In case you haven’t heard, Japan has a lot of tourists — more than ever, in fact.
The first half of 2024 saw 17.78 million foreign tourists travel to the country, eclipsing the previous six-month record of 16.63 million from 2019. Alongside this surge in overseas visitors, however, the reported ills of overtourism have similarly spiked: From an entry ban in certain parts of Kyoto’s Gion district and the introduction of fees to climb Mount Fuji, it seems each week brings new news on how Japan is — or isn’t — dealing with its popularity on the global stage.
But why does Japan seem flooded with tourists all of a sudden? One obvious answer is social media.