Attracting the OS Visitor, or Not So Much

[ausi ski bum 1]

To me the long term viability of many Japanese resorts will require increasing the Over Seas tourists from Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia mainly.

 

Some have done this very well but others are missing the mark with some simple errors that make visiting a little difficult.

 

For example the food on mountain in many places is excellent but the vending machines for the meal tickets are only in Japanese. If there was a single english and mandrin menu to assist this would be so much easier.

 

Advertising on the internet attractions in English then telling you on arrival that only Japanese speakers can go, several of the attractions in Sahoro fit this category.

 

Having English sub text on the trail maps, many do this well, others not so much.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

what attractions ASB?

[RobBright 35]

Or why can't foreigners learn some Japanese?

[quattro 1]

Originally Posted By: RobBright

Or why can't foreigners learn some Japanese?

Maybe for people that live here that would be fine. But if you think the average person here on vacation will be able to read every sign that is in Kanji. I think not.

Signs at major resorts should be multilingual. Have you ever been to Geneva. Every jewelry store has signs we speak Japanese or Korean in them. To do business stores have had to adapt to the market place

[Thundercat 60]

Its not realistic to expect visitors to learn enough Japanese to help themselves in the situations that ASB is describing. Of course people consider it polite if you can say "please" and "thank you" in their language. Maybe being able to introduce yourself and a bit of survival stuff, too. But expecting people to be able to read kanji?

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Absolutely!

Learning a bit of the language of the country you are visiting is all part of the charm...but the reality is the majority of tourists are never gonna get to a conversational level (let alone reading Kanji!) before their trip.

 

It is not something that Australia does particularly well either though - I must say! With the exception of some good foreign language tour groups, there is not a whole heap of places with multilingual staff. I would like to see a concierge or information desk of every hotel in Perth staffed by someone who can speak at least one extra language, if not more, and the hotel chains to value that person and what they contribute more highly than they currently do.

 

As an international community we could ALL do better in making our services and attractions etc more accessible to all.

[RobBright 35]

Originally Posted By: quattro

Maybe for people that live here that would be fine. But if you think the average person here on vacation will be able to read every sign that is in Kanji. I think not.

Signs at major resorts should be multilingual. Have you ever been to Geneva. Every jewelry store has signs we speak Japanese or Korean in them. To do business stores have had to adapt to the market place

Not at all suggesting that people learn all Japanese, but it isn't hard to learn some. In Niseko last week, on numerous occasions, I heard foreigners asking shop staff questions in English, and some real basic ones like "how much does this cost?", expecting the staff to answer in English.

when the shop staff didn't or couldn't reply, the people in question got angry at the situation.

sorry but it's a real pet hate of mine. happens all around the world in different countries.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Much as I have practiced that sentence over and over Rob, I almost always forget the words at the time.

 

But I have found an apologetic approach and MASS gesturing works just fine on most occasions.

[panhead_pete 27]

Rather then raise all the negative aspects perhaps we can use this thread to tease out some real solutions??? I'll wait to post until I have some more time in here at Habuka but agree with the premise with so much choice the Japanese are in a way spoilt for choice, so yes it may well be the foriegners that will ensure the long term future of some resorts and associated towns. The green dollar (enviro not US) is an increasing marketing tool as may well be the pink one???

[fukdane 2]

Quote:

To me the long term viability of many Japanese resorts will require increasing the Over Seas tourists from Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia mainly.

I thnk the "many" is actualy just "some".
It's not and ne very will be a big part of the maket for most skijo, other than the big main ones.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Quote:

Not at all suggesting that people learn all Japanese, but it isn't hard to learn some. In Niseko last week, on numerous occasions, I heard foreigners asking shop staff questions in English, and some real basic ones like "how much does this cost?", expecting the staff to answer in English.

Well, I'm English goddam it andthe world should speak English.


But seriously, do many foreigners when going to European countries learn the lingo? Or even more than 'beer and baguette'?
I think not.

[muikabochi 208]

The signs at Zao had 4 languages going on which was quite impressive. Gave it that 'international' feel though I hear the Asian customers have been enjoying Zao for a while yet.

 

Having said that, the village didn't at all - a total contrast which seemed rather strange.

[ausi ski bum 1]

I would love to learn Japanese but in my home town 360km from Sydney there just is no teachers, I advertised widely happy to travel up to 150km to a lesson but to no avail, I know the polite words please, thank you and Sorry etc, I never have a problem when talking to Japanese no matter how little English they know as they are so polite we eventually get their.

 

I wanted to do a couple of snow groomer activities one was driving one and was told they only take Japanese (fair enought I can see the danger here) and the other was a ride up the top of the resort on the back of a groomer and I was told I would not understand the safety instructions. Neither really worried me I was mearly pointing out it may have been a reason someone selected a resort.

 

Another example is Abashiri where there was no drift ice when we arrived, their web site did advise this on the Japanese pages but not the English, again for me this was no Issue as I had hired a car so we just left early and went to Lake Akan which was brilliant.

 

I am not being critical as I have had a wonderful holiday its just an observation from someone that has now been here four times and a total of 11 weeks of little things that make newbies in particular struggle a little.

 

Oh and as for Australia, they are very poor at this except for many areas in Queensland which have done very well, I notice Sydney is getting better as well having Japanese and Mandrin versions of brochures.

 

A funny one I saw here at Sahoro the other day, the menu in the Japanese resteraunt had Japanese and English, unfortunatly for every item on the mmenu the English words said exactly the same thing, I appreciated that they tried at least.

[Go Native 70]

At the end of the day it's not about learning another language. Sure do it if you want, it's always fun to have a go. It's about Japanese ski resort businesses making money from the foreign ski market. If they want to do it, and fine if they don't, then they need to make things user friendly for non Japanese speaking people. That includes signs, menus and staff who speak some English amongst many other things. Just like in Cairns in Aus where many businesses hire people who can speak Japanese to take advantage of the Japanese market there if Japanese resorts want to really take advantage of the foreign interest in skiing here they need things to be in english. It's one of the main reasons I think Niseko has seen the success it's had because so much can be done here purely in english, especially booking accommodation, transfers, ski hire and lessons. Make it easy for people and they will come. Make it a real challenge and only the truly intrepid will give it a go. If you want to make money from people you need to do things in their language, it's simple.

[brit-gob 9]

It may well be one of the reasons Niseko has done well, but some places the people aren't going to come to tons of other smaller, less attractive places even if they tried. Obviously the skijo/snow/location itself has to have appeal without all the language stuff. Probably 4/5 of Japanese skijo don't fit into that.

[Go Native 70]

The main reason we got a lot of people to start coming in a relatively short period and with little marketing by the companies on the ground here is simply that all reservations for accomm and services could be made in english. A large proportion of the visitors here, especially the Aussie ones, book through travel agents. All the big Aus wholesale specialist ski travel agents book Niseko and for many of them it's now their most popular Northern Hemisphere destination. As more businesses with english speakers have been set up in Hakuba they are now booking there as well. These big wholesalers do huge volumes and so it needs to be simple for them. Keeping it simple and in english means they'll send a fair portion of those volumes here.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

And there is a large demand out there for a simpler less crowded and cheaper option for families or young people on a lower budget. If some of the smaller locales made access from the airport easy (book with us and we provide the transfer from the airport to the door) and cheaper than Niseko - they will pick up that market.

 

I was ice skating today and met a lady a little shaky on her skates, got talking and she was a skier who had been to Hakuba. Yesterday met a new Mom at my kids school, originally from Canada - also a skier - she has been looking at Japan for next season. That is 2 people in two days... I just keep meeting people who have been, or are planning on coming over.

 

Tap that market people...tap that market!

[RobBright 35]

But how much of those costs go towards the Japanese market from overseas?

[HelperElfMissy 42]

No clue Rob.

But I am constantly amazed at how many people I meet (outside of ski circles) who have been or are planning of going.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

We went to a few places that were smaller last time - for example Inawashiro - there's no real way that zillions of people are going to come from overseas to go there. As much as we enjoyed it. And it's not even really 'small' compared to lots.

 

The biggies will find it worth their while spending to get the overseas people going, but I can't imagine that the majority of the others will... or perhaps even feel they want to.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Inawashiro was looking rough on the telly last night for the Mogul World Cup thing......Aiko won gold.....seemed to be the only competitor mind you!! Snow looked terrible, ice cubes, slush and loadsa debris

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

I think the World Cup was held at Listel Ski Fantasia, which is in the town of Inawashiro, and not at Inawashiro ski area ("Chuo x Minero") proper. Though they both have rather short seasons, shutting down by around the end of March.

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

Originally Posted By: quattro

Signs at major resorts should be multilingual. Have you ever been to Geneva. Every jewelry store has signs we speak Japanese or Korean in them. To do business stores have had to adapt to the market place

Yeah, even in the US, which is notorious for monolingualism, areas that cater to tourists from Quebec all have "Nous parlons francais" signs in the windows, Waikiki has extensive Japanese (and to a lesser extent Korean) signage, etc.

You can demand that residents/immigrants learn the local language (and I agree that is a reasonable expectation), but you can't really demand much of tourists, who are free to simply go elsewhere.

I also doubt, though, that any but the largest ski areas in Japan are ever going to make a serious living from international tourism.

[karrn 0]

When I go overseas I almost enjoy the adventure of not knowing whats going on.

 

Of course, there's a limit to that enjoyment! It can get tired after a point.

[thursday 1]

yeah, great fun speshly the back streets of Jakarta, or 3 feet outside Manila airport perimeter.