Tourism in Japan is on the rise, and, according to data from the World Economic Forum, last year, the country's tourism rate reached a record high and a 47.1% increase compared to the year before. A video on r/Malaysia has revealed that this increase in tourism may come with an unexpected environmental cost.
The post features translated Japanese news coverage that shows one woman picking up a small stone and appearing to scratch a letter into a bamboo stalk. A reporter confronted them and asked, "Do you know you shouldn't hurt the bamboo[?]" to which one tourist replied, "No, I don't know."
In the video, a newly carved letter "M" is visible on the stalk. According to the coverage, the women said they were from Malaysia and "showed no signs of remorse."
(Click here to watch the video if the embed does not appear.)
The tourists' vandalism is especially significant because Arashiyama is one of Kyoto's most iconic sites and is filled with temples and shrines.
"This kind of graffiti that ruins a beautiful scenery is truly sad. And it's also very sad that we have to spend money to fix it again, so we really want them to stop," the report's transcript read.
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The bamboo forest lies in the northern part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, and one Korean news outlet reported that damaging bamboo harms individual stalks and that officials are considering cutting down damaged bamboo. Vandalism is widely frowned upon in Japan, where social norms emphasize avoiding meiwaku tourism, or being a nuisance to others, which is on the rise, according to the Tokyo Weekender.
In one published study, researchers found that vandalism often stems from environmental disregard and from tourists lacking cultural and educational awareness. The researchers concluded that social media can play an important role in reducing this behavior by spreading information about responsible tourism and providing platforms that promote nature conservation at popular natural sites.
One commenter on the Reddit post pointed out that, unfortunately, the bandwagon effect may be at play when it came to the tourists' vandalism: "they probably saw that the tree was already vandalised by other tourists and see no harm in continuing it. I can never understand this justification."
Another user provided an actionable solution, saying, "Maybe when we're done making useless generalisations, we can focus on productive actions: more education, self policing… more protection on site for artefacts and environment. And definitely giving zero attention to those who do it for clout."
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