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Tourism revenue, gift giving, an artist, Buddha's death, and rafting!

Omiyage gift giving is part of the furoshiki wrapping culture

According to the news, and this is very recent, tourism has become a significant income source for Japan. And this is only partially related to Japan's booming foreign tourist income. Don't forget that the Japanese, 122 million of them, no longer want to go abroad. Covid and other things have resulted in Japanese people who don't leave the country in general! And, believe it or not, this is especially true Japanese between the ages of 21 and 41. So, there is a lot of money to be made from the tourism industry in Japan.

In the last 20 years the Japanese government has tried to compete with the industry leaders in Southeast Asia and in general. The idea of dethroning Macau resulted in fairly profitable casino market in Japan (with plenty of Japanese players!). The Japanese also tried to become a medical tourism destination like Singapore or Thailand. This initiative didn't go so well . . . to say the least. At one point they tried to unseat Hong Kong to become the "northern Singapore." Japan has also tried very hard to become a startup and venture capital player.

The Japanese are pretty wealthy or, better said, the Japanese nation has control over a vast vast cash pile. Japan as a venture capital player is largely related to a single player, Masayoshi Son. Son is actually of Korean descent and he was raised on the island of Kyushu (the only island in Japan where tough guys and rough guys still exist. Really!). Son sold a calculator when he was at Stanford for a million USD. He also met with the founders of Yahoo in a restaurant. They showed him the idea for Yahoo on the back of a napkin (no pitch deck!) and Son became 20% owner of the Yahoo! empire. Yahoo! Japan is still the leading or leader in the search market, though Google Search and Chrome have gained enormous fan bases. I was telling my first year engineering students, who were learning English communications, that Google was the way to go . . . So Mr Son losts quite a few Yahoo! business. But his numerous businesses include a cellphone company (he had the exclusive on iPhones from 2007 to 2012), a massive venture capital fund (massively massive).

Jack Ma, China's most wealthy and famous startup found, is living in Tokyo now. And there is a thriving startup scene there and also in northern Kyushu.

But most of these ideas, casinos, medical tourism and startups | venture capital, only added some power and wealth to Japan.

Tourism is a completely different ball game. Most countries in the world are lucky to get more than 5% of their GDP from tourism. If we are talking about the hospitality industry (travel, hotels, resorts, casinos, restaurants) Japan has a lot of potential. Already now, in 2025, over 35 million foreign tourists visit Japan (up from 12 million in 2013). So, this is already a lot of income for Japanese companies and especially Japanese people. Afterall, the hospitality industry is part of the service industry.

The other topic that is swarming around Japan (and Venice, Rome and Barcelona) is overtourism, which is still a spelling mistake on Microsoft communication products in early 2025! I personally feel that the fear and loathing of overtourism in the media completely misses the point. It shows a preference for viewing overtourism as a crisis (societal and environmental). I feel that overtourism can dealt with overnight in a very simple way. Adjust the city entry price to reduce foreign tourism by say 30% or even 50%. If you really want to experience Kyoto with ALL THE JAPANESE DAY TRIPPERS in peak season, spring or autumn, you should pay for the privilege! Simple as that and easy to put into place overnight. New York City has a fee for entering the city during peak times and it's only a couple of months old. They are already making a monthly fortune and plowing it back in to public transportation and infrastructure. That's smart and that the future!

Japan's approach to overtourism is to try to steer more and more and more people to the "empty" areas of Japan. At this writing, there are 8 million empty houses scattered across the islands of Japan!

To that end the Japanese government is marketing the fringes of Japan to foreign and domestic tourists. It's a great idea but it doesn't require a budget as much as patience and perseverance. Given the powers of the internet and computers and bullet trains, Japan is ripe for a migration of people from the cities into the hinterlands. Tourists, domestic tourists, pave the way to new places. But so do foreign tourists who discover a new town or village or coastline or forest region that is just so amazing that it becomes globally famous. The thatched roof village of Shirakawa near Takayama in the Japanese Alps is such a place. Mount Fuji up close and personal has turned that "micro region" into a tourism money making machine!

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Content by Ian Martin Ropke, owner of Your Japan Private Tours (est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with Japan private tour clients and have worked for all kinds of families, companies, and individuals since 1990. Clients find me mostly via organic search, and I advertise my custom Japan private tours & travel services on www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps in Japan! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip. And thank you for reading my content. I, Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search), am also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!

Japanese gift giving, the broad & fine strokes

Foreigners who settle in Japan for a length of time are soon initiated into the Japanese custom of giving presents on numerous occasions. It starts when the newcomers open a bank account and receive a gift-wrapped tube of toothpaste or tinfoil bound in fancy paper. They are stunned upon receiving a shopping bag full of jars of coffee, a bed sheet, tea towels, a bottle of sake, some dish detergent or other household items after their first dinner at a Japanese family's home. But what shocks them more is the required "gift" money that runs into the thousands of dollars to be paid to the owner of their new living quarters. To foreigners, this custom is a nice touch but also slightly baffling.

While many Westerners find Christmas, birthday, and souvenir hunting an arduous task, the Japanese gift-giving tradition is a natural part of any get-together. Whether a part of a trip across the ocean or across the street, family, friends, colleagues - even new acquaintances - exchange presents. So just as a kind neighbour helpfully brings a temiyage (a symbol of greetings from one's home) of smoked ham to another, Prime Minister Takeshita presented a more appropriate temiyage to U.S. President Reagan during his winter visit to Washington.

This practice may explain the sight of Japanese tourists at airports loaded down with duty-free items and other omiyage (souvenirs), or the gift wrapping around a package of newly-purchased razor blades at the neighborhood pharmacy. Every touring "shopaholic" delights in the elegant wrapping paper of some of Kyoto's larger department stores that is used to painstakingly wrap even the most inexpensive items. On express trains many women dressed in kimono can be seen on their way to a formal event. They carry gifts and accessories wrapped in vibrant furoshiki (wrapping cloth). Presentation, as in Japanese cuisine and business cards, is everything.

To add to the complexity of the custom, different kinds of presents are given according to the season and occasion. From the beginning of June to the middle of July, people give ochugen (summer presents) to those who they would like to show gratitude, especially to more senior workmates. The gifts are recently of the commercial variety: a set of salad oils, a gift pack of a selection of beer, sake, or a year's supply of soap bars. In the weeks before New Year's Day, oseibo are also given to show gratitude, specifically for favours or friendship received over the past year. Wedding guests never return home empty-handed, and each receives shopping bags of hikidemono, small tokens of appreciation in the form of pottery pieces and everyday items. Ironic-ally, money, not presents, is traditionally given to the newly-weds, and birthday presents are excluded from the gifts custom.

Gift-giving is done liberally, and naturally there is often an excess of presents per household. In this way, even surprise guests do not say goodbye to their host without receiving some pre-wrapped tokens of appreciation. Many foreigners living in Japan have a few funny anecdotes of this phenomenon, such as receiving three smoked hams from a person they met only minutes before, or of walking into the wrong office and walking out again with a gift pack of specialty coffees. Dining at the neighbourhood noodle house may earn you a hand towel set to celebrate its grand opening anniversary. This practice is a good way to keep relations smooth and business booming.

A last word on etiquette: When going to a Japanese home, it's a good idea to bring a little something: a tin of cookies or a cake, or any little thing to show your gratitude. Present it formally and don't be surprised if your hosts fail to unwrap it in front of you. Remember, the presentation of the gift is the vital part.

The Buddhist Nehane ritual & the death of the Buddha

Like the death of Jesus Christ, Buddhists have their own death-of-the-enlightened-one story. In fact, the death of the Buddha is why we have the 12 Chinese animals years (from the rat to the wild boar). The 12 animals ran to see the Buddha before he passed. The rat got there first and the wild boar last (wild boar are well-known for their erratic zig zagging through the forest, as if they don't know where they are going!). This year, 2025, is the Year of the Snake. Last year, 2024, was the Year of the Golden Dragon. Next year, 2026, is the Year of the Horse (a year when many females are aborted in Asia, in preference for male firstborns!).

The Buddhist Parinirvana or Nehane ceremony, which occurs every year on February 15th (lunar calendar), is an important ritual related to the Gautama Buddha. The "first" Buddha is also known as Shakyamuni Buddha. He was born a prince with the full name Siddhartha Gautama.

The word Nehan-e literally translated means the Death of the Buddha painting. And Japan has a number of super famous and extremely old Nehane paintings. The Yale Parinirvana or Nehan-zu, 14th-century, is a stunning Japanese silk painting and hanging scroll depicting Parinirvana (the death of the Buddha in sanskrit). It was painted by Myoson at the end of the Kamakura period.

Since the Nara period, Buddhist Parinirvana or Nehane ceremony has been observed on the 15th day of the second month of the lunar calendar (February in the Gregorian calendar).

The Nehane focus point is the main hall of any Buddhist temple, where the painting of the Reclining Buddha, surrounded by his disciples and the twelve animals (and a few birds too, depending on the artist's additions). The Nehane service features hymns, chants and a sermon discussing the significance of the Death of the Buddha . . .

There is also a difference between a scoll that shows the event and a painting showing the event. Scrolls are long and narrow. Paintings can be rectangular. The painted version of the Death of the Buddha only gained popularity in the 11th century.

There are two painting types. Type 1 (11th-12th century) focuses on the Buddha in a reclining position at the center of painting and noone else. Type 2, like Yale Parinirvana, shows the Buddha lieing down surrounded by his disciples and the animals. Type 2 Nehane paintings became dominant in the Muromachi Period (1336-1573).

Some scholars argue that the atmosphere and crowded feeling of the Type 2 paintings reflect the busy streets of Kyoto, Japan's imperial capital (794-1868), during the Muromachi period.

Japan's beloved and widely adored (including myself) Kṣitigarbha, or Jizo is not part of the Nehane paintings. He is has transcended death and continues to save lost souls.

According to the Japanese sutra, the Yuikyogyo, the last words of the Buddha were:

"After I am gone, you, my disciples, shall hand the Law down to your disciples and practice it; then the spiritual body of Buddha will never leave the world. There is nothing eternal in the world. We have met, therefore we must part; never mourn my departure. This is the real state of the world. Make haste to work out your own salvation. Destroy the darkness of ignorance with the light of wisdom."

Seiho Takeuchi, important modern Japanese-style painter

During Takeuchi’s early youth his father said to him, "You are the only boy in the family. So you must succeed me in my business." The boy replied, "Yes, father. But I would really like to be a painter." An age-old dilemma in traditional societies, children had very little choice in deciding their career, even if they dreamed passionately of doing something very different. However, Takeuchi was fortunate enough to have an older sister who loved him dearly and who was willing to take his place in the family business. Lucky for the boy, his father agreed. Immediately, Seiho started to study Japanese painting earnestly. Only 13 years old at the time, he set out to learn what he could from an established artist in his neighborhood. At the age of 17, he became a disciple of Kono Bairei, a leading Japanese-style painter of the late Edo period.

On Takeuchi’s first day, Bairei gave him model paintings of a pine, bamboo and plum. However, 3 days later Bairei stopped asking him to paint from the models and gave the boy a new first name, Seiho, saying, "Paint the way you feel." The name Seiho means phoenix, an exceptional name for a young, new pupil. But already in the first days, Bairei had seen promising talent in the boy. Takeuchi’s painting skills improved rapidly under Bairei direction as the boy concentrated on sketching and studying traditional paintings.

In 1900, when he was only 36 years old and already a leading person in Kyoto painting circles, one of his paintings was selected for display in the modern art section of the Japanese Pavilion at the International Exposition in Paris. This exhibit allowed him to make the long journey to Europe, where he came into direct contact with the European painting tradition. In a chance visit to the zoo in Antwerp in Belgium, he discovered a lion that he just had to sketch. He remained in Antwerp for an extra 3 weeks just to sketch the lion to satisfaction. Profoundly affected by his experiences in Europe, Takeuchi returned to Japan to become a leader of the modern movement in Japanese-style paintings, producing powerful, large-scale pieces year after year. His painting "Lion," the result of his intense sketching at the zoo, was put on display at a major Japanese exhibition the year after he returned from Europe and won the Gold Prize.

While Takeuchi is largely known for his introduction of Western painting styles to Japan, he also inquired deeply into the fundamental elements of Japanese paintings. During the middle of the Taisho period (1912-1926), Takeuchi began to shift from large-scale paintings to smaller works which revealed his increasingly keen artistic sensitivity and maturity. In this new style, his paintings, which were quickly executed, impart an energy similar to the poetic compositions seen in haiku. His masterpiece, at the age of 45 — Oh, Rain — is a truly poetic work.

Seiho's long career came to an end in 1942, but even today his brilliant paintings continues to attract and fascinate people. Many great Japanese painter studied under Takeuchi, such as Bakusen Tsuchida, Shoen Uemuran. For his unique achievements, Takeuchi was awarded Japan’s first Order of Cultural Merit, in 1937.

The Kii Mountains' Kitayama River log rafters

The Kitayama River in the deep Kii Mountains on the border of the prefectures of Wakayama, Nara and Mie, are 3-4 hours or so from Osaka City by train and taxi or car. And in the heart of this area are Japan's last log raft drivers. Log rafting or "ikada-kudari" is alive and well in the village of Kitayama. It's a rare tourist treasure and every year 7,000 Japanese tourists, from May to late Sept., go there to go river wild on log rafts.

The experience is exhilarating to say the least. It's a 70-min thrill ride on a big raft made only of big big logs of sugi cedar and hinoki cypress. And sometimes you are up to your chest in water. Really!

Log rafting has been a way of life in Kitayama for more than 600 years. Kitayama’s history for more than 600 years

The ikadashi men (a woman has never publically steered an ikadashi raft), and there are usually four to a raft, work hard to keep the raft straight in an extremely narrow fast water world.

In peak season the ikadashi work six days a week and do 6-8 raft river runs a day! Each raft can carry up to 20 passengers.

In ancient times the 60 kilometer separation of Kitayama and Shingu on the sea, was successfully and lucratively handled with these amazing log rafts. Once the raft arrived in Shingu, it was dismantled and turned into very valuable lumber. The forests east and southeast of Takayama, for example, were used to rebuilt and build Edo for a long time! The log lumber trade only faded away completely in the late 1930s . . .

But thanks to tourism every year 7,000 adventure hungry city slickers come to Kitayama and the Kitayama River. And in the process both worlds continue to learn from each other. Never forget, tourism is a form of education and that form of education is a two-way street. And in more than a few ways . . . Travel more! Learn more! And you don't need to get on airplane to travel. All you need to do is find a place near home that either takes you to the past or into the future. The choices are always all yours!

Content by Japan travel specialist & designer Ian Martin Ropke, founder & owner of Your Japan Private Tours (YJPT, est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with all of YJPT's Japan private tour clients and have a great team behind me. I promote YJPT through this content and only advertise at www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip to save time & have a better time. Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search) is also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!