Record Tourist Numbers Are Clogging Up Kyoto’s Public Transport
As more visitors head to Japan’s ancient capital, public anger is rising and presenting its new mayor with a tough challenge.
It isn’t uncommon in Kyoto today for residents to have to wait for three or four packed buses to pass before being able to get on themselves. Once on board, they often can’t get a seat, and find themselves jostling for room with not just passengers but also large suitcases.
The problem is worsening as the number of tourists rapidly increases, putting severe strain on the ancient Japanese city’s transportation infrastructure. Public anger is so acute that it helped propel Kyoto’s new mayor, whose campaign pledged to fight against the excesses of tourism, to victory in elections in February.
“I’ve had many complaints from locals asking me to please do something about the public transportation,” said Koji Matsui, an independent who was once deputy chief cabinet secretary in the national government. “The structure of Kyoto is that there is a lot of overlap between tourist destinations and the areas in which ordinary people live their lives.”
Kyoto prefecture, which includes the city, has a population of about 2.5 million, but drew some 32 million overnight guests in 2023. The figure reflects the surge in foreign tourists thanks in large part to the weak yen, though Kyoto is a major domestic travel destination as well. And while other cities in the world are also struggling with the problem of over tourism, Kyoto presents a different challenge because of its size and layout.
“I don’t think that people really take a lot of buses inside Venice, for example,” said Jan-Dirk Schmöcker, an associate professor at the University of Kyoto who specializes in urban management and public transportation. “It’s a bit different in European cities where you have a nice old town and people go there and then walk. But here, you have distances between the different sites.”
Kyoto is home to 17 Unesco World Cultural Heritage Sites and other famous spots like the bamboo forests of Arashiya
