have been reports of residents could not get on commuter buses to go to school to work because of over tourism. And uh tourists, you know, um carrying their huge luggage on commuter buses. So there are now buses for tourists

traveling to tourist sites. As to another site in Himeji, famous for Himeji Castle World Heritage sites, it wants to raise admission fee from 1000 yen to maybe double or triple from 2026 targeting non-Himeji residents. Not as prefectural museums used to waive admission fee for inbound tourists in hopes of attracting more from overseas, but

they plan now to charge everyone from this April. Now local authorities will need some time to determine whether these attempts will be effective to bring more funds to the cities and not to discourage people from traveling to these areas. Yeah, I was reading about tactics, not just monetary that Japan has been trying out and this has actually been going on for a decade or more. One strategy is diversion.

We're talking about getting tourists to head to maybe less visited destinations, also straight up just banning tourists from certain private alleys or areas where they cause a nuisance. What has been the most effective do you think? We have to really wait and see, but this Lunar New Year, there seems to be some bright prospect in diverting tourists other than to Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, where

the concentration of tourists is so high. Now, according to travel agent KK Day, which is Based in Taiwan and Japan, they say that there's a rising number of inbound tourists in particular from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea traveling to northeastern Japan or to Yamagata Miyagi and even Fukushima, which many were in the past because of the, you know, crippled nuclear plant be decommissioned there.

But you know, tourists seems to be attracted to the mesmerizing snow we're seeing, playing in the snow, experiencing hot springs and you know, that area is not so congested yet, you know, compared to, for instance, Hokkaido or Nagano Prefecture is known for hosting the winter. Games in the past and we've been hearing that all Nippon Airways is offering free domestic flights to travelers from China,

transiting in Japan to encourage them to travel to the countryside. So, uh, you know, the attempts to divert travelers has started. Post-pandemic tourism has surged, like we talked about off the top, and Japanese officials say they have a long-term goal of 60 million annual visitors by the year 2030. Before we go, Michio, for those listening who may be on their way to your country, maybe for the Osaka

World Expo, what can they do to be good tourists? Well, you know, um, basically, the Japanese people like to follow the rule. They want visitors to do the same. For instance, you know, I've seen on social media. Uh, residents hushing a foreign visitor talking on her mobile phone on a commuter train, because you're not supposed to talk on your phone on the commuter train. You have to be, you know, I mean, you can chat, but you know, with your friends, but they think it's a nuisance.

And even the train operators tell people on the trains, don't talk on your phones. I've seen neighborhoods putting up signs asking tourists not to drag their luggage on wheels during bedtime. Now trash is another issue here in Japan. In Tokyo, for instance, if you walk around, there are limited trash bins. So the etiquette is to take waste

back with you. If you do um take back uh waste with you, you have to separate them in your neighborhood, you know, uh, whether they're pet bottles, cans, newspapers, magazines, combustibles or non-combustibles. It's probably a nuisance to uh force visitors, but that's how things work here in Japan. And the Japanese in general don't like food wasted. If you go to a buffet, they expected you to take what you can finish. And you know, overall, good manners

is so important in this country. And having said that, I have witnessed many foreign tourists here who are well mannered. They are seen queuing politely in front of popular shops and restaurants, enjoying Japan. And it appears that many, you know, of those who have been here before uh actually like how Japan is orderly, and not so, you know, noisy, and so they're back. And that's been the case of my many international friends who visit me here in Tokyo or the rest of Japan.

And I hope you come and visit me someday, not just once but twice, 3 times. I would love to. It sounds like a beautiful country, one that I have not explored thoroughly enough. Thank you for those great tips as well and you know, talking about the Osaka World Expo pavilions, they still need to be built, tickets still need to be sold, but one thing's for sure, that World Expo is going to be a big story for Japan this year, and I'm really looking forward to your coverage, Michi.

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me, Teresa. And a reminder to our listeners, you can find Mico's reports on YouTube and also on CNA.Asia. There are TV episodes of CNA Correspondent every Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. Singapore, Hong Kong time. I'm Teresa Tang, and the team behind this week's episode is Sai Yain, Clara Ong, Christina Robert, and Craig Dale. A new episode drops next Wednesday. Join us then. Bye for now.