sure did or made it really rough for - realty inflating " ? tourists..
but it's always conservatives that own stuff that cause stuff imho . shady

Japan has always had a love/hate relationship with foreigners. (I should know, I've lived, worked, and raised a family in southern Japan since 1979.)

The recent surge of tourism from "western" countries has been a complicated experience for many Japanese. During Covid the tourism industry fell apart, both for foreign and domestic tourists. Many were bemoaning these losses, it was in the news constantly.

Suddenly, because Covid was at least partially under control and a surprisingly weak yen, tourists began to pour in. Unlike the previous mainly South Korean, Chinese, and other Asian tourists, the western tourist didn't arrive in groups, they didn't follow tour guides, stay at the same hotels, eat at the same restaurants, and use the same modes of transportation.

This confused many Japanese. These foreigners weren't following the rules. They invaded quiet spots, sought out unknown sites, ate at odd restaurants, stayed in cheap hotels and took and posted billions of videos of their "adventures". One izukaya owner became a local hero for not having an English menu, refusing to try to help a foreign couple order, and kicking them out of his restaurant. It was national news.

These days many claim that all foreign residents, workers, and visitors should speak Japanese, follow Japanese customs, and respect Japanese culture.

Now Japan cannot really afford to expel their tourists, it is a new mainstay of many local economies. But they do wish these tourists would take their videos, spend their money, and leave; perhaps as locals who live in most popular tourist places world-wide wish.

I think expecting foreign visitors to respect Japanese culture and at least try to follow Japanese customs is quite reasonable, and it makes sense for foreigners living and working in Japan to learn and use the Japanese language to the best of their ability. But expecting all visitors to be able to speak Japanese is a tall order. It's really hard to even find a beginning class in Japanese in America outside a major city or a college campus that's strong in Asian studies, and i suspect that's probably true of many other non-Asian countries as well.

I understand the frustration. I'm sure some of those tourists must seem very rude by Japanese standards. But I don't see any way to keep out all non Japanese-speaking tourists unless they start requiring people to pass a language test in order to get a visa to visit the country. Which they could certainly do if they want to, but it seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to.

I hope the Japanese can find some way to deal with tourists without losing their minds. I'm sure it must be very stressful for them, but it doesn't help for them to have such high expectations of foreign visitors that no one can ever reach them.