Member-only story
Tourists Love Japan’s Shirakawago. But Is The Feeling Mutual?
Japan’s Shirakawago is beloved by visitors. But the locale is suffering under the weight of age and disrespectful tourists.
The latest ranking for inbound tourists’ top picks for historic sites and gardens is out. The number one destination is no surprise. But the challenges it faces internally, as well as the burden it carries from mannerless tourists, are shocking.
Top 10 historic sites and gardens
Mov inc., is the headquarters for the inbound tourism website Honichi Lab. The company released its independent findings of tourist spots that are the most popular among inbound visitors on February 19th.
mov used its analytics tool, Kutikomicom, to analyze the 1,300+ online reviews users shared on Google Maps between January 2nd and January 15th this year to rank the top historic sites and gardens.
The UNESCO World Heritage site Shirakawa Village, or Shirakawago (白川郷) in Japanese, ranked number one by a landslide. It has 300 more popularity points and 70 more foreign-language reviews than the Arakuyama Sengen Park, where Mt. Fuji and a crimson five-story pagoda fit perfectly in one picturesque frame.
In third place, the dog locals and visitors use as a meeting point in Shibuya Station’s bustling…
