{"id":61425,"date":"2026-07-21T00:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T00:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/61425\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T00:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T00:21:07","slug":"chinese-tourists-blamed-for-overtourism-in-japans-kyoto-despite-huge-fall-in-arrivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/61425\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese tourists blamed for overtourism in Japan\u2019s Kyoto despite huge fall in arrivals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese tourists are being unfairly blamed for Kyoto\u2019s <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/week-asia\/lifestyle-culture\/article\/3326677\/japans-schools-ditch-kyoto-class-trips-overtourism-bites-its-too-expensive?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">overtourism crisis<\/a>, according to a new report, even as data shows mainland visitor numbers have fallen sharply amid worsening ties between China and <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/japan?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The report released earlier this month by the Kyoto City Tourism Association\u2019s destination management organisation said many local residents assumed crowded public transport, congestion at popular sights and rising hotel prices were being driven by mainland Chinese tour groups.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But relatively few Chinese visitors travelled to the ancient Japanese capital in the past couple of years, the report said, largely because Beijing pressured its citizens to holiday elsewhere amid rising geopolitical tensions.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Analysts said near-daily media coverage about China had amplified residents\u2019 assumptions \u2013 and grumbles \u2013 and likely contributed to the hostility.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In recent weeks, Japanese media reported on Chinese vessels conducting maritime research within Japan\u2019s exclusive economic zone, the arrest in China of two Japanese nationals on suspicion of smuggling restricted rare earth products and the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from a Chinese submarine into the South Pacific.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tourists walk past shops and restaurants up the hill leading to Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto in January 2025. Japan is targeting 60 million foreign tourists by 2030. Photo: AFP\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7074b544-efb1-4d18-bc27-7e38c9aa593d_b1ec4e32.jpg\" title=\"Tourists walk past shops and restaurants up the hill leading to Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto in January 2025. Japan is targeting 60 million foreign tourists by 2030. Photo: AFP\"\/>Tourists walk past shops and restaurants up the hill leading to Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto in January 2025. Japan is targeting 60 million foreign tourists by 2030. Photo: AFP<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Takuya Horie, director of planning and marketing for the Kyoto City Tourism Association, cited several reasons for the misconception that many Chinese tourists were in Kyoto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chinese tourists are being unfairly blamed for Kyoto\u2019s overtourism crisis, according to a new report, even as data&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[549,12,3673,8,17,151,39887,358,657,488,39888,39889,25,2537],"class_list":["post-61425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kyoto","tag-beijing","tag-china","tag-chinese","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-kyoto","tag-kyoto-city-tourism-association","tag-sanae-takaichi","tag-south-korea","tag-taiwan","tag-takuya-horie","tag-tom-assefa","tag-us","tag-xi-jinping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}