The first trip to Miyajima resisted being the last. The roll of film I used to for a series of spectacular sunset photographs ripped during processing leave gaping bare holes in the negative through the dappled beauty of the skies that can only recall. With that, it became a goal to get back there whenever I had the chance to try to get those photos again. The second time around, my patience was reward with a sunset that include one of the town’s tame wild deer pacing across the damp low tide sands for a picture that hangs prominently in my home. Gabe, when he was three, was looking through a Japan travel brochure at the kitchen table and did a double take between the brochure and the shot that hung over his shoulder — the first realization that the pictures on the wall were connected to things well beyond our home.
Closing that circle with a visit to the torii was a goal from the outset of the trip. We arrived in Hiroshima on a grey, windy day that succumbed to the heavy cloud and spewed rain as we made our way to Miyajima by the local train car. The peace park was well suited to this atmosphere and lent itself to monochromes far better than it did on the sunny days that I had for my previous visits over the years. It was a fitting palette for the place and the significant chapter of history it notes. After surveying the park and falling into the slow reverent steps it merits, we headed out, Gabe grasping the history of the place and the significance of the monuments and the paper cranes that accumulate there by the hour, amounting to 5 tons each year.
When we arrived in Miyajima, the rain grew heavy throughout our stay, which we cut short when it proved that we would get wetter and perhaps get a cold rather than get a sunset shot. The tide was out once again and the crowds paced the expanded beach and enjoyed a few different angles for the selfies they took from the beach. Even when we were ferrying across to the island, though, it was evident that times were changing and that the large crowds that friends were warning me about were not a mere doubling over the numbers I was accustomed to. The ferry was brimming with passengers as it came ashore and when we got to the island, there were enough tourists for long enough to justify and sustain a Starbucks, which was just a few hundreds metres from the torii and neighboured a new microbrewery.
The franchise’s presence and branding were muted and it may be a matter of taste about whether their signage is less appropriate in this setting that signs that other merchants might have in the same place. By itself, I can find myself ambivalent about it. I have to admit that I went in for a hojicha to warm up and get out of the rain. Prior to locating the shop, however, I had seen the ubiquity of Starbucks cups and shopping bags along my amble from the ferry terminal to the beach — not only in people’s hands, but also left behind in places they littered and cluttered up. As I walked a long I could not help but reach the conclusion that it was not a coincidence that all of these cups and items turned up in such numbers. There weren’t that many people who brought them all the way from the city.
Tourism in Japan may be getting to a point where there will need to be a recalibration or other adjustment to ensure that the numbers of people coming in does not overwhelm the country and its cultural, historical and natural beauty. There was news recently that foreign tourists were being forbidden from visiting Gion, a neighbourhood of Kyoto noted as a home for geisha and maikos who capture a great deal of tourists imaginations. The tourists have been less than considerate of the geisha that they see in Gion and interact with them with a sense of entitlement than an appropriate respect. Consequently, the ban has been implemented. I am not certain if this will have the impact that is sought, but it is a step toward making tourists conscious that they are guests. Having seen the deer on Miyajima be a bit more conscious of the tourists on Miyajima, whether sniffing out food or headbutting tourists who get too close, it is easy to conclude that tourists are not coming to to revere the place as much as to get their money’s worth for the distance they have covered to get to Japan and for the trouble they have put in to travel in such a foreign and, perhaps, challenging destination. It will be a difficult negotiation as a balance is struck between tourist and host and I suspect that there are a large number of Japanese who prefer a quieter amble along the paths that are now crowded with tourists.
The face of the country is changing, however. I’ve seen more visible minorities working the country compared to when I lived here. The higher profile retailers such as Uni-Qlo and Muji are looking for staff with better language skills and that is another sign of the unfolding change that tourism may be provoking. I am just not sure how it will unfold.
