Japanese restaurants say they’re not charging tourists more – they’re just charging locals less

Tokyo CNN —

Kudos to you if you can speak perfect Japanese and order food at a neighborhood sushi bar in Tokyo.

If you can, chances are that on your next trip to Japan, you may be able to score a better deal by blending in as a local.

Japan has never been a destination known for hiking up prices for foreigners. But overtourism – fueled by a combination of pent-up post-Covid demands (aka “revenge travel”) and the weak local currency – has recently prompted restaurants in the country 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.

“We need (this pricing system) for cost reasons,” Yonemitsu said.

Japan only completely reopened in the fall of 2022 following the removal of pandemic travel restrictions.

This year, spurred by a weak yen that has fallen to its lowest level against the dollar in decades, the tourists are back — in big numbers.

In this 2018 picture, a tourist feeds a deer at Nara Park.

Related article Japan may be sick of mass tourism. But the deer in this ancient UNESCO-listed city love it

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.

In response, places around the country have begun implementing tourist taxes, imposing visitor caps and even banning alcohol sales in an attempt to curb the effects of too much tourism.