A friend who is planning to travel to Kyoto recently mentioned how affordable accommodation there has become.
What followed was a small but telling realization about travel, transportation, and how visitors experience Japan today.
A friend of mine, who is planning to travel to Kyoto, told me that hotel prices there have dropped significantly and that it was a real relief.
“This is thanks to Takai-san,”
they said.
It seems that accommodation costs across Japan have come down, making travel easier for Japanese people as well.
That can only be a good thing.
Yesterday, I had an errand in central Tokyo and took the subway.
Despite the crowded train, a woman was sitting with her legs crossed.
Curious, I looked at her face—she was a foreigner.
Looking around, I realized that most of the passengers were foreigners.
I searched for Japanese faces, but there didn’t seem to be any.
Saturday afternoon subways used to be relatively quiet.
Now, they have become a major mode of transportation for foreign tourists.
Subways are often thought of as dark and potentially unsafe, but Japanese subways are bright and feel unquestionably safe.
And trains arrive one after another without pause.
With a one-day pass, you can go anywhere—Ginza, Asakusa, Shinjuku, Shibuya—like using a “Anywhere Door,” moving freely in all directions.
It might even be easier than taking a sightseeing bus.
If so, why wouldn’t you use it?
Japan has become poor?
Let people say that if they want.
If they don’t want to come, they don’t have to.
