We helped with the feature story of a Singaporean TV network, CNA (Channel News Asia) Insight, titled “Japan's Problem With Tourists: But Why Does It Want More?”.
Since the end of the Covid pandemic, the number of tourists visiting Japan from other countries has exploded, partly due to the weak yen. The increase in the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan is supposed to be a good thing for Japan, as it enriches the economy, but the extreme crowding and differences in culture and etiquette have left the people living in the tourist areas with mixed feelings. This is the so-called overtourism problem. In addition to Tokyo, we travelled to Kosuge Village, Hokuto City, Mount Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi in Yamanashi Prefecture, as well as to Kamakura City in Kanagawa Prefecture, to cover the dilemmas facing tourism in Japan The full story is available on CNA's YouTube channel, if you would like to watch it.
Rio Mimaki served as Fixer and co-ordinated the filming in Japan, including approaching the subjects, arranging logistics such as vehicles and interpreting on location. He also worked as a driver when we left Tokyo and travelled to Yamanashi Prefecture.
The filming was not done by a Japanese crew here, but by a CNA producer, videographer and sound engineer from Singapore who came to Japan. These three people, plus a driver called Mr Obana, who is always a great help to us, and myself, spent a week in Tokyo, Yamanashi and Kanagawa, filming interviews, B-roll and various other scenes.
Filming began in Tokyo. On the first day, we interviewed Toyoko, owner of a snack bar in Asakusa, which sometimes does not accept foreigners, and the following day we spoke to Mizutani, who works as a guide for Chinese tourists, and Professor Fukui, a tourism expert and professor at Ryutsu Keizai University.
We then went to Yamanashi Prefecture for three days. On the first day, we visited a small village called Kosuge, which is gradually attracting tourists with a wonderful hotel called NIPPONIA. We spoke to Mr. Furuya, the hotel's manager, and Mr. Sato, a resident of the village who is now the hotel's guide.
The next day, in Kofu City, we spoke to Mr Koizumi, Director of the Tourism, Culture and Sports Department of Yamanashi Prefecture, and then filmed the fifth station of Mt Fuji and the bustling area around Lake Kawaguchi.
In the morning of the third day, we interviewed Mr Dewa, the owner of Minenochaya, a traditional teahouse in Kiyosato Village, Hokuto City, and in the afternoon we spoke to Mr. Nagasaka of the Hokuto City Tourism Department at the City Hall. Unfortunately, the interview with Mr Nagasaka was not included in the programme, for which we are deeply sorry to everyone who cooperated.
Once back in Tokyo, the next day we visited Kamakura. It is a well-positioned tourist destination that can be reached in a day trip from Tokyo, and is said to be the city where the problem of overtourism is most noticeable. In the morning, we asked Ms. Maekawa, a city councillor, to speak on behalf of the city's citizens about the problems they are feeling. Afterwards, we took the Enoden train to Kamakura High School Mae Station, famous because of the animation Slam Dunk. In fact, I myself rode the Enoden to school every day when I was in high school, and was very surprised to see how many tourists, especially Chinese, nowadays.
We would like to thank everyone who gave their valuable time to film this edition, especially our interviewees!
Although the technical staff changed this time, we had a lot of fun working with them, especially Shauna from CNA again. Everyone is a hard worker, and as Japanese we are on the same vibe when it comes to working together. We are going to work even harder so that we can work together in Japan again!
