Either for its rich history intertwined with America and other countries or its very popular style of animation – known as anime – being idolized in the U.S., Japan is well known, and for some good reasons. But there’s always a certain point where one’s love for a specific culture or country, goes too far and can cause problems for both the culture and themselves.

Japan closed its borders to tourists from April 2020 to October 2022, bringing the tourism industry to a complete stop. Ever since the end of the infamous COVID-19 quarantine, many people have taken note, especially the locals living in Japan, about how much tourism has risen since travel constraints were lifted. Specifically, when it comes to Mount Fuji and a little picture-taking spot near it. The reason why is because of the tourists’ general disrespect and lack of care for the place around them: an absence of cleanliness with all the trash being left, people parking their cars anywhere for convenience, and even climbing up on a dental building near a popular photo-taking spot so they can get a picture of Fuji. As said before, it isn’t the fact that this is all happening in general, it’s the fact that there are so many more tourists doing this compared to before the quarantine.

Not to mention, this doesn’t just affect the locals, all of this can affect Japanese tourists in their own country. Locals complained about tourists trampling over holy sites. Due to the lack of care and people wanting to climb Mount Fuji, many tourists have been scaling the mountain at night which is something you are not supposed to do because of the possible sicknesses that could be contracted from doing so. Many tourists have gotten altitude sickness because of this, as well as fatigue from lack of sleep.

Overall, this is pretty sad. The locals are being heavily mistreated and the good tourists who respect the culture and area are now being punished for it. I guess that the moral of the story is to just…be respectful!