Japan really should charge tourists four times more

Step out of the train station at Himeji, a midsized Japanese city in Hyogo Prefecture about 80 kilometers from Osaka, and one thing grabs the eye.

Himeji Castle, a centuries-old fortress once home to the great Japanese unifier Toyotomi Hideyoshi, is the best surviving example of such structures from the Warring States period, many of which were destroyed in air raids during World War II. In 1993, the castle became Japan’s first UNESCO World Heritage site — for readers of a different generation, it might be better known as the location of Tiger Tanaka’s training school in the 1967 James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice."

Recently, Himeji Castle has grabbed attention for a different reason. Hideyasu Kiyomoto, the mayor of the city of half a million, generated international headlines last month when he suggested that foreign tourists ought to pay more — about four times more — than the ¥1,000 ($6.20) the castle currently charges for admission.

Under a dual-pricing plan, Kiyomoto proposed that city residents might pay even less than they do now. His office told me that since many World Heritage sites charge more than the castle, discussions were ongoing over the appropriate price for tourists and locals, but that no decision had yet been made. The reality is that the costs of maintaining the castle — which miraculously survived the war thanks to being painted black to disguise it from air raids — are undoubtedly rising.

The debate comes at a time when Japan is grasping for solutions to a problem of its own making. Less than two years after the borders were reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, the country is struggling to cope with the flood of overseas tourists.

Visitors are commandeering buses in Kyoto, crowding out convenience stores near Mount Fuji and generally being blamed (at times accurately) for nuisances everywhere they go. Tourism has exploded over the past decade and the recent weak yen has taken the trend to extremes. Some restaurants are also exploring ways to charge foreigners more, with many citing the cost of dealing with customers in other languages and adjusting menus.

Tourist spending is set to soar to ¥7.2 trillion this year, making it Japan’s second-largest export after cars, adding more to the economy than steel or semiconductor parts. Yet many people in places like Himeji do not feel rich. And when I arrived after having taken an early evening shinkansen from Tokyo, I could not immediately see much sign of foreign spending, either.

It did not take me long to find out why. Everywhere I went, I heard the same thing: Throngs of foreign tourists arrive during the day but few stay overnight. Visitors prefer to return to Osaka (less than $20 and 30 minutes on the bullet train), or head further west to Hiroshima, the next major port of call. Because no one hangs around, there are no luxury hotels and none being built. I myself was staying just one night and was due the following evening in Osaka, where the nightlife is considerably livelier.

That is one reason that, to my surprise, all the Himeji locals I spoke to favored the mayor’s dual-pricing plan. Hayato Miyazaki, who runs a local brewery and taproom, told me he fully supported such a system, as did everyone he knew in the restaurant business. He gets one or two groups of foreign tourists a day, he said, but shuts up shop at 10 p.m.

When I put it to him that a dual-pricing structure felt like Japan was slipping back into being a developing country, he nodded in understanding, but protested: "It’s too late for that!” Having lived in the United States and Australia, he is familiar with how much Japanese wages have stagnated by comparison.

Himeji’s mayor is certainly correct to note that many World Heritage sites overseas also charge much more. London’s Tower Bridge, for example, costs the equivalent of $17 for a basic ticket, nearly three times what Himeji Castle asks.

Two-tier pricing is not necessarily a feature only of developing nations, where the practice is more widespread at tourist spots because of the vast gap between local salaries and what visitors can afford.

The Louvre museum in Paris, which is included in a broader World Heritage site encompassing the Banks of the Seine, offers free tickets to under-25s — but only if they are residents of the European Economic Area. In Hawaii, locals are entitled to a Kama’aina discount for residents. The National Gallery in Singapore proudly proclaims free access for locals and permanent residents, while visitors are charged the equivalent of $15.

Himeji residents told me of the Donguri Card, or "acorn" card, a seemingly beloved local scheme that allows kids up to when they are in junior high school free entry to museums, aquariums and other local attractions. What would be the difference, they contended, if that scheme was extended to adults?

As it happens, the central government has been looking for ways to promote the My Number card, an oft-troubled national ID scheme that for practical reasons policymakers want everyone to have — why not flash a My Number card and get a discount, or receive payback in the form of points?

What is needed in Japan, with all due respect to Mayor Kiyomoto, is top-down guidance from Tokyo in the form of guidelines and best practices. There is a way to charge tourists more, but a municipality-by-municipality scattershot approach is not it. If the country can make clear who pays what, and how, there will likely be few objections. Himeji Castle is easily worth four times the cost.