Japan is increasingly battling with overtourism. The Japan National Tourism Organisation has recently revealed that 33.38 million people visited Japan between January and November 2024, breaking the previous record of 31.88 million set in 2019. This doesn’t just mean locals are getting more and more frustrated with tourists, in some cases, it also proves to be dangerous.
The small port city of Otaru, located on the island of Hokkaido, has hired security guards to prevent tourists from taking selfies. The news comes after a 61-year old tourist was killed by a train in Otaru while trying to take a picture. The visitor stepped onto the tracks of a local train line, however, when doing so, she didn’t notice the train that was approaching, which struck and killed her.
According to a local, this wasn’t the first time tourists created dangerous circumstances for the perfect shot. “Tourists regularly take photos between the crossing gates. Trains have been stopped multiple times as a result”, they told a local television station according to The West Australian.
With its picturesque location, Otaru has served as the backdrop for many a movie in the past. The 1995 Japanese film “Love Letter” and the 2015 Chinese film “Cities in Love” in particular still attract many tourists to the town, visitors who all flock together on the same spots in order to recreate their favourite movie scene, thus creating dangerous circumstances both for themselves and for others.
Otaru, which has a population of 100,000 people itself, recorded 98,678 overnight international visitors last year, an absolute record. Day visitors making the journey from Sapporo, Hokkaido’s capital, aren’t included in this number.
In an attempt to streamline the many tourists, the city has now hired security guards who will be stationed on popular locations. Their job is to keep people from trespassing on private property and to avoid road blocks due to visitors taking selfies and other pictures. So far, three guards have been stationed in the popular Funamizaka neighbourhood, known for its typical Japanese wooden and a panoramic view of the Sea of Japan. With the current festive period of Lunar New Year being extremely busy in the country, the plan at the moment is to keep the guards in place at least until 31 March.
