I wish more people could see this and be as thoughtful as you are about travel! I loved travel and studied tourism management at university and when I started the course, I had the opinion that I travelled in a superior way because I went budget and "assimilated" more than just staying in resorts and "touristy" places. However, throughout my study I realised the same as you - there is simply no "perfect" way to travel, and every single visitor has both beneficial and detrimental impacts. I actually read some convincing literature arguing that visitors who have more direct interaction with the local community have a much bigger influence on changing the host culture than those who stay in their tourist bubble/resorts (it's commonly referred to as the demonstration effect iirc). Whether the cultural change is good or bad is subjective, but I personally travel to experience a different culture and the thought that my presence makes the culture less different over time isn't a good feeling. Exposure to different cultures has heavily shaped who I am as a person and widened my perspective, and I couldn't have grown in those ways in resorts and tourist bubbles. So there is also the financial benefit vs cultural influence to balance when you travel in a way that supports local business etc. The only other point that stuck out to me was about language - I personally think that unless you learn enough to communicate pretty well (say an entire coffee order or an entire interaction in a shop), I think this is an empty gesture that we use to make ourselves feel better. The host has still had to use English for most of the interaction, saying "thank you" in the host language seems to add nothing to the host and only serves to make ourselves feel less bad about using English. But this is just my opinion as a native English speaker who's never been in the hosts situation. Perhaps hosts feel differently, so I'd be happy to be corrected!
@@Japan-life-vlog Thank you soo much for taking the time to share your thoughts!!! I'm going to look into demonstration effect, thank you for letting me know! The main reason I want to start sharing more content related to this topic is to hear from people like you so no need to apologize at all ❤ And I'm curious on what others think about the language learning portion! You're right, sometimes it might be mostly to make ourselves feel better rather than actually making any impact. But at the same time, my parents from Japan love when visitors make a small effort to include a few Japanese words in conversations -- "Kanpai/Cheers, Itadakimasu/Thank you for the meal, Arigatou/Thank you" and it sometimes opens up doors to more communication/conversation in general! But that might just be my parents being polite hahah
@@wegofilm Thank you for sharing that - as they are in the "host" position, their opinion holds much more water than mine. It's good to know that it means something and feels respectful! I live in Japan and my own perspective is perhaps a little jaded and coming from second-hand embarrassment - you see all these loud tourists, not respecting other customs in any meaningful way (for example being very loud on the train) but feeling so proud of themselves for saying "arigatou" at the end of an interaction, and it leaves me a bit frustrated... But I have to admit, despite my cynicism, I always try to do it anyways and say key words when I travel! We can only do our best, can't we?
I agree with your perspective too! You are super openminded. I think this is really valuable that will be super important for in the future. You are way ahead, but keep it up!🤍
I wish more people could see this and be as thoughtful as you are about travel!
I loved travel and studied tourism management at university and when I started the course, I had the opinion that I travelled in a superior way because I went budget and "assimilated" more than just staying in resorts and "touristy" places.
However, throughout my study I realised the same as you - there is simply no "perfect" way to travel, and every single visitor has both beneficial and detrimental impacts.
I actually read some convincing literature arguing that visitors who have more direct interaction with the local community have a much bigger influence on changing the host culture than those who stay in their tourist bubble/resorts (it's commonly referred to as the demonstration effect iirc).
Whether the cultural change is good or bad is subjective, but I personally travel to experience a different culture and the thought that my presence makes the culture less different over time isn't a good feeling. Exposure to different cultures has heavily shaped who I am as a person and widened my perspective, and I couldn't have grown in those ways in resorts and tourist bubbles. So there is also the financial benefit vs cultural influence to balance when you travel in a way that supports local business etc.
The only other point that stuck out to me was about language - I personally think that unless you learn enough to communicate pretty well (say an entire coffee order or an entire interaction in a shop), I think this is an empty gesture that we use to make ourselves feel better.
The host has still had to use English for most of the interaction, saying "thank you" in the host language seems to add nothing to the host and only serves to make ourselves feel less bad about using English.
But this is just my opinion as a native English speaker who's never been in the hosts situation. Perhaps hosts feel differently, so I'd be happy to be corrected!
p.s. I'm so sorry for the essay reply but I was just so excited to see someone else who has thought deeply about this topic! (>.
@@Japan-life-vlog Thank you soo much for taking the time to share your thoughts!!! I'm going to look into demonstration effect, thank you for letting me know! The main reason I want to start sharing more content related to this topic is to hear from people like you so no need to apologize at all ❤
And I'm curious on what others think about the language learning portion! You're right, sometimes it might be mostly to make ourselves feel better rather than actually making any impact. But at the same time, my parents from Japan love when visitors make a small effort to include a few Japanese words in conversations -- "Kanpai/Cheers, Itadakimasu/Thank you for the meal, Arigatou/Thank you" and it sometimes opens up doors to more communication/conversation in general! But that might just be my parents being polite hahah
@@wegofilm Thank you for sharing that - as they are in the "host" position, their opinion holds much more water than mine. It's good to know that it means something and feels respectful!
I live in Japan and my own perspective is perhaps a little jaded and coming from second-hand embarrassment - you see all these loud tourists, not respecting other customs in any meaningful way (for example being very loud on the train) but feeling so proud of themselves for saying "arigatou" at the end of an interaction, and it leaves me a bit frustrated...
But I have to admit, despite my cynicism, I always try to do it anyways and say key words when I travel! We can only do our best, can't we?
This is an amazing video! Thanks for your information ❤
I agree with your perspective too! You are super openminded. I think this is really valuable that will be super important for in the future. You are way ahead, but keep it up!🤍
I'm so glad that you found this valuable!! I appreciate your support and encouragement❤