Why This Topic Landed in Japan

Tourist manners and overtourism are recurring flashpoints on Japanese boards. This time the setting did the work: foreign visitors sitting on the ground in Ginza — the symbolic home of luxury brands and old department stores — clashed sharply with the district's image. A TV Asahi report filmed tourists sitting on streets and in front of shops and pointed to a shortage of rest spots and benches as one factor; Tsukiji police said sitting itself is not automatically a violation, though it can become one when it blocks passage or business. How widespread or sustained the trend actually is remains unclear, even if the scene itself is real. The shortage of benches and rest areas is consistent with the reporting, and the discussion widened into Japan's "hostile architecture," where benches were removed to deter the homeless, and into whether the country's capacity has been overrun by inbound tourism.

Key Reaction Themes

  • Disgust at the manners, hygiene, and look of it was the largest strand — Most comments treated the sitting as a hygiene and scenery problem, and a large share of that criticism was voiced in hostile, derogatory terms toward foreign visitors.
  • A substantial strand blamed Japan's own urban design — Many argued the real cause is the lack of benches, parks, trash cans, and rest areas, and that removing benches to deter the homeless has backfired.
  • Overtourism and overrun capacity — Others framed it as the end result of chasing cheap, high-volume inbound tourism beyond what the city can hold.
  • A smaller set offered counter-positions and fixes — Rather than only condemning tourists, some proposed forcing the city to install benches by keeping on sitting, or a local no-sitting ordinance.

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

Foreign tourists sitting on Ginza's sidewalks

A TV report on foreign visitors sitting on streets and in front of shops in upscale Ginza set off a debate over manners and the city's shortage of benches and rest areas.

Sources: Yahoo! news, 2ch

Comments:

  • "> Benches would ruin the scenery, and they'd get taken over by the homeless — just be honest and admit you can't be bothered with the effort of moving people along."
  • "Ginza always has a festival feel on holidays, so it's no surprise some people start sitting down."
  • "Their pants turn into floor rags, then their homes, hotels, and public transport get filthy — it's over."
  • "There are no trash cans and no benches — the whole city is basically hostile architecture."
  • "If you put benches on the street they get stolen, broken, or occupied by the homeless, so you can't just install them everywhere."
  • "Meanwhile, other countries installed benches that are hard to sit on, lol."
  • "Totally over capacity, lol. In Kyoto too, the old-capital streetscape is packed with long lines and any charm is gone. There was never enough capacity to be pushing foreign tourism in the first place."
  • "This is where the 'tourism nation' hospitality campaign ends up!"
  • "Tokyo has no parks or benches near its downtown districts — they should build more. Where are you even supposed to eat takeout? And trash cans, too."
  • "Japanese people go to Uniqlo and H&M now — it's not the upscale district it used to be."
  • "The cafes are always full and crammed to the limit to add seats; too many people come, it's over capacity."
  • "This is the bill coming due for removing benches to keep the homeless away — panicking now is too late."
  • "Keep sitting on the ground and push the government until it installs benches!"
  • "For now, how about making a no-sitting ordinance limited to the area?"
  • "But during pedestrian-paradise hours it's been like this for a while, hasn't it? Though maybe the numbers or the ratio have gotten hard to ignore."