Out of respect for Japanese “omotenashi”, I won’t call it greed… I do think most Japanese people would want to maintain a fair and equal pricing structure for all customers. In a better world, if the economy was booming and people were prospering, there might still be some establishments looking to earn more by fleecing and overcharging tourists. It’s fine to call that greed, or taking advantage of demand inelasticity, or whatever.

But… here we are. Times are hard, I get it. Even with overcharging under a dual-pricing structure, tourists will probably continue to visit Japan if they can afford it. It’s just a shame that the Japanese will probably have to compromise on some aspects of their omotenashi because of greater factors beyond their control.

Maybe by having a dual pricing structure, they’d be able to realize maximum profits. But not everything is calculable in dollars and cents… all you’d need are a few establishments to start vastly overcharging tourists for whatever cooked up reason and the reputation of Japan for tourists might soon become “nice scenery, nice culture, but the people there will overcharge you because they think they can exploit your ignorance, or just because they can…” - neither of which paints the Japanese in the best light, or the way they’d want to be seen, probably.

For those saying it’s the exchange rate, will tourists get a discount if the exchange rate shifts in the other direction…?

Source: Japan Today article

  • @[email protected]
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    244 months ago

    Excluding poor people from traveling sucks and also makes the world worse.

    I truly believe that lack of scope enhances racist tendencies and i think reducing the people who can afford to travel will increase racism.
    Obviously the change would be small at first but it would further normalize charging tourists more which already happens in some places.

    • @redisdead
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      4 months ago

      I’m all for tourists paying more for stuff. Tourism is a cancer. Fuck tourism. There isn’t a single place on earth that has been improved thanks to tourism. Quite the opposite.

        • @redisdead
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          24 months ago

          How do you have tourism without tourism industry?

          • @[email protected]
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            134 months ago

            Touring. The tourism industry is just shops and attractions specifically designed to capitalize on the tourers. You can tour without it all.

            That’s the way i think of it, anyway.

            • @redisdead
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              4 months ago

              The tourism industry also includes hotels, Airbnb’s, camping sites, etc.

              And most importantly, tourists.