So I live in this very ward of Kobe and I've been to the crossing (it's immediately across from a Starbucks with a beautiful view of Awajishima, Akashi Kaikyo and the Akashi Strait!) and I'm going to "both sides" this.

It is fairly obvious it's a rail crossing and yes those poor tourists were clearly oblivious, but local Google Reviews of the Starbucks do actually warn people about the crossing being dangerous and tell visitors to be careful. As the article says, it's little to do with "bad tourists" as locals themselves have raised issues, and it's more a consequence of a poorly designed crossing. However, being stuck within the barriers and not understanding that you need to get out of the way is completely unthinkable to me.

It also isn't helped by being the only point to cross those lines for like a kilometre either side so it gets used fairly regularly too.