What Are the Top Inconveniences for Tourists in Japan?

Both first-timers and seasoned visitors alike are flocking to Japan, and tourism numbers have soared past pre-pandemic levels. But like any country, Japan has a lot of inconveniences for tourists. One travel company decided to nail down what they were.

The usual suspects

In early 2023 GOOD LUCK TRIP, an inbound tourism company owned by Gakken Holdings, conducted an online survey asking tourists what they struggled with the most in Japan. The survey garnered 891 respondents from ages 10-60.

Common struggles like figuring out train ticket discounts and exchanging different currencies ranked in the bottom ten. Coming in at eighth place was “lack of smoking-designated areas.” When narrowed down to the 237 respondents who smoked habitually, this was their overall top complaint.

Thanks to anti-smoking campaigns and dwindling tobacco vending machines, smoking is no longer quite all the rage in Japan. According to Health Net, cigarette sales have slowly declined since 1996, and a 2020 law banned indoor smoking, with some exceptions.

Using other payment options like mobile pay came in at sixth place. For an embarrassingly long time, Japan lagged behind other countries like South Korea regarding cashless payment technology. (Then again, this is a country that still uses fax machines.) Nowadays the cashless payment scene has become much easier to navigate, with almost too many options available. Still, many apps only work with a Japanese phone number or don’t offer multilingual support.

Garbage cans, communication woes, and poor Wifi

5. Lack of garbage cans

First-time visitors to Japan will inevitably come across this puzzle: How is Japan so clean when there are so few public trash cans?

You can largely blame the Aum Shinrikyo cult for that. Aside from train stations and convenience stores, it’s mighty difficult to locate any trash receptacle. Even then, sometimes those trash cans vanish ahead of major events like the Olympics or a G7 meeting, frustrating travelers and residents alike.

Cities continue to struggle with how to make trash cans available without encouraging littering or terrorism. Kyoto is experimenting with smart technology trash cans that compress their contents to free up space, but the nationwide issue is far from resolved.

4. Using public transportation

Japan’s transit system makes getting around a breeze, but it does take some getting used to. It’s all too easy to board the wrong train and bus or get lost looking for the right station exit (looking at you, Shinjuku Station).

An IC card is a must for tourists, but getting one can be time-consuming, especially with the IC chip shortage. (Fortunately, it’s pretty easy now to add one to your Apple or Google Wallet.) Apps like Go Taxi strive to make it easier for tourists to hail a taxi through integrations with popular messaging apps like KakaoTalk. However, the rise of unlicensed taxis is a growing threat to unsuspecting travelers.

3. Lack of clear signage in multiple languages

It’s fun and all to laugh at road signs and directions translated a little too literally into our native tongue. But in reality,17.5% found the lack of clear multilingual signage frustrating.

Most transit signage in the major metropolises will include English, Chinese, and Korean languages. In Hokkaido it’s not uncommon to see Russian language signage. Even if the signage is in your language, sometimes it’s so convoluted that it confuses you more than clarifies anything.

On my last Japan trip, I tried not to get hung up on the poor English grammar and obvious machine translation of travel brochures and park maps. More often than not, I picked up the Japanese-language versions just for clarity’s sake.

For those with minimal Japanese skills, translation tools can do in a pinch. As we’ll see shortly, though, many tourists think they leave a lot to be desired.

2. Communication difficulties with facility staff

Struggling to communicate with facility staff members remains one of the top complaints of inbound tourists at 20.2%.

Since everyone needs to eat, GOOD LUCK TRIP asked respondents how they made restaurant reservations. 36.7% up and went to the restaurant without a reservation. About 20% made reservations online, while others had a Japanese speaker secure reservations over the phone. Only 10.5% made reservations by phone themselves.

1. Wi-Fi

Surprising absolutely no one, Japan’s poor Wi-Fi infrastructure claims the top spot at 31.5%. Other than a hotel and a Starbucks, trying to find free public wifi is nearly impossible.

Fortunately, if you don’t want to shell out for an international data plan through your phone carrier, budget-friendly alternatives do exist. A popular go-to is pocket wifi, which acts like a mobile hotspot and can connect to multiple devices—perfect for traveling with large groups or families. Visitors can reserve one online and have it ready for pickup at the airport.

What can be improved?

GOOD LUCK TRIP wanted to know more specifics, so in December 2023, they conducted another survey with 946 respondents focusing on Wifi, communication struggles, and smoking areas. For the first issue, the company asked where tourists wanted to see more free Wifi spots. An overwhelming 96.2% responded with lodging facilities, while 71% listed train stations and airports.

When it came to communication, GOOD LUCK TRIP wanted to know if tourists found translation tools sufficient enough for communicating with facility staff members. Only 30.4% answered in the affirmative, highlighting the indispensable role of multilingual staff.

As for smoking areas, 96.2% wanted lodging facilities to have smoker-friendly options on the premises. 71.8% wanted more signage and maps in their native languages, and 62.8% requested websites with maps of smoking areas. Increasing the number of smoking areas is obviously not ideal, but improving signage for existing smoking areas would certainly be a step up.

Many of the above issues boil down to increasing multilingual support. Learning some essential Japanese phrases certainly makes things easier. However, a stronger infrastructure catering to a variety of languages will go a long way towards making Japan even more desirable as a tourist destination.

Sources

訪日外国人が「日本で不便に思うこと」のランキング。「地球の歩き方」が展開する訪日旅行情報サイト「GOOD LUCK TRIP」が発表。PR Times.

販売本数 (紙巻きたばこ). Health Net.

前回調査で明らかになった「訪日外国人が日本旅行中に困ったこと」の解決策を訪日旅行情報サイト「地球の歩き方GOOD LUCK TRIP」が調査. PR Times.