Comments by "XSportSeeker" (@XSpImmaLion) on "South China Morning Post" channel.

  1. This will slowly happen in every major tourism hotspot in Japan, you just need to have been there in recent years to understand. Unruly tourists might be the reason given, but it's more than that - it's about overcrowding. In Gion particularly, even if all tourists were plenty respectful (which you'll always have exceptions to, and the more people the more exceptions), it has already gotten to a point that some times of the day in international vacation periods the narrow streets are so packed full with people that it's dangerous, even for regular people. I'm talking crowd crush levels of danger. I'm talking about crowds dangerously overflowing to the middle of busy streets. The district wasn't made to support such huge crowds, despite being an adult entertainment district. And I suspect several other tourist venues will end up going the same way. Tourism is a major source of revenue for Japan and whatnot, but at some point a major crowd crush incident will end up happening in these tourist spots, which will force politicians, law and justice to take action. In fact, it's a miracle that this hasn't already happened. For people going there to visit, my recommendation is - be respectful, follow whatever advisories are there, obey police in crowded spots, and just avoid going in high season, busy vacation time and the most sought after tourist spots. If you want to go visit the most famous spots, which is understandable, avoid weekends and holidays. And do notice - I'm not saying this because of geishas, respect for the places, and stuff like that, though there's also that factor - I'm saying this for your own experience as a tourist. In most popular touristic places in Japan, if you go when the place is packed, all you'll see is a sea of people, and you'll spend hours in line for everything, not being able to see anything. Which is not what I think most people are going there for. People preparing to go there should know that if you wanna see the sights you've saw on tourism brochures, blogs, YouTube videos and whatnot, on popular spots, these days the only real way to see it like that is if you go on the off season. Skip sakura season - the beginning of spring, skip golden week, autumn might be a better choice, but it's only summer and winter that international tourism reduces a bit.
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  2. I think lots of people are misreading the news, because most countries don't have this system... this is about visa-on-arrival, not visa in general. Visa-on-arrival is a bad idea anyways. It's a system that allows for visa application upon arrival on the country. This is a fodder for abuse and corruption, and it's also not great for tourists unless there is already ill intention there. Visa-on-arrival is great for people running away and trying to hide where they are going. Imagine you only get to know if your Visa will be accepted or not after getting to your destination, and imagine all the abuses that could happen so that it's accepted. Regular Visa application is just better. You only book your trip after you know your application was approved. There is more time for authorities to evaluate everything, and there can be better monitoring for misbehavior and crimes committed by foreigners entering the country. Perhaps there are a few exceptions where this could be useful, particularly for people escaping persecution, but then the argument turns into - a Visa-on-arrival system should not be used, but rather applying for asylum. The only advantage of Visa-on-arrival is that it makes easier for people to travel to a given destination, and these days it's arguably better to implement an all electronic Visa system if the intention is to facilitate entry for tourists. For countries that are already having to deal with problems with tourists, like tourists who are overstaying, or committing crimes, Visa-on-arrival suspension is a no brainer. Indonesia should end the program period, not only for Russia and Ukraine.
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  3. That's not "nothing in particular"... listening is a rare commodity these days. Nothing in particular you give the money and bye bye. xD
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  4. It's hard enough to get the physical training and strength required for something like this, the mental fortitude must be a feature only a few select people in the entire planet has... it's physical confinement, zero contact with civilization, no sunlight... she might just be among the few people who could endure a trip to Mars.
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  5. This is all because the Unification Church is against LGBT rights. The more the investigation unfolds, the more people will see how much this cult has been influencing government and justice in Japan. Pay attention Japanese citizens, you deserve better!
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  6. ​ @agateslate7939  That's because you are evaluating an entire nation based on superficial, often sensationalistic stuff that does not reflect everyday reality. It's not that those things don't exist - they exist in every nation in the world. It's because when you only consume information about Japan through International news coverage, small docs, blog coverage and that sort of stuff that tends to go for the clickbait stuff, plus fictional content such as anime, it creates an unrealistic image of the situation. For each of those, you should look at worldwide statistics for each and every subject to actually check if those are out of the ordinary in Japan in comparison to other nations. But I'll let you some of the stuff I know from previous researches, you can check for yourself if they remain true or not, don't trust a random commenter on YouTube. Hikkikomori came to prominence because it's an officially recogned problem for the Japanese government, with a specific name and all, but it is far from being a Japan exclusive problem. It's just another name for reclusive young adults that are unemployed and don't leave their homes. It is far more common worldwide than most people think, and it's quite likely that Japan is not the leading country for this. Both workaholics, suicide and suicide from overwork also became news because on how Japanese government has prioritized the problem, as well as named some of them specifically like karoshi, but again, those are not as big as some people seem to think in Japan, and other nations have worse statistics on those. Suicide and suicide from overwork both have an interesting characteristic to it - both were rampant back in the 80s and 90s, but the rates dropped sharply over the years, and continues to drop. Meanwhile, in most western nations, both are having meteoric rises to much that some countries nowadays are reaching the levels Japan had back in the 80s and 90s. Now, as for the isekai phenomena, it's more related to how many people play games and understand western fantasy scenarios rather than "desperation to live a new life". If a preference for fictional stories that shows a different world or environment than our own was indicative of desperation to live a new life, then I'm pretty sure all countries all around the world would fit the description. We are all watching movies, tv series, anime, playing games, reading books and whatnot to escape reality to some degree.
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