Small Towns Also Should Provide Information in Foreign Languages?

Text: Carl (New Zealand)

After traveling to a town in northwestern Japan recently with my Japanese wife something very interesting struck me - there were no other foreigners in sight. There was also very little signage or information in foreign languages.

My wife commented that this is probably because few foreigners come to this town. But how could they get around and enjoy a comfortable stay if everything is in unrecognizable Japanese?

Famous tourist cities and regions such as Kyoto, Hakone and Nara are touted at foreign tourists and information is provided in foreign languages to attract them. Subsequently, these places are at the top of many foreigners' travel itineraries.

But what about the smaller towns - some of which are located in extremely beautiful areas that many foreigners would love to see. Are foreigners not visiting these places in great numbers because there is little information in their language?

Or is there not much information in other languages because few foreigners are visiting? Which comes first - the chicken (tourists) or the egg (foreign language information)?

The Japanese Tourist industry has cities and towns that are "friendly to foreigners," but perhaps more consideration should be made to increase the number of such places. Otherwise the government's plan to attract 10 million foreign tourists to Japan could fall flat on its face.

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