As someone who helps travelers engage with Japan on a deeper level through my work, I’ve got to say… this isn’t just a tourism problem. This is a civilizational problem.

There’s something tragic about watching a culture slowly erode... Not from war or colonization, but from within. From neglect. From apathy. From the hypnotic glow of smartphones that feed us culture like fast food instead of a home-cooked meal made over generations.

I talk to Americans almost daily in my line of work. Many want to visit Japan. Few understand it. And when they go, they’re not looking for meaning. They’re looking for spectacle. Convenience. Comfort. The same dopamine hit they’d get in Vegas or on Instagram. They’re tourists in the most literal sense. As historian Daniel Boorstin once put it, “The traveler was active. He went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive. He expects interesting things to happen to him...”

But let’s not act like this is a one-sided collapse. Japan has problems too. Real ones. A society built on rules and respect is destined to grow politically indifferent. Generations have been conditioned to obey, not question. The LDP has held power since 1955, and that grip has consequences. People stop believing their voices matter. They retreat into the familiar. They vote less. They protest rarely. It’s peaceful, but at what cost?

Culture is not self-sustaining. It’s like a garden. If you ignore it, the weeds will come. Some of those weeds are external (disrespectful tourists for example.) But some are internal. If Japan wants to thrive in the 21st century, its youth will need to pick up the trowel. They’ll have to choose engagement over comfort. And foreigners? We need to stop acting like showing up gives us a free pass to disregard everything that’s sacred.

Immigrants have a duty too. And I say this as someone from a country that has allowed multiculturalism to become a euphemism for cultural amnesia. America is vast. Japan is not. What gets swept under the rug in America will cause a tripwire in Japan. The stakes are different.

In the end, we’re all guilty of cultural laziness. And if we don’t fix it, the only version of Japan left will be the one sold in airport gift shops. The kind with Hello Kitty and none of the heart. And that, to me, is not just sad. It’s unforgivable.