Tourism
Forty-two million visitors a year arriving in a country that spent decades asking for them. Kyoto's buses and its two-tier fares, the crossing at Shibuya, Fushimi Inari blocked to ambulances, a climbing fee and a daily cap on Fuji, the Osaka Expo, and the towns working out what the crowds are actually worth.
Part of Japan
13 moments in this segment.
- - Shibuya crossing March 2005. Shibuya crossing Tokyo crowd. Crossing in Shibuya, Tokyo. March 2005.
- - Shibuya Station Crossing. Shibuya crossing Tokyo crowd. Shibuya Station Crossing Author: Leonard V Carlson User: Picturetokyo
- - Kyoto in cherry blossom season: the state of overtourism. Yomiuri TV report on trespassing, waste and arrests around Kyoto's tourist sites during the 2025 blossom season, and the measures the city is taking.
- - Mount Fuji opens with a 4,000-yen fee and a daily climber cap. TV Asahi on the 2025 opening of the Yamanashi trail, where the toll doubled from 2,000 to 4,000 yen to match Shizuoka and climbers were capped at 4,000 a day, with prefectural rangers checking for inadequate clothing.
- - Tourists block the level crossing at Fushimi Inari, stranding ambulances. TV Asahi report on the railway crossing beside Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, where crowds of visitors leave people trapped as barriers descend and emergency vehicles unable to pass.
- - The foreign staff who ran the Expo pavilions. ABC TV follows three foreign staff working at Expo 2025 Osaka, where 158 countries and regions took part, on their life in Japan.
- - School trips abandon Kyoto after 13 years at number one. Kansai TV report on Japanese schools moving their annual trips away from Kyoto, the top destination for 13 consecutive years, because of crowding and rising prices.
- - 184 days of Expo 2025 Osaka, as the cameras saw it. Yomiuri TV retrospective on the Osaka-Kansai Expo, the first world's fair in Osaka in 55 years, on its closing weekend.
- - Kyoto considers two-tier bus fares for residents and tourists. MBS report on Kyoto mayor Matsui's proposal for a resident-priority city bus fare, with analysis from Ritsumeikan University professor Koichi Kondo.
- - 2026年 東葉高速鉄道2000系電車. Japan train station commuters modern. This is a Japanese commuter train called the 2000 series. This car is designed in the same way as the 05 series of Japanese subway cars, and there is almost no difference. However, while the 05 series train has customer service equipment tailored to the latest c
- - Record inbound tourism: 42.68 million visitors in 2025. TV Tokyo on the 2026 tourism white paper approved by cabinet, recording 42.68 million foreign visitors in 2025, up about 16 percent, and 9.5 trillion yen in spending, both all-time highs.
- - Arrest over inflated costs on the Expo Grand Ring. Nippon TV report on the arrest of the site manager responsible for the Expo 2025 Grand Ring on suspicion of inflating construction billing, and Governor Yoshimura's response.
- - Two years of the Mount Fuji entry fee, reported from the trail. Sankei Shimbun reporter climbs Fuji in the second year of the 4,000-yen fee, finding overnight bullet climbing largely gone but a heavily foreign trail with recurring equipment and etiquette problems.