The Japanese travel juggernaut
Tuesday, December 26th, 2006We were greeted at Incheon airport by the travel agency coordinator. Since Incheon is about an hour from Seoul, we thought we’d take advantage of the free ride to the hotel. In the past I’ve used Japanese travel agencies for booking tickets only. This was the first time I’d booked a package that includes hotel. These packages often include daily side trips to pottery factories or Kimchi museums. When we bought the tickets it took some time to explain to the agent that we don’t want to go on the tour.
“But it’s free,” he said. “Many people go on the tours.” He didn’t say many people enjoy the tours, but go on the tours.
They made us sign an official paper stating that we were waiving our free tour priviledges. This was the first glimpse into how Japanese travel works.
The woman at the airport loaded us into a van and started rattling off a forty minute list of dangers and precautions in Seoul. “Be careful not to get charged for pay-per-view TV shows in the hotel. If you get a manicure, be sure to agree on the price first. Korean food is spicy, so watch out for anything red.”
The list went on like this and she didn’t tolerate any interruptions. It was all common sense stuff that the Japanese insist on reminding everyone about constantly.
When we arrived at the hotel it became clear that most of the guests are all Japanese, the staff all speak Japanese, and that any service provided by the hotel will be extremely overpriced, being geared toward the spend crazy Japanese person on holiday.
The experience has left me with a better understanding of why you find roaming groups of Japanese tourists everywhere following a guide with a flag. The whole travel system is organized around a highly structured itinerary, ticketing system, and hotel network. For me it takes out all of the freedom and exploration that I love about travel, but lucky for us we just had to sit through the woman’s speech on the way from the airport.
I’ve learned over the past two years of dealing with these travel agencies that the best thing to do is lie. For instance, I lied and said that I’m returning to Japan on the 30th to get a cheaper 2-way ticket, when really I’m taking the boat back. When I tried to book one-way tickets earlier this year to Thailand it was a nightmare. Japan’s travel agencies will strictly adhere to every single stupid Visa and immigration rule that countries don’t really pay attention to. These include having proof of onward travel, a Visa for the next country, and a booked hotel address. I’ve never been asked for any of these, and many travelers might get persauded into buying ridiculous travel packages geared for safe, sheltered, Japanese travelers. Just lie, and have a great independent trip.
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