Netflix’s ‘Can Love Be Interpreted?’ became known as a filming location, leading to a surge in tourists at residential railroad crossings.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that “amid fighting against overtourism, it has taken on yet another overcrowded attraction.”
Despite expanding multilingual signboards and other countermeasures, handling the influx of visitors is insufficient.
The small Japanese town of Kamakura has seen an increased burden from a Korean drama being filmed there. (Source=navitime)
A Korean drama is once again shaking up a small town in Japan.
On March 31st, the Asahi Shimbun reported that Kamakura has become known as a Korean drama filming location, increasing the tourist burden. “Kamakura was already fighting overtourism, but due to the Korean drama, it has had to take on yet another overcrowded tourist spot.”
The drama in question, ‘Can Love Be Interpreted?’ (ISAT), was released worldwide on Netflix last January. It portrays the love story of a multilingual interpreter and a global top star, set against famous locations in Japan, Italy, Canada, and other places around the world. Kamakura’s Kokurakuji Station and Goryojinja Shrine area were major filming sites.
Since the drama’s release, there has been a steady stream of female tourists from countries like Korea, Indonesia, and Myanmar.
Among the filming locations is a railroad crossing right next to a residential area. The influx of foreign visitors into this quiet neighborhood has sparked complaints among residents, the newspaper reported.
It is not an unfamiliar situation for Kamakura.
The railway crossing in front of Kamakurakokomae Station, which appeared in the opening of the animation ‘Slam Dunk,’ has already become a destination for tourists worldwide. The location has faced overlapping issues of overtourism such as road blockages, public urination, litter, noise, and unauthorized photographing.
Last September, the UK’s Financial Times (FT) reported that the term ‘kanko kogai’ (tourism pollution) had spread in Japanese social media, an expression even more negative than overtourism.
The local government has been implementing measures since 2017. From around 2023, they expanded signs prohibiting filming near residential areas and increased security personnel. They also extended multilingual information signs at the ISAT filming locations, taking cues from the ‘Slam Dunk’ site’s precedent. However, these measures are insufficient to manage the throng of visitors, prompting urgent calls for a more systematic approach.