Japan should be charging foreign tourists more

The country can afford to introduce dual pricing to tackle overtourism.

- Walter Sim

Here's an unpopular opinion: Japan should stop pussyfooting around the idea of dual pricing and charge foreign visitors more in overtouristed areas.

Before accusing me of heresy, hear me out. Doing so will not only bring Japan in line with other travel destinations worldwide, including Singapore, but also go a long way towards fulfilling Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ambitions of rural revitalisation.

One obvious poster child for regional invigoration is Niseko, in Hokkaido, which has morphed from a listless, enervated town into one of the world's top ski resorts in just over two decades.

Neither its astronomical price tag (relative to elsewhere in Japan), nor the fact that it is hardly the quintessential Japanese experience (foreigners outnumber Japanese in winter), has been off-putting to the scores of skiers and snowboarders who have thronged there.

For the current 2024-2025 winter season, one-day lift passes cost 10,500 yen (S$90.30) in the third straight year of price hikes, breaching 10,000 yen for the first time.

This prompted one Sapporo public servant to complain in the Mainichi newspaper: "No matter how good the snow quality is, (my family) can't go if the lift tickets are too expensive. I feel the town government doesn't think about us locals." Niseko may be an outlier, but supports the overarching argument that a dual-pricing strategy will be a fairer approach to avoid pricing out ordinary Japanese.

The other side of this coin are regions such as Tokyo, Kyoto and the foothills of Mount Fuji that are suffering from overtourism, with overcrowding and obnoxious behaviour testing the patience of locals.

The harsh reality that Japan has been reluctant to accept is how the weak yen and near-stagnant wages have widened the disparities in purchasing power between inbound tourists and Japanese residents.