Re:Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses
by umanwizard on Friday July 11, 2025 @03:40PM
(#44536120)
Telling someone “just speak Japanese and blend in!” is sort of an absurd suggestion. That is impossible if you’re not East Asian and even if you are, it would take years of study.
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Re:Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses
by BirdieNZ on Friday July 11, 2025 @04:58PM
(#44536729)
Being East Asian doesn't make you blend in (visually). Japanese people look different to Korean and Chinese people.
Re:Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses
by decimalenough on Friday July 11, 2025 @05:39PM
(#44537014)
The three are a Venn diagram with much more overlap than any of the three officially pretend. A Japanese friend of mine passes for a (Chinese) local across China and SE Asia.
Clothing and makeup is a better giveaway than facial features or skin tone, but even that is becoming harder with K-pop creating a pan-Asian style to aspire to.
Re:Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses
by lpedrosa on Friday July 11, 2025 @08:31PM
(#44538211)
Then you don't go "off the beaten path" and instead stick to the tourist friendly places.
Demanding the locals to accommodate your lazyness is basically shouting "I'm entitled".
Re:Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses
by timr on Friday July 11, 2025 @08:35PM
(#44538233)
I didn't say "speak Japanese" (I said try to use the language, which is just table stakes for visiting a country), and it should go without saying that you cannot change your race.
You can still blend in far more than most tourists do by a) watching the people around you, and b) being a little bit self-conscious.
It's absolutely astounding how much tourists stand out in Japan (or Paris, or London, or New York...), and it's mostly about their behavior and clothing. Ten minutes of internet research and a little bit of introspection would go a long way to solving both problems.