Tokyo, 29 January, /AJMEDIA/
Security guards were deployed Tuesday at a popular tourist spot in Otaru, Hokkaido, famed for its appearance in an acclaimed movie, to prepare for an expected surge of visitors during the Lunar New Year holidays.
The move comes as the city has been grappling with increasingly troublesome behavior from foreign tourists on film location tours, including a recent incident where a Chinese woman died after being hit by a train while taking photos on the train tracks.
The spot, Funamizaka slope, is a key location for the 1995 Japanese movie “Love Letter,” which enjoyed great popularity in China and South Korea. Complaints have risen over tourists blocking narrow roads to take photos of the slope, which has a view of the sea as a backdrop.
Guards in three locations were seen Tuesday holding signs in English, Chinese, and Korean advising visitors not to trespass on private property or take photos in the middle of a road. The measures will stay in place until the end of March, with local police also increasing patrols in the area.
“People are even entering private property without permission to take photos,” said Hidetoshi Itagaki, an 80-year-old local resident.
But he acknowledged that the security presence so far has reduced the number of people obstructing roads.
Wang Haishu, a 23-year-old university student from China’s Sichuan Province, said that it was sad to see Chinese tourists causing trouble in Japan.
Following the tourist fatality on Jan 23 at Asari Station, which was featured in the 2015 Chinese movie “Cities in Love,” Hokkaido Railway Co is considering adding safety announcements in English and Chinese on its trains.
Over 90,000 foreign tourists stayed in Otaru during the first half of fiscal 2024, the highest since records began in 1997, according to the city.