Once weary of hordes of foreign tourists crowding its narrow streets and ignoring etiquette, many in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto are longing for their return missing the revenue they brought before the country largely shut its doors to overseas visitors two years ago due to the pandemic.
That includes Shoei Murayama, a former city assemblyman and author of the 2019 book The Day Kyoto Collapses From Overtourism, in which he warned the travel industry would push out local businesses and residents. He compared the city to Venice, which has banned cruise ships and is set to introduce a tourism
Before COVID hit, the ancient city's 17 world heritage sites and 2,000 temples and shrines drew 88 million tourists in in a single year. But it still can't pay the bills.
In light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, conservative Japanese MPs are pushing for the country to move further away from its pacifist principles, towards greater defense spending and counterstrike capabilities.