Part2: nothing but a pondering trip
Google reviews, gatekeeping and cueing. Followed by some Kyoto pics on my camera and a some reading recs at the end!
It’s a tale as old as time that locals hate tourists. It’s true in some cases but doesn’t exactly speak true to me. Tourists actually don’t annoy me per se, only when they stop in the middle of the road after getting off of the bus or train to look at their phones. What grinds my gears is more so the lazy bunch of them all. All of my friends who live in Japan will have a archive of an inquiry list from our overseas ‘friends’ asking us tiresome questions. I put ‘friends’ in quotation marks because some of us are just put into a group chat with someone we don’t even know, like someone’s cousin for instance. The questions contain things like, “Hey! We are in XX right now, do you know any yummy places to eat for lunch?!” “Can you help my cousin to go to that fish market vendor in Tsukiji super early in the morning!?” ooooofff and this one after I ask people what they wanted to do in Tokyo and they respond back by saying, “We’re down for anything! What's your favorite thing to do?” Girl, my favorite thing to do is to go to my local (British) pub, have a pint during happy hour, go to either my local izakaya or some Italian place I wanted to try, yakiniku even, or honestly I might want a burger. So if that’s your ideal plan to have in Tokyo, come along with me, but don’t expect just because you’re asking a local that you will get a “local experience.” It’s a type of laziness I don’t have a lot of tolerance for. I will also leave a caveat here by saying, some of you might think that this isn’t that crazy of a request, just help them! I don’t think people understand the volume and frequency of questions we get if you live in Japan now. What can I say, just because I’m from Japan, I’m suddenly so popular!
While tourists can be leaning on the annoying spectrum often, (when I travel I’m sure I’m one of them, but it’s hard to say because I’m pretty good at the whole ‘act like a local’ thing.) I found an interesting monolog shift that happened this time in Kyoto. In Tokyo, when I get spoken to in English or when people make a comment like you speak such great Japanese! or people start asking me a million questions, I still get pretty upset easily. Maybe more so exhausted to answer yet again a farce back and forth with a stranger. But in Kyoto, it didn’t bother me as much. As I said in last week’s newsletter, unfortunately there was just no way that people of Kyoto will think that I’m Japanese. Their minds are too stimulated to seeing foreigners constantly and I was just another one in the bunch to them. It’s fine, not offended, if anything I was sympathetic to the whole situation (also walking around with my White American boyfriend is a great accessory for them to think I’m not from here).
I felt very free while I was in Kyoto. Maybe it’s because I was on vacation and I didn’t care about work and I was eating and drinking a lot of great stuff, but physically I was experiencing what I usually experience overseas, which is feeling like I have no country code attached to me. If they thought I was a foreigner and didn’t speak Japanese, it was fine. In fact, when I did speak Japanese, to sense their certain relief felt great to be honest. At this coffee shop where there were only foreigners and the staff we’re speaking English as much as they could, after I turned up to order in Japanese, the staff said “a’(あっ)” which is like a noise you make when you realize something or you switch something in your brain that you thought was true. I also say, “a’(あっ)” in return to sort of acknowledge that realization. This might sound conceited and I hope it doesn’t come across as arrogant but I’m glad that I can speak Japanese and to give them a break; a break from the constant customizing drink orders; a break from Duolingo. It felt nice to be able to just rock up and speak Japanese. It was kind of one of those moments when you see people from your own country somewhere and you give them a silent ‘nod.’ It’s like telling them, I see you. (In Japan, we call this certain nod to a certain group of people, the gaijin nod. )
Now I did promise last week to tell you some silly things I saw. Please take this with a grain of salt, or a grain of ‘zen’ if you will.
Google reviews (the numbers especially) is your best friend telling you something
There was a Gyoza place I wanted to go called Mister Gyoza. I knew it was going to be popular because it was on TV and Japanese people are a sucker for a place when the restaurant is on TV. It was on a Saturday around 6pm. The place is located in a very residential area that I thought, surely it won’t be that crowded? Even if it is, it's gyoza and ramen, it should move quickly. I was wrong, of course. The line was mostly consisted of Japanese people, (a good sign, it’s true, just admit it) but I saw a group of foreigners as well. I thought, hm so it might be on TikTok or something now? As far as my research went, it wasn’t but what I completely forgot to look at was the number of google reviews. If you live in Japan long enough, foreigners joke about this as well that Japanese people don’t write google reviews, even if we do, it’s never a high praise let’s say. The Japanese are a tough judge. For restaurants specifically, tabelog is still a trusted site in Japan. So If I see a google review of more than 200 (I’m being generous, probably even 100 is a good mark) ー I’m always skeptical. This one had a close to 2000. This is in Shibuya but 2000+review for a seafood spot… strange!
Side note, it seems like others are rushing to another gyoza place. Taizo Gyoza is one that is popping off on Tik Tok and it does have all the formulas that foreign tourists will enjoy it seems; small, one man operation, a friendly Japanese guy, and cheap(?). The google reviews aren’t crazy, but I did find something more flagrant. Obviously having so many foreigners at the place, he has everything in English. The drink menu I first saw was in English, the draft beer was 700 yen. A bit pricey for a beer but he’s doing what he has to do I thought, and then saw a Japanese menu that its pricing was, cheaper. In recent days, there are talks that Japan will start slowly implementing a tourist and local price on their menus. If Japan is struggling that much financially, I say why not. (the logistics feels like a nightmare, like how will it work for foreigners who live in Japan, or when we are out with our friends visiting?) I think it’s not unfair at all and since tourists don’t live here, it doesn’t have any long term effect on them. As a place Taizo Gyoza becomes popular only amongst the foreign sphere, they have to adapt; English menus, dietary friendly menu, and prices that reflect that. I don’t think this is unfair, but I’m very interested to see the discourse around it in the future.
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Cueing for something dumb is dumb, I’m sorry!
I am relatively anti-cueing so it’s very hard for me to be empathetic to people who do. The only time I did line in Kyoto this time was for an Indian restaurant I wanted to try for years, but that was it. We went to see the Martin Parr exhibition for the Kyotography (so good if you can catch it!) and right next to the building, there was a huge line. I wasn’t that interested to know what it was at the time, but looking it up after, it was a place called Glanta where you could make your own rings. (A smacking 5,800 reviews!) I’ve done this myself once in Kamakura with friends and I will admit, it’s a cute keepsake when you are traveling with friends or a partner but is it an experience unique to Kyoto? Are the rings THAT cute? These things are subjective of course, but I will say that waiting in line for more than 40 minutes for a thing you can probably also find back home, feels a little silly to me. Are people genuinely interested in making a ring or is it more so because there are so many people talking about it that you were casted under a spell that surely, it’s a great experience. It’s hard to say.
My unwavering pro-gatekeeping only strengthen
If you follow me on Instagram(@megsgumis), I posted a lot of my food extravaganza in Kyoto without tagging the places. I’ve been doing this ever since I learned the word “gatekeeping” and I’m frankly into it. Some hate it; life is too short to be a hater. I’m always shifting gears on this one and thinking what’s the best way to approach gatekeeping culture.
My current take on it is, find your own taste. Find what you think you will like. Walk around your town and pin some places for later to try! It might be shit, but the best thing is, it might be absolutely banging! Discovering new things! Doesn’t that sound cool!? A while back, Substack as a community was talking about recommendation culture and if it was starting to ruin our taste, all of us wanting the same thing, recommending the same thing, eating the same thing etc.
wrote a good short and sweet piece about that all. Whatever you feel about her, the self awareness she has even with a ton of followers, is pretty nice to watch. When my friends ask me, “where is this?” I would be so happy to share, and honestly I had such a good food experience at this certain restaurant in Kyoto, I really felt like tagging it because it was so good. A genuine love for a place sparks genuine support. Tagging somewhere feels like I’m showing it off. But then I’m in an conundrum that if I don’t tag it, it feels like I’m showing it off; like I’m better than that. You see how I’m very wishy-washy about this?Recommendation that is purely motivated by aesthetic purposes feels fake. I don’t want to go to Rokuyuan in Kyoto even though I’m sure it’s beautiful and good because everyone on TikTok is recommending it, so I feel like it lacks honesty. There was a time when I was doing things that people were telling me to do. I was seeing Nephew on Instagram so much and thought why not try a new coffee shop! It’s a trendy coffee shop in Tomigaya, but it was truly one of the most miserable coffee experiences I have ever had. Every single girl was taking a photo against the wall with their iced latte and all you could hear was an iphone shutter noise. I don’t think I have ever had a good experience that was promoted to me as a 'aesthetically good looking place.”
I leave places, especially restaurants with personal memories. It holds a lot of personal value to me, just like it has to many people before me. It’s not mine to keep or better yet, my original discovery but this is sort of why I’m also more protective of places I dearly love.
So here we are. After a couple thousand words and a little ramble of calling some readers dumb, (I’m sorry if you line up for stuff like that) is there a way for a more pleasant and a true-to-place travel experience? Should we recommend people to go to the neighboring prefectures like Mie, Shiga, Nara (not just to pat the deers but elsewhere), Wakayama, or Hyogo to relieve Kyoto of its over capacity? I’m sure that that will help the prefecture but I wonder if that’s what travellers now even want?
I used to work at a travel related company as a freelancer where one of their objectives was to showcase to tourists that there is more to Japan than Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. They highlighted the ‘niche’ places of Japan that also focus on DEI initiatives. I never knew that some of Japan’s travel scene was really progressive until I learned about it there. I have barely been all over Japan, but I can attest that Japan is absolutely more than Shibuya or temple visits in Kyoto. If people have the time to go to the countryside, I will say do it. But that’s the thing right? In a world where most of us only get a 10 day vacation, you want to go to the main attractions and not the unknown parts. You want to do the “10 MUST SEES” than the “10 UNDERRATED PLACES TO GO,” right? You want to post a picture at the Shibuya crossing so you can tell your friends that the trip happened; “Pics or it didn’t happen.” Objectively speaking, metropolis cities just have the things tourists want due to having the budget to build stuff. Will Yamaguchi prefecture have a matcha latte place with oat milk at one of their third wave coffee shops? Will they have a nice bistro with natural wine? Will there be vegetarian options? I don’t know, but it's more likely to get these things in the city than in the countryside. (I’m aware that I’m bringing up matcha a lot, but this is where we are.) We live in an era of efficiency; more (accessible) places in a short time, the happier our (social) feed is. I don’t know if we can achieve a better travel experience if we are so focused on ‘how’ our trip looked than ‘what’ our trip meant to us. I hate to break it to people but petting a deer and saying I’ve been to Nara! is not going to Nara.
I binged watched PULSE on Netflix - It was good! I don’t usually go for a medical theme show, the last one I watched was probably HOUSE lol. It was a bit cheesy but I think that was also the point so if you can bear it, go for it.
I loved this piece on how to build a portfolio from
. I’m trying to build one myself now (secured the megumikoiwai.com domain!!!) and I can’t wait to finish it!I haven’t recommended books on here in a while, but i’ve been having a good reading moment! Mongrel by Hanako Footman was a bookclub book I picked and it was so beautiful. I usually am skeptical when it comes to Japanese theme books, but it was the type of authenticity I appreciated. Stay true by Hua Hsu was a memoir I needed in my life. The way he speaks about his life events were so beautiful. Speaking of memoir, I am a memoir connoisseur, and I deeply devoured this pieced by
. I would love to read sad tiger on my list next.
That’s it for now lovelys x