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Over 4,000 Chinese tourists traveling on a
luxury cruise last week landed in a small Japanese village and reportedly
cleared out shelves of products, leaving locals fuming as they were unable to
purchase even basic necessities.
 The
massive cruise ship, Quantum of the Seas, departed last Monday from Shanghai to
embark on a six-day-five-night trip, with each passenger paying about 140,000
Japanese yen.
After stopping at Fukuoka prefecture's Hakata-ku city, the cruise ship anchored
down in a port at Sakaiminato city, Tottori Prefecture.
Upon landing on the island, the tourists went sightseeing at Hiezu Village, the
only village in the western part of the city. With a population of only 3,455,
the Chinese tourists outnumbered the locals, TBS News reports last Thursday.
Indeed, the village is not a popular tourist destination, having served only
tour groups of at most some 200 guests. Nonetheless, shop owners put up Chinese
signs and found Mandarin translators, and ended up selling out shelves of
products including eye drops, cosmetic products, rice cookers and vacuum flasks.
Japanese media reported that Chinese customers bought everything on site,
emptying stores within a few hours and leaving locals with little to choose
from.
Netizens in Japan criticized the "swarms" of Chinese tourists who flock there to
buy goods despite high tensions between the two nations. Such comments were
rebutted by Chinese web users who, in turn bad-mouthed the reception capacity of
Japan. |
