Last Updated: Jul 26, 2025

The Cost of Coming

On Japan’s Increasing Foreigner Fatigue

This story was originally published on donnykimball.com and has been syndicated here on Medium.

“Kitanai naaaa, omae,” a Japanese salaryman scowled at me, glaring with the lifeless eyes of a dead fish. I had just left the convenience store outside Asakusa Station and was parting ways with a family member staying at one of my short-term rental clients’ properties. Shocked, I turned to see what cultural faux pas I had unknowingly committed. While initially apologetic, I quickly realized this combative fellow was simply looking to pick a fight, spewing some horrific racial slurs in the process.

To this day, I’m not sure what set him off that evening. Was it the fact that I had an adult beverage in my hand for the long trip home, instead of holing up in one of Asakusa’s terrible tourist traps and spending money there? Was he just frustrated and completely fed up with the incessant flow of poorly mannered, first-time visitors to Japan who flood Asakusa? I’ll never know. Still, the incident really stuck with me, as I am about as Japanese in my mannerisms as any foreigner can get.

Honestly, I debated writing the following rant for some time since we’re about to wade into semi-political waters (an area I typically avoid like the plague). But as I watched that deranged salaryman sulk back to his tiny apartment above the…