Whether it's sightseeing or life, that's the question-fierce battle! Kyoto Mayoral Election February 6 18:23
What you can see when you walk in Kyoto now, hotels, hotels, and hotels.
New establishments are continuing.
Behind the scene is the “tourism boom” by foreigners. The negative impact on civic life is also called "overtourism" or "tourism pollution".
How to make life and tourism coexist. In the mayoral election of Kyoto City, the way of tourism became one of the issues.
(Shiori Koyama, Kyoto Bureau, Takuya Sakurada, Election Project)
At the end of "Instagram"
Many foreign tourists visit the quaint streets lined with Kyomachiya. When you find a maiko dressed in a beautiful kimono, people will be able to see it at a glance.
However, annoying acts that violate manners. People who take pictures after chasing Maiko, people who pull kimonos, people who enter the site without permission. Some say that some people wipe their hands with food dirty from the storefront.
The local council, which could not be seen, set a high bill prohibiting harassment.
"I have appealed to the tourists, but it is the limit of patience. I want you to understand that Gion is not a sightseeing city."
Fushimi Inari Shrine in Fushimi-ku. When the Senbon Torii is “insta shining,” it has gained a reputation around the world and is now a major tourist destination attracting foreign tourists. The number of foreign tourists visiting has increased eightfold in the last five years.
Here too, the behavior of too many tourists has become a problem.
In residential areas around Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine, littering of garbage is unending. Empty cans and plastic containers sometimes piled high. Even though locals clean up their garbage every day, they are thrown away again and are playing pretend.
A resident man said in a sigh, "I'm cleaning with care, but when one piece of garbage is put in, garbage increases there."
If you notice, 16,000 rooms have increased!
More than 50 million people visit Kyoto for six years in a row. Foreign guests in particular have soared four-fold in the last five years.
Daisaku Kadokawa, the mayor, aimed at increasing the number of foreign tourists amid the government's inbound tourism promotion policy. However, there was one concern. Isn't there enough accommodation?
If we do not have enough accommodations for foreigners to visit in large numbers, we will not be able to entertain the people who have come to Kyoto, and the attractiveness as a world-class tourist city will decrease. Tamon River embarks on measures. The aim was to attract high-quality accommodation.
In 2015, an unusual move was made with a land-owning real estate company to build a hotel in front of Nijo Castle, a World Heritage Site.
Furthermore, in May 2017, regulations such as the total floor area of luxury hotels and other hotels that meet certain requirements for the wealthy were eased in places where the location of accommodation facilities is restricted. This willingness to attract new guests has led to a surge in new accommodation facilities.
As a result, the number of guest rooms in the city, which was less than 30,000 in 2014, exceeded 46,000 in 2018.
The surge in accommodation has exceeded the city's expectations. Citizens are complaining about this situation. A small number of lands are often traded for hotel land, and the lack of offices has become apparent. The vacancy rate in Kyoto's offices was about 12% 10 years ago, but has recently dropped to 1%. The supply of condominiums has also fallen to nearly one-third in three years.
`` Kadokawa municipal government put too much emphasis on sightseeing, so land prices in the center rose, and 'working places' and 'living places' were robbed. ''
Lawyers Kazuto Fukuyama and former city council member Yoshie Murayama, who ran for the mayoral election, criticize the past tourism administration as saying that the town had only hotels.
"Attracting hotels without regard to the consent of the residents is a problem. Hotels and private lodgings and other accommodation facilities need to be regulated in total amount." (Fukuyama)
"Hotel location restrictions are required. Reduce land prices to some extent and secure housing and offices." (Murayama)
On the other hand, Kadokawa changed his aggressive stance in a press conference after the announcement of the candidacy, and mentioned the suppression of construction of hotels and other facilities.
"I would like to refuse accommodations that do not emphasize harmony with civil life." (Kadokawa)
He turned the rudder in a direction to control the advance of the accommodation.
On January 6, less than two weeks before the election announcement, Kadokawa goes even further. He stated that all guest rooms, such as hotels and inns, that will be newly built in the city will be required to be barrier-free in principle.
This is the first nationwide initiative to require barrier-free access regardless of size. The aim is to emphasize the idea of developing more quality accommodation than quantity.
During the election campaign, Kadokawa emphasized, "We will put our utmost emphasis on civic life and make every effort to pursue sustainable tourism that will contribute to the welfare of citizens."
“I can't get on the bus”
However, the impact of tourism on citizens' lives is not just an increase in accommodation.
Citizens are most embarrassed by public transport.
In Kyoto, two municipal subway lines (Karasuma Line and Tozai Line) and 84 city buses are important "citizens' feet".
On the other hand, city buses are used to visit popular tourist spots such as Kinkaku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera. For this reason, city buses departing and arriving at tourist spots are chronically crowded with locals and tourists.
Getting on and off in the sightseeing season is also difficult.
NHK interviewed passersby in the mayoral election to find out that they are having difficulty in their daily lives, and many people mentioned that the city bus was crowded.
"When tourists take a suitcase and get on, they get crowded. I'd be grateful if they could come in different times and seasons."
"There are so many people out there that they can't get on the bus. It takes a lot of time to get out of the bus during high season."
However, the Kadokawa municipal government did not mean too much.
In order to reduce congestion, the company plans to introduce vehicles equipped with suitcase storage, and to set up separate landings on some routes that are frequently used by tourists during the tourist season such as large holidays.
However, Fukuyama and Murayama strictly criticized the city's efforts as half-hearted and lax, as drastic measures were needed to prevent city bus congestion.
"Separate city bus life routes and sightseeing routes" (Fukuyama, Murayama)
"Free transfer between bus and subway so that you can change from city bus to subway with high transportation capacity on the way" (Murayama)
Sightseeing and life are both important
Is tourism really an annoying thing? One day in the middle of the election campaign, a man passing by to Murayama, who was speaking on the street, called out.
"Tourism is the driving force of Kyoto and the driving force of the economy. Foreigners and inbound people will drop money."
Murayama sought an understanding that he did not deny tourism itself.
"Inbound is coming in the future. That's good, but now the citizens' dissatisfaction is growing, so we need to sort it out." (Murayama)
Only living, sightseeing can be cut off. How do you plan to harmonize with sightseeing and protect civil life? Kyoto's tourism policy is entering a new phase.
As a result of the election, the current incumbent Kadokawa, who has developed a solid election campaign with ruling and opposition parties, with the support of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Komeito Party, and the constitutional democracy, the National Democratic Party, and the Social Democratic Party, has won the fourth election.
“Both sightseeing and living” voters
We will try to find out why Kadokawa won by exit survey conducted by NHK on the day of voting.
[NHK exit survey]
Conducted at 24 polling stations in Kyoto City: 2780 people Answered: 2005 (72.1%)
The survey asked the new mayor about the most anticipated policies.
It can be said that voters voted more on "revitalization of the local economy" than on "balancing tourism and living".
More than 50% of those who chose "revitalization of the regional economy" answered that they voted for Kadokawa, leaving Fukuyama and Murayama apart. One of the reasons for winning is that Kadokawa gathered economic expectations.
On the other hand, looking at who supported the importance of balancing sightseeing and living, Kadokawa and Fukuyama were each in the mid 30% range, and Murayama was about 30%, down to three people. In other words, Fukuyama and Murayama's claims also attracted support.
How does Kadokawa take this? In an interview after winning, he stated:
"Kyoto is not a city made for sightseeing. Therefore, civic life is of utmost importance. We will strive to achieve harmony by linking the economic effects of tourism to the wealth of many citizens." )
Plenty of tourism issues
In this interview, I found a number that I was interested in.
Foreign tourists visiting Kyoto are increasing rapidly, while Japanese tourists are decreasing.
In a survey conducted by the city of Japanese who visited Kyoto for sightseeing, most of the respondents said they were satisfied, but the question `` had something unfortunate '' was `` congested and calm '' It was also complained that tourists were poor manners. It is necessary to take some measures to prevent any movement away from Kyoto, which is flooded with foreign tourists.
On the other hand, Kyoto is not just an area that suffers from the evils of tourism. The problem is not simple, as there are few tourists visiting the area, and conversely, in some areas, "I want to benefit more from tourism."
What kind of policies will be specifically created in the next four years toward "sustainable tourism that connects to the wealth of citizens" that Kadokawa emphasized in the election campaign? I want to pay attention.
(Titles omitted in the text)