Japanese restaurants say they’re not charging tourists more – they’re just charging locals less

23 comments

1. Hahahaha. Love this 😂

2. Hilarious haha. Luckily is speak japanese so next time im in japan im just gonna lie that i can’t speak english so “nihongo no menyu onegai shimasu”

3. If it’s for all tourists who are not from the area, then fine. A family from Tokyo eating in Kyoto should have to show their ID and pay the tourist price. A foreign person living in Kyoto with a valid residence card should be pay the same as a native Kyoto-ite.

4. I feel like this is somewhat ok, we pay less for train tickets, they pay less for food 😀

5. That’s great

6. I’m sure I’ll get downvoted for this but whether or not this is fair or justified can be debated but note that “Tourist Taxes” and “Two Tiered Pricing” isn’t unique to Japan and often isn’t just about greed.

   – https://www.euronews.com/travel/2024/04/01/tourist-taxes-all-of-the-countries-you-will-have-to-pay-to-enter-in-2022

   – https://www.cntravellerme.com/story/tourist-tax-the-destinations-youll-have-to-pay-to-enter

   – https://www.escape.com.au/destinations/asia/japan/japan-is-exploring-dual-pricing-for-foreigners-and-locals-and-people-are-divided/news-story/713f7e1bb28cd225ccee8993f327c6ff

   – https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240522-the-worlds-revolt-against-bad-tourists

   – https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/05/balance-over-tourism-sustainable-travel-future-economic-growth/

7. Still within reasonable margins in my experience. When i was visiting India, some places were charging non-Indians 4× more. Even my local guide was furious about it.

8. I don’t see an issue with this—with caveats.

   – the price difference should not be very big
   – locals who are not ethnic Japanese should get the same price as ethnic Japanese locals
   – Japanese people from other cities or prefectures shouldn’t get the local price

9. Distinction without a difference lol

10. It’s still a good price most places. Japan is very reasonable

11. The pricing on the sign in the article is wild. Girls under 10 and 5 get extra discounts. Would a boy under 10 or 5 still be charged full price?

12. I love how a few restaurants out of the thousands upon thousands in Japan and suddenly it is a trend that is news-worthy.

    Stop believing things the western media tells you about Japan. Their job is to make money, not keep you informed.

13. How can they tell the difference?

14. It’s funny though that they say that because of their level of English they have charge more. I live in Japan and they always use that excuse to discriminate. It’s funny that the Japanese are always talking down to south East Asian people like they are inferior to them when over there they have 10 times more tourists than Japan and can hold it and can speak at least basic English. Also Japanese can’t use translating app like everywhere in the world but teach their kids they are the smarter in the world. Most Japanese people I know are against this measure because it’s makes them look like a poor country and it makes them look like 3rd world countries (a link to what I mentioned here).

15. With how racist Japan is, this is just going to be used to discriminate against people because of their race. For that reason alone, it’s wrong.

16. This sounds like something similar in Hawaii – kama’aina discounts. State residents can show their id and get discounts on foods and certain services. It does not exclude those of non-Hawaiian origin. Just those who have not established themselves as a resident.

    I understand there is a great impact on resources, so I don’t have an issue with it.

17. Makes sense.

18. I will live off vending machines and combini. I don’t care… the two tier pricing isn’t going to get the best of me.

19. Which is the same thing.

20. When tourists leave bad reviews on Japanese restaurants for the staff not speaking English, I don’t blame the restaurant one bit for raising prices in order to hire staff that have English ability.

21. That’s no biggie. They want to court their local customer base. I have zero issue with not spending money where I’m not wanted. 😂

    If this happens en masse, tourism will drop and they’ll be beginning for it to return when shops start closing down

22. I just had this happen to me. They gave us a table out of the way, almost hidden from sight. Items in the menu were almost twice as expensive as Japanese menu.

    Fish seemed a bit old. Like they were trying to feed us the leftovers of their cuts.

23. I really want to go to this one but the pricing in English is quite different from in Japanese. Can someone help me read if the items are equivalent on the two menus? https://maps.app.goo.gl/p7ix3X3dY72LDv7T9?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy