Tourists behaving badly and disrespecting the people whose place they’re visiting is nothing new, you only have to walk down to your nearest tourist trap – no matter where you are in the world – to see some prime examples. Now a district in Japan is banning photos because people can’t act like civil human beings.
The Gion geisha district in Kyoto is well known for its old style tea houses and geishas – although the women in Gion call themselves geiko instead of geisha. Not that many of the people visiting have bothered to find that out.
Peter MacIntosh has lived in Kyoto for 25 years, and says he’s seen women “bursting into tears and fending off people who want to have their photo taken with them”. Incidents of tourists surrounding taxis with geiko riding in them or chasing geiko down the street aren’t unheard of.
If you’re caught taking a picture, you’ll cop a 10,000 yen fine, or about $130 in Aussie dollars. It’s not technically a legally binding fine, but the residents are hoping that the threat will be enough to stop people acting like morons.
We’ve only just seen the Uluru climb close, in another classic example of tourists ruining everything. The sheer amount of people who took the news that the climb would be closed as a good reason to immediately pack their bags and climb Uluru was staggering.
When climbers were asked about their decision to scale the rock despite very clear requests from the local Indigenous people not to, a lot of them shrugged and said that they knew it was disrespectful but decided to do it anyway. One particularly charming guy ever said that “It’s difficult to see what that significance is. It’s a rock. It’s supposed to be climbed.”
Next time you’re travelling the world and living your best life, remember to actually listen to the people who live in the area before you trample something or chase someone down the street for the perfect Insta shot. I can’t believe I have to write that.