Local officials in Japan’s popular Geisha district in Kyoto will shut off access to “paparazzi” tourists who harass and trouble the globally recognised Japanese women artists, starting April this year.
The historic Gion district’s local council has said it will now ban sightseers and tourists into the alleys and streets housing geisha and maiko (teenager trainee geisha) after facing years of complaints over growing buzz of photography.
Good. It’s a historical aspect of Japanese culture of immense significance in a city that is roughly one millennium older than the British Empire, not a theme park attraction.
It’s a historical aspect of Japanese culture of immense significance in a city that is roughly one millennium older than the British Empire, not a theme park attraction
Yeah why on Earth would anyone want to take pictures of themselves visiting something like that
^s
The issue, as stated above, is female working professionals (some teenaged) being followed around. The geisha houses have been filing complaints with the city government for years.
Oh yeah I read the article, horrible behaviour.
My point is rather that it’s not as much about the photos that banning it would help. It’s more about unrespectful assholes. That sort of behaviour seems crazy. Chasing down people, pulling their hair, throwing cigarette butts at them.
The problem needs to be addressed, and the way they propose to limit tourists access, unless they’re clients, seems fine. They even mention how it won’t apply to the main street of the area, because it’d be a practical impossibility to enforce.
So realistically you can still get photos there and if you’re respectful and ask politely, perhaps even with a geisha.
The problem is that it stopping them at all to even ask for a picture is legit cutting into the time that their clients have paid for. Geisha and maiko’s time is paid for in set blocks of time, and the clock starts ticking from the moment they leave the geisha house and start walking. The longer it takes them to actually get to where their appointment is, the less time they have with their clients.
Oh yeah, that would be rude.
My point is that this isn’t some totalitarian ban, but needed regulation, and you can still admire and perhaps even photograph, if it’s not inappropriate and you have permission.
Sounds like police should patrol and handle that, cause it’s harassment
It’s just a shame that normal tourists end up being cliche tourists and ruin the history for everyone else.
Yeah
Fucking influencers.
Not to mention the wack ass pranksters who treat Japan as a playground and fuck with the population, because Japanese police aren’t brutal assholes.
For some reason I thought geisha was some feudal Japan concept that didn’t exist anymore and now that I know that is wrong I realized that I actually have no idea what geisha are and never really put any thought in the topic.
I honestly thought it was a high class escort for nobles.
Edit: looked it up. Basically they’re dancers and entertainers who also flirt with men. But sex isn’t permitted at all so I wasn’t totally off.
Bad tourists seems to be a worldwide trend these last 10 years or so.
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Nah, it’s people are legit a-holes to women walking down the street. They’re harassing maiko who are literally just walking to work. People are grabbing them, pulling out their hair ornaments, getting in their way, etc. it’s been a problem since even before the covid lockdowns.
You’re feeding a “both sides” troll who conveniently only defends right wing conspiracy theorists. It’s good that you put the information out there for anyone wandering into this thread, just don’t expect it to do anything for the pile of shit you’re replying to.
