Jan 18, 2025
The rise of the "bogan" traveler?
I still often read news sites from my home country—I like staying up to date about what's going on back home, and as I was reading over my coffee this morning I noticed an article headline that immediately intrigued me. The article was titled "Bogan Aussie outbreak at world's most polite country," and it didn't even take me clicking into the article to know they were talking about here.
If you didn't grow up in Australia, it's likely you haven't ever heard of the term bogan, but the online definition is "an uncouth or unsophisticated person." Now I don't think it's right to restrict travel to only the sophisticated people of planet Earth (and I wouldn't count myself as sophisticated, either), but I do think that the overall behavior of travelers has been going downhill in recent years.
There are so many examples, from the 65 year old American tourist who carved his initials at Meiji Shrine (I only mention age because surely you'd know better at 65?!) to the Chilean woman who used a torii gate as her own personal pull-up bar. Several Australian citizen incidents were also cited in the article I mentioned above, including private schoolboys sent back home after stealing a wheelchair from a disabled man (honestly...disgusting and disgraceful behavior and I really hope there were further repercussions).
I still wonder how these issues with travelers reflect on those of us who have lived here long-term but don't look like your average Japanese citizen. I won't lie, even when I see groups of who I assume are travelers, there's a bit of a pit in my stomach (are they going to be loud and unruly, will they completely miss certain etiquette points that are normal here e.g. queuing, or be completely culturally insensitive), and I don't know how to shake myself of that feeling.
For those of you who have lived here long-term, do you feel like the rise in "bad behavior" can be attributed to anything? People doing stupid stuff for social media likes? Bad things just getting reported on more? Folks going crazy after returning to travel post-pandemic? Also, do you find yourself worrying (or judging) when you see people that you assume are travelers?
4 Comments
TonetoEdo
5 hours ago
On a trip to Angkor Wat a few years ago, another traveler ascended a funerary monument ahead of me, shouting and carrying on. When I reached the top, he said something about how great it was, and I responded that I was well aware of what he thought of it as I could hear him from the foot of the monument. I felt bad making such a snippy comment. Not an Australian but a Korean, by the way. On the flip side, it's so easy to mess up the etiquette of other countries. After a temple service in Thailand, I thought I'd get out of the way of the priests' exit and bow as they exited (the way I would do it in Japan), but got a sharp tap on the shoulder from a fellow foreigner who told me to stay, kneel, and bow my head as the entourage passed. I complied and thanked her. She had Australian-accented English!
genkidesu
5 hours ago
@TonetoEdo You make a really good point there about messing up the etiquette of other countries, and it reminded me of my own faux pas on a trip to Vietnam when I was younger. My sister and I were visiting Vung Tau, a coastal city which has a sizeable Jesus statue -- reminiscent of a smaller Christ the Redeemer from Brazil. We thought it would be cool to visit, so we went there, ready to pay the admission fee. The man at the entrance yelled at us (we had shorter shorts on because it was stinkin' hot there) and said we needed to get something to cover our legs to our knees if we wanted to enter. We had to go and buy men's board shorts at a nearby stall (it was the only thing we could find!) and then we were granted access. You gave me some important perspective that not everyone making mistakes has malice in their intent, but can be truly unaware of the differences and will correct them when given the knowledge and chance.
BigfamJapan
3 hours ago
I wouldn't have known the word 'bogan' a couple of years ago, but I watched 'Heartbreak High' (the recent one) last year and that educated me!! As you know, there are a lot of foreigners in Kawagoe lately. However, for the most part I personally don't see much drama. However, at the last Kawagoe Festival I was really irked by one particular foreigner who got up in front of me when I was taking photos, not just once, but several times. She was actually following me for a while from what I can tell, and if I stood somewhere to take a photo / video she actually stood right in front of me or on top of me practically and stuck her camera extension thingie in my way! I bit my tongue. BUT there was one other incident in the last year where I didn't bite my tongue. Not my proudest moment. A group of foreigners on bicycles blocking up the path. I just lost it!! They weren't English speakers, but they knew by my tone I was pissed at their rudeness!
TonetoEdo
2 hours ago
@genkidesu This is it. Not all breaches of etiquette are malicious. At Meiji Jingu, I stopped a foreign couple. They were washing their feet at the basin meant for temizu, ritual hand washing. Their impulse was good, be clean at the approach to the shrine but um, was not the norm. Still, they were doing their best. My younger brother, a resident in Myanmar for some time, doffed his shoes gate of Nikko's Toshogu according to Myanmar temple custom. Some Japanese visitors around us nodded sagely. I told him to put his shoes on. I tend to err on the side of folks doing their best.