Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Yasuko Fujii has mixed feelings about the return of foreign tourists who would throng the streets of Japa...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Yasuko Fujii has mixed feelings about the return of foreign tourists who would throng the streets of Japan's ancient capital before the epidemic and buy loads of whisky and wine. She is poring over the ledger at her more than 230-year-old liquor store in Kyoto.
Although a weak yen would be a significant magnet for tourists and advantageous for local businesses, her reluctance mirrors a larger unease in Japan about embracing tourist throngs due to concerns they could spark a revival in COVID-19 cases.
The 79-year-old Fujii stated, "From a commercial sense, we want international tourists to come. But from an emotional perspective, we prefer Japanese clients.
Before barriers went in two years ago, the Nishiki market, where Fujii's shop is located, used to be flooded with millions of tourists from China, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. According to her, locals frequently felt overrun and many stopped visiting.
An economic boom resulted from Japan's opening to mass tourism over the past ten years; a record 32 million visitors spent over $38 billion there in 2019. However, concerns of unruly behaviour at locations like Kyoto's temples also followed.
Locals claim that Kyoto, which is known for its winding lanes lined with tea shops and "ryokan" inns, has been severely impacted yet also greatly eased by the absence of Western visitors.
The hard-hit hotels and traditional sweet shops in Kyoto should have been prepared for an increase in tourism, with the yen at its lowest level in more than 20 years and travel picking up throughout the world. Instead, a limited number of tourists have been trickling into Japan as a result of Japan lowering its entry restrictions in June.
After garnering support from the public for keeping borders closed the previous year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose governing party is predicted to win an upper house election on July 10, is seen sticking to a gradual relaxing of measures. If visitors led to additional COVID instances, he might experience blowback.
A round-trip ticket by bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto currently costs the equivalent of $196, down from $244 at the height of the tourist boom three years ago. However, the weak yen is a pain for the government because it raises fuel and power costs.
'SUITABLE HOSPITALITY'
Kaoru Kimura, 68, the owner of Sengyo Kimura, a fresh fish shop in Nishiki market that has been in operation since 1620, says she would like more visitors, but not as many.
Before the pandemic, the family-run store was constantly packed with customers. Visitors frequently left mementos of appreciation for the Kimuras—including a Canadian flag pin, Chinese paper cutouts, Russian perfume, and Hawaiian nuts—knowing that they wouldn't accept tips.
The problem, she claimed, was not with international visitors, but rather with our ability to handle demand. "If too many people arrive, we can't accommodate them properly,"
According to research firm Teikoku Databank, the number of hotels that closed their doors countrywide reached a five-year high in 2021, and the local tourism sector in Kyoto has been severely impacted.
The damage is pretty severe, according to Keisuke Noda, a Teikoku analyst. Businesses that cater primarily to foreigners, such rental kimono shops, are no longer in high demand.
Fleets of buses once transported visitors to the Daitokuji Temple complex across the street from Hakuba, an antique shop established 40 years ago.
The large parking lot is now deserted.
The 70-year-old director of Hakuba stated, "Kyoto is a tourism city, and without foreign guests we're truly in difficulty." He said that he was unsure if the store could survive a third year without foreign tourists.
Due to Japanese tourists, business at the liquor store owned by Fujii is back to 60–70% of pre–pandemic levels.
According to government statistics, 5.17 million people, almost all of them Japanese, spent the previous year in Kyoto hotels and guesthouses. This contrasts with the 13.2 million that remained in 2019, when both foreigners and Japanese people did.
Back at the fish market, employees dressed in rubber boots and aprons were chopping up salmon and tuna, which they displayed at the front of the shop among clams and oysters.
Still, according to Kimura, she wants people from "all walks of life" to taste her fish. But the line-up is a nightmare.
