To people who think Japan should change its food culture for their religion:
Japan eats pork.
We drink alcohol.
We have tonkatsu, pork broth ramen, yakitori with beer, sake at festivals and family gatherings.
That’s normal here.
If your religion says no pork or no alcohol, that’s completely fine. Don’t eat it. Don’t drink it.
Nobody is forcing you to.
And if a restaurant wants to offer halal food, great. More choice is usually a good thing.
But asking for an option is one thing.
Expecting the country around you to change its food culture because of your personal religious rules is something else.
Japan has its own culture too.
You don’t have to eat pork.
You don’t have to drink sake.
You don’t have to like every Japanese custom.
But respect has to work both ways.
Your faith can be respected here without Japan pretending its own traditions don’t exist.
@otonanoikenga 私たち日本人は訪日外国人たちを優しく対応したが聖地を汚すならもう終わりにしよう。
We Japanese have treated foreign visitors kindly, but if they are going to defile sacred sites, then it is time to put an end to that.
@otonanoikenga I ask foreign tourists: Wouldn’t you feel outraged and angry if visitors from another country filmed themselves singing and dancing frivolously at a sacred site in your own country? Japanese people are outraged—and we are angry.
To all foreign visitors traveling to tourist destinations in Japan, Please immediately stop disruptive behavior like dancing around in front of the torii gates at Fushimi Inari.⛩️
Do not misunderstand Japanese “omotenashi” hospitality. The tolerance that has been maintained until now does not mean that lawless behavior will be tolerated. If more and more people continue trampling on another country’s history just to rack up views on TikTok, then the era of welcoming them ends here.
Can you really not look at yourselves objectively and see how much your behavior is damaging the reputation of your own country? Where were you taught that performing street entertainment at a sacred site while traveling abroad is considered acceptable behavior?
If you do not have the intelligence and basic courtesy to learn and respect the culture, then never come near Japan’s sacred sites again.