How Bad Tourist Behavior Cancelled a Japanese Festival

SUMMARY

Paul, a 20-year expat in Japan, explains Fujiyoshida's cancellation of its annual cherry blossom festival due to overtourism and shocking tourist behaviors like defecating in private gardens and homes.

STATEMENTS

The city of Fujiyoshida in Yamanashi Prefecture has canceled its annual Sakura Festival after holding it for about 10 years, primarily due to overtourism and poor visitor conduct.
The iconic pagoda viewpoint, built in the 1970s as a war peace memorial and tourist attraction, remained largely unknown for over 30 years until social media popularized it.
During Paul's residence in Fujiyoshida from 2002 to 2005, the spot was quiet enough for private barbecues and cherry blossom viewings without crowds or tourists.
Popularity of the site first surged among Southeast Asian visitors from Thailand and Indonesia before spreading globally via social media.
Three years ago, post-pandemic, Paul attended the well-organized festival, which featured traffic direction, overflow parking at an elementary school, and free shuttle buses.
While the pagoda remains open for visits, the official festival is discontinued, meaning no additional event-specific infrastructure like extra toilets will be provided.
City officials cited tourist defecation issues, including entering private homes without permission to use toilets and pooping in gardens, as key reasons for cancellation.
Toilet facilities exist at the shrine and a nearby new parking lot, but Google reviews highlight problems with smell and cleanliness from misused paper left on floors.
During festivals, the city provides portable toilets to accommodate crowds, indicating the issue stems from behavior rather than lack of planning.
In overtouristed spots like the pagoda, foreign visitors rarely encounter local Japanese behavior, leading to normalized poor conduct among tourists.

IDEAS

A 1970s tourist attraction designed to draw crowds lay dormant for decades, only exploding in popularity through social media's viral photo potential.
Tourists increasingly view Japan as an all-access theme park, extending privileges to private homes for basic needs like using toilets.
Desperation from inadequate awareness leads to extreme acts, such as defecating directly in residential gardens without regard for property boundaries.
Cultural assumptions about toilet etiquette—expecting bins for paper in a flush-friendly country—result in public facilities becoming littered with waste.
Ironically, canceling the festival removes organized support like shuttles and extra toilets, potentially worsening unregulated crowds at the site.
Southeast Asian influencers first spotlighted the obscure Fuji-view pagoda, turning a local secret into a global Instagram magnet.
Peak tourist hours at the pagoda exclude locals entirely, except for early-morning elderly walkers, creating isolated bubbles of foreign conduct.
Surrounded solely by other tourists, visitors misinterpret bad habits as standard, perpetuating cycles of inconsiderate behavior.
Transport companies could embed mandatory etiquette videos on buses and trains, using visuals to teach rules without language barriers.
Pre-trip AI queries or quick research on host complaints could prevent faux pas, empowering travelers with proactive cultural intelligence.

INSIGHTS

Social media's amplification turns intentional but forgotten attractions into unsustainable hotspots, highlighting the double-edged sword of digital promotion.
Invasive tourist actions stem from a mindset treating destinations as consumable experiences, eroding community trust and leading to defensive closures.
Even with adequate infrastructure, etiquette mismatches—rooted in unexamined habits—disrupt harmony, underscoring the need for intuitive, non-verbal education.
Overtouristed zones foster echo chambers where poor modeling reinforces deviance, isolating visitors from authentic cultural cues.
Personal vigilance and observation serve as the most effective safeguards against cultural insensitivity, placing agency on the traveler over host interventions.
Sustainable tourism demands balanced exposure to locals, preventing the normalization of entitlement and promoting mutual respect.

QUOTES

"Apparently, tourists have been going into private homes to use toilets. Like literally opening the door, going into someone's house to use the toilet."
"What culture is that okay in where you just poop on someone's private yard?"
"I paid the admission to Japan. Like that includes the people's homes, right?"
"You're not actually getting Japanese modeled behavior. You're just seeing how other tourists are and what they're doing."
"Pooping is something we've been doing all of our lives. And when we go to poop, we just do everything automatically."

HABITS

Engage in pre-travel research using tools like AI to identify common cultural pitfalls and host complaints.
Observe and mimic local behaviors in real-time to adapt to unfamiliar environments.
Maintain environmental awareness by paying attention to surroundings and avoiding impulsive actions in sensitive areas.
Participate in off-peak visits to interact with residents and gain authentic cultural insights.
Read and respond to community feedback, such as online reviews, to refine personal conduct during trips.

FACTS

The Chureito Pagoda in Fujiyoshida offers a viral view of Mount Fuji framed by 400 cherry blossom trees, drawing thousands during peak season.
Built in 1963 as part of a Shinto shrine complex, the pagoda commemorates soldiers from the Russo-Japanese War while aiming to boost local tourism.
Fujiyoshida's Sakura Festival, started around 2014, attracted over 10,000 visitors annually before its recent cancellation.
Japan’s plumbing systems universally allow flushing toilet paper, unlike some countries requiring bins, leading to confusion among international travelers.
The site's parking lot, newly constructed for tourists, includes modern restrooms, yet receives low Google ratings due to maintenance issues from misuse.

REFERENCES

Andy's article on Medium detailing the festival cancellation and local perspectives.
Google reviews of shrine and parking lot facilities highlighting cleanliness problems.
ChatGPT as a tool for researching Japanese etiquette and common tourist issues.

HOW TO APPLY

Begin by conducting thorough online research on destination-specific customs, focusing on etiquette around public facilities and private spaces.
Upon arrival, actively observe how locals navigate spaces, such as using restrooms or respecting pathways, and adjust your actions accordingly.
Seek out less crowded times or areas to interact with residents, gaining direct insights into expected behaviors beyond tourist zones.
Utilize transport journeys to absorb advisory content, like videos or signs, that outline rules for popular sites.
Practice constant environmental scanning, pausing to assess if an action—like entering a property—aligns with cultural norms before proceeding.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Overtourism's bad behaviors cancel cherished events; travelers must research and respect to preserve destinations.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Implement multilingual pictograph signs in restrooms to intuitively guide proper usage without relying on text.
Mandate short etiquette videos on all tourist buses and trains, covering basics like waste disposal and privacy respect.
Encourage tour operators to include cultural sensitivity briefings in itineraries for high-traffic sites.
Promote visitor caps or timed entries at viral spots to reduce congestion and expose tourists to local models.
Develop apps aggregating real-time local feedback on etiquette issues, allowing proactive avoidance of common mistakes.

MEMO

In the shadow of Mount Fuji, a picturesque pagoda once symbolized quiet reverence—a 1963 memorial to war dead, framed by sakura blossoms that painted the sky in fleeting pinks. For decades, the Chureito Pagoda in Fujiyoshida slumbered in obscurity, its intended role as a tourist draw unfulfilled. But social media changed everything. Viral photos of the five-story tower against Fuji's majestic silhouette turned a local gem into a global obsession, swelling crowds and straining the Yamanashi Prefecture town's fragile peace.

Paul, a British expat who has called Japan home for over two decades, recalls a different era. From 2002 to 2005, he lived in Fujiyoshida, hosting barbecues atop the hill where the pagoda stands. "No one knew about it," he says in a recent video, walking sun-dappled paths south of Yokohama. Back then, cherry blossom season meant private hanami parties amid empty grounds. The site's fame ignited first among Southeast Asian travelers from Thailand and Indonesia, then exploded worldwide. Ironically, city planners had built it partly for tourism in the 1970s—too ahead of their time. Now, that foresight has backfired.

The breaking point came with the cancellation of Fujiyoshida's annual Sakura Festival, a decade-old tradition that drew thousands. No longer will shuttle buses ferry visitors from overflow parking at local schools, nor will megaphone-wielding staff direct the throngs up the 398 steps. The pagoda remains open, but the event's end signals deeper woes: overtourism laced with egregious misconduct. City officials, in terse announcements, pointed to "defecation issues"—tourists barging into private homes for toilets or, worse, relieving themselves in gardens. Paul puzzles over the mindset: Is Japan a theme park where entry fees grant carte blanche? Reviews of the site's new restrooms paint a grim picture—floors strewn with un-flushed paper, odors overwhelming despite Japan's vaunted cleanliness. Portable potties were standard during festivals, yet desperation prevailed.

At heart, this saga exposes tourism's unintended fractures. In hyper-crowded enclaves, visitors orbit one another, blind to Japanese norms of restraint and respect. Paul notes the absence of locals at peak hours; only dawn-patrolling elders provide glimpses of modeled conduct. Solutions? He advocates proactive education: pictograph announcements on Fuji-bound trains, multilingual toilet signs, even AI-assisted pre-trip primers on faux pas. Yet responsibility rests with travelers—pausing to observe, researching quirks like Japan's flush-friendly plumbing. As Fuji looms eternally, Fujiyoshida's tale warns that unchecked wanderlust risks extinguishing the very beauty it chases.

For Paul, whose channel delves into Japan's nuances for an informed audience, the irony stings. The festival he enjoyed post-pandemic with friends embodied harmony; now, bad actors spoil it for all. His call echoes broader pleas from Kyoto to Venice: Travel mindfully, or lose the invitation. In Kokaiura's international village, where he films amid Sagami Bay's vistas, Paul urges viewers—subscribed or not—to share this cautionary dispatch. Subscribe, like, comment; the conversation sustains the culture he cherishes.