Should tourism be disallowed for everyone except activists? How would local communities respond to outsiders coming in trying to solve local problems without the necessary cultural context?
> It’s super hard when the locals are drowned out by hordes of self-interested tourists who have no interest in gender equality, wage suppression, insane zero-consequence sexual harassment + power abuse, and a lot of other issues.
In what way does a tourist spending a week in an area drown out those issues?
What do you think that Japanese people are doing when they're travelling around with their 全国旅行支援? Are they not allowed to enjoy their vacation because the country has problems?
Of course Japanese people do it as well, including in their own country (see: Miyakojima). The escapist fantasy problem is something you see in almost every “cool” place. Island paradises, ski towns, Australian country towns, etc all have the same issue — people thinking they’re running away from their problems, but actually bringing them along to wherever they go (hence why all of these places to “rest and rewind” or whatever tend to be easy places to score drugs, meet alcoholics, and so on).
Japan attracts a disproportionate number of foreign people, especially foreign residents, who actively celebrate their ongoing escapist delusion. The difference is, Japanese society is too reserved and passive-aggressive to openly call people out on their BS. Thus, when other foreigners see this happening, we should call it out for what it is. Whattaboutism isn’t the answer.
This guy has lived in Japan for long enough to have a bit more balance than this ridiculous how-to guide to being blissfully ignorant of your temporary surroundings while attempting to extract maximum value from them.
You seem to be attacking an odd strawman here. patio11 is providing advice to visitors in Japan for a week, a large group of people that has almost zero overlap with the small but noisy "moving to Japan will fix all my problems" weeaboo crowd.
This reminds me of the "LBH" acronym that I heard about very often when Japanese locals describe typically western, especially American, tourists, who fit quite well into your identity description.
"Loser Back Home"
I didn't even know this stereotype existed until I got into a "so what do you think about all those escapist western tourists in your country" conversation with one of my Japanese friends (I'm from a very international UK area). Goes to show how withheld it really is. You are certainly right about that.
I've never heard anybody refer to tourists with that term? FILTH (failed in London, try Hong Kong) etc is for people trying to advance their life/career in Asia, not a visitor in town for a week.
