A 400-year-old temple is suffering due to tourists carelessly littering during their visits. Visitors claim they don’t understand the verbal warnings given in Japanese.
As reported by SoraNews on Friday (27/9/2024), Japan continues to experience record-high tourist numbers, but this has brought various issues, including overtourism. The behavior of some tourists is giving locals “headaches.”
Recently, there was frustration over foreign tourists not paying for bus fares. Many were confused by the bus payment system and couldn’t speak Japanese, leaving the drivers, who only spoke Japanese, helpless to explain the rules.
Now, a complaint has emerged from a temple in the Higashiyama district, on Kyoto’s eastern side. Kodaiji Temple, founded in 1606, is known for its historically significant architecture and artwork. It also boasts beautiful moss gardens and bamboo-lined walking paths.
However, the temple’s grounds have been marred by disrespectful tourists leaving cigarette butts, drink containers (some still half-full), and ice cream sticks on rocks and behind buildings.
Even though the head priest tries to clean up the litter, it never stays clean.
In addition to the littering issue, the temple is also frustrated by visitors bringing professional photographers for photoshoots, something the temple has now banned due to damage to the grounds and inconvenience to other guests. All of these rules are posted in Japanese, but tourists don’t seem to understand.
Aoyama, the temple’s head priest, mentioned that he has tried giving verbal warnings, but people react in ways that show they don’t understand Japanese. He then tried speaking to them in English, but the response was the same—they couldn’t comprehend what he was saying.