Earlier this month, the Japanese city of Fujiyoshida unfortunately had to announce the cancellation of the Arakurayama Sengen Park Cherry Blossom Festival, a decade-old tradition. This decision serves as an important moment in Japan’s struggle with kanko kogai, meaning tourism pollution. The closure was not triggered by a single event, but by a cumulative crisis of dignity reported by local residents and city officials.
In Japan, the concept of heiwa or peace in a neighborhood is tied to the preservation of dignity and the cancellation of the festival aims to reclaim this environment. While the trees still bloom, the lack of event infrastructure discourages the inappropriate crowds, allowing the area to return to its primary function: a living space for citizens.
If you plan to visit Japan during the sakura season, here are some tips on how not to disrupt the festival and be respectful of local citizens and their culture. Beginning with, sticking to marked paths and not crossing fences or ropes; keep voices low in residential areas and temples; arry a small bag for your trash and take it back to your hotel; obey local permanant and temporary festival rules; do not touch the trees or pick the blossoms; visit early morning or late evening to avoid rush hours.
Beyond just Japan, in recent years, the global tourism landscape has witnessed a sharp decline in visitor etiquette. From carving names onto heritage monuments to flag-jacking (falsely claiming a different nationality to avoid stigma), the ways tourists are misbehaving have become more frequent and more visible. And the biggest outcome of such behaviour is the visa requirements and rules that keep getting stricter by the day.
Unruly tourist is already a great problem across Thailand, Italy, Spain and Indonesia! A psychological shift where travellers view locals sites as mere props for their own story. This often manifests as blocking emergency routes for a photo or disregarding No Entry signs at sacred places. Dangerous or disrespectful short videos have turned travel into a stage for viral content. Littering, ignoring hiking trails in fragile ecosystems, disturbing wildlife for selfies are more such exmaples. Post-pandemic, there has been a documented spike in verbal and physical abuse toward flight attendants and hospitality staff.
Why the closure?
Fujiyoshida, a city of roughly 45,000, was seeing up to 10,000 visitors per day during peak bloom. Tourists were found entering private yards and even opening the doors of private homes to use the bathrooms without permission. The officials documented horrifying cases of public urination and defecation in residential gardens.
Crowds on narrow school routes grew so dense that local children were being pushed off sidewalks into traffic. Moreover, the specific view at Arakurayama Sengen Park, the Chureito Pagoda framing Mount Fuji, became a viral bucket list item, shifting the focus from cultural appreciation to the pursuit of a single photograph.
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