Tokyo, Japan – How a lot are guests to Japan prepared to pay for a bowl of noodles or a serving to of sushi?
With restaurant costs hovering in standard vacationer areas, the query is now not rhetorical.
In Niseko, a ski resort in Hokkaido well-known for its powdery snow, a bowl of crab ramen can value as much as 3,800 yen ($24.68) and katsu curry as much as 3,200 yen ($20.78) – round thrice as a lot as in close by Sapporo, one in every of Japan’s culinary hubs.
In Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai, a restaurant space subsequent to Tokyo’s largest seafood market, a bowl of rice topped with sashimi can value nearly 7,000 ($45.46) – or 5 occasions what locals would usually count on to pay.
Avenue stalls in Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market, Kyoto’s Nishiki Market and Osaka’s Dotonbori neighbourhood have additionally raised eyebrows with nibbles priced properly above the going charge.
As Japan experiences a surge in vacationers on the again of a weak foreign money, some companies are charging a premium for his or her fare.
The apply has even led to the coining of a slang expression, “inbound-don”, to explain rice bowls priced with deep-pocketed vacationers in thoughts.
Almost 17.8 million individuals visited Japan within the first half of 2024, surpassing the earlier document of 16.63 million in 2019, in accordance with the Japan Nationwide Tourism Organisation (JNTO).
The surge in arrivals has been spurred, partially, by the slumping worth of the yen, which is trading near a 40-year low against the dollar.
Because of this, travellers usually are not essentially baulking at restaurant costs which can be equal to what they’d pay for occasionally lower-quality meals again house.
Some eating places, involved about alienating native clientele, have confined the worth hikes to non-residents solely.
Tamateboko, a seafood buffet restaurant in Tokyo’s Shibuya, not too long ago launched a two-tiered pricing construction, providing a 1,000-yen ($6.49) low cost to all Japanese residents and residents of Japan.
A weekday lunch prices 5,478 yen ($35.58) for residents and residents, and 6,578 yen ($42.72) for overseas travellers.
Whereas it isn’t unprecedented for eating places to have totally different costs on their Japanese- and English-language menus, Tamateboko’s resolution was extensively reported in worldwide media, igniting heated dialogue about two-tiered pricing in Japan’s hospitality sector.
Kumi Kato, a professor of tourism at Wakayama College in Japan’s southwestern Kansai area, stated she was nervous in regards to the optics of the development, cautioning in opposition to any insurance policies that might be perceived as discriminatory.
“Figuring out overseas company invited by Japanese or tax-paying overseas residents [at restaurants] can be tough,” Kato advised Al Jazeera.
“Japanese and non-Japanese-type segregation will convey disagreeable rigidity and discontent … We should be very cautious about that.”
Leaving a foul style
Whereas tourism trade insiders consider Japan ought to capitalise on inbound guests’ elevated buying energy, some are sceptical that two-tiered pricing is the best way to do it.
Andres Zuleta, founding father of Boutique Japan, a luxurious journey firm that gives customised holidays, stated that whereas he’s “all for Japan discovering moral and inventive methods to monetise the tourism growth,” companies that cost totally different costs primarily based on nationality are more likely to generate resentment.
“Discounted pricing for locals may make sense, however having totally different costs on an English menu versus a Japanese menu is certain to go away a foul style – excuse the pun – in individuals’s mouths. The thought of tiered pricing appears extra more likely to be palatable at [tourist] websites and such,” Zuleta advised Al Jazeera.
Andrew William, founding father of Kyoto-based tour firm An Design, stated that whereas it’s comprehensible for companies to cost foreigners costs they might count on to pay at house when they’re making bookings from abroad, it’s riskier doing so in Japan.
“An indication with a two-tiered pricing would look very unhealthy,” William, whose tour firm specialises in off-the-beaten-track excursions of Kyoto’s historic religious websites and gardens, advised Al Jazeera.
“Plus, are locals going to have to point out their ID all over the place they go? Perhaps that isn’t so unhealthy, nevertheless it appears awkward.”
Nonetheless, some Japanese officers seem unperturbed about foreigners’ perceptions.
Hideyasu Kiyomoto, the mayor of Himeji Metropolis, not too long ago advised that overseas vacationers pay as much as 4 occasions greater than the usual admission charge to go to Himeji Citadel, Japan’s first UNESCO World Heritage Web site.
Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura expressed his assist for the thought, suggesting he may undertake a mannequin for Osaka Citadel.
The top of the Hokkaido Tourism Group has additionally known as on companies throughout Japan’s northernmost fundamental island to set totally different costs for vacationers and locals.
Amongst these arguing in favour of charging overseas vacationers extra, the rationale has run the gamut from protecting the prices of heritage conservation to coaching English-speaking employees.
Kato, the Wakayama College professor, stated that proprietors should be extra particular and clear in regards to the prices.
“Heritage conservation itself shouldn’t be the explanation for charging foreigners extra,” she stated.
“And language points shouldn’t be the onus of particular person companies or institutions. There ought to be authorities assist for implementing multilingual interfaces and coaching English-speaking guides.”
Japanese authorities asking guests to cough up greater than locals is just not with out precedent.
Miyajima Island, a preferred attraction off the coast of Hiroshima, well-known for its forests and the “floating” gate of Itsukushima shrine, launched a vacationer tax in October 2023.
Since July, hikers hoping to climb Mt Fuji’s hottest path have been required to pay a 2,000-yen ($12.99) entrance payment.
Since 2019, overseas travellers have additionally been levied 1,000 yen upon departure, which officers stated could be used to assist enhance tourism infrastructure, similar to Wi-Fi and multilingual assist.
Kato stated Japan has quite a bit to supply as a journey vacation spot, however the nation ought to solely extract extra money from guests if the worth is commensurate with the worth of the expertise.
“I don’t need to see a confrontational method: cost further for all the pieces and cost cash to enter all over the place,” she stated.
“Bear in mind, tourism ought to at all times be a contented trade.”