Is the Japan tourism bubble at risk of bursting?
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The number of people visiting Japan hit record levels in 2024, but top ‘Golden Route’ destinations such as Kyoto and Osaka are suffering from overcrowding. If current trends are unsustainable, where should people go instead? Adam Withnall reports from Tokyo.
![[Tourists are seen walking towards a torii gate at the Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto in August]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/03/16/GettyImages-2165889312.jpg)
When a Chilean woman posted a video on Instagram of herself doing chin-ups on a sacred torii gate at a Japanese shrine, the backlash was almost immediate. For many in Japan this was just the latest example of tourism gone wrong – of foreign visitors with no interest in understanding the local culture using their country as a playground.
![[Alpha Takahashi (left) provides translation at the Grand Tea Ceremony in Tokyo]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/03/16/IMG_9942.jpg)
International tourism to Japan has exploded in recent years, and while the official figure for 2024 is yet to be released it is now certain to be a new record in excess of the 31.9 million who visited in 2019 before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
![[Tourists are seen in front of the restaurant and shopping area of the Fuji Subaru Line 5th station, which leads to the popular Yoshida trail for hikers climbing Mount Fuji, in June 2024]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/19/06/newFile.jpg)
This boom has corresponded with a rise in clashes between locals and foreigners, from monuments and shrines being defaced with graffiti to the decision to cover up views of Mount Fuji after they went too viral online. Japan has not yet seen the same anti-tourism backlash as Tenerife last summer, where protesters confronted holidaymakers on their beach towels, but there are growing concerns the situation could head in that direction if such clashes of culture are not addressed.
![[The UNESCO World Heritage-listed village of Shirakawa-go in Japan. Tourists were urged to consider visits outside the most popular cherry blossom and autumn colour seasons]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/03/16/GettyImages-1230711458.jpg)
With popular cities like Kyoto, Tokyo and Osaka inundated by crowds of holidaymakers, particularly during the spring sakura cherry blossom and golden autumn colour seasons, the Japanese government is now appealing to foreign visitors to travel during off-peak periods, get off the beaten track – and respect local customs.
