Results: Japanese restaurants say they're not charging tourists more – they're just charging locals less

Overtourism – fueled by a combination of pent-up post-Covid demands and the weak local currency – has recently prompted restaurants in Japan to consider the merits of differential pricing. "People say it's discrimination, but it is really hard for us to serve foreigners, and it is beyond our capacity," said Shogo Yonemitsu, who runs Tamatebako, an all-you-can-eat seafood grill in Shibuya, Tokyo's bustling shopping district. He maintains that he doesn't charge tourists extra. Instead, he offers a 1,000 yen ($6.50) discount to locals. How do you feel about the idea of differential pricing, where locals pay less than tourists in Japan?

Yonemitsu, the restaurateur, said the influx of tourists isn't simply an issue of adding extra tables. He said his seafood grill had to hire additional English-speaking staff to take orders, handle bookings and explain to tourists everything from how to tell the difference between sashimi and grilled food items to where to put their luggage. Failing to do so results in "mayhem," he said. How important do you think it is for tourists to learn basic local language skills when visiting a foreign country like Japan?

Visitor arrivals to Japan hit a record 17.78 million in the first half of 2024, according to government data - and are on track to break the country's 2019 record of 31.88 million tourists. Have you ever been to Japan?