Each week, here at Osaka.com, we bring you a selection of some of the top stories about Osaka making the local and national news here in Japan. Sometimes it’s serious, sometimes it’s funny, but it’s always direct to you, from Osaka.
UK Pavillion Forced to Change Stance After Visitor Anger
The term “rip-off Britain” is a phrase often cynically deployed by people living in the UK. It refers to what they see as the ever-increasing price of everyday items matched by an inverse drop in quality of such items and services.
Unfortunately, it seems this almost universally despised aspect of UK culture has found its way to the Osaka International Expo.
The UK Pavillion has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown after hundreds of visitors expressed anger at the “rip-off” nature of the pavilion’s offerings.
The UK pavilion was charging 5,000 yen (approximately 35 US Dollars) for an “afternoon tea” set. This was said to include tea, sandwiches and scones.
Visitor anger surged as the tea was served in simple paper cups, with the tea bag still inside. Scones and sandwiches were also described as “scant and extremely basic”.
UK Pavilion Capitulates to Customer Anger
After several days of rather embarrassingly trying to “keep calm and carry on”, the UK Pavilion was finally forced to acknowledge the exceptionally poor value for money of their offering.
The tea will now be served in ceramic cups and scones and sandwiches will be “improved”. The spokesperson would not specify how exactly these “improvements” would be implemented.
One visitor from the UK who visited the Expo last week shared his experience with Osaka.com.
He said: “Honestly, it’s embarrassing. Britain is a collection of 4 diverse nations, and the best they could come up with was overpriced weak tea?
He continued: “I’m English and a tea drinker. But this is such a South of England thing to do. As usual, it seems the people planning this think that UK culture begins and ends with London.”
Our interviewee seemed angry, but also found humor in it all, as he spoke about the experience.
“This is supposed to be a source of national pride. Instead, I’m wondering if I should just keep my head down and pretend to be an American!”
Osaka Visitors Numbers Up as Golden Week Holiday Arrives
Osaka saw a bump in visitors this week, even by the usual standards for this time of year. Traditionally, the Golden Week holidays, which take place from at the end of April and beginning of May, are one of the busiest times for travel across Japan.
The Tokaido Shinkansen, the main artery into Osaka from both north and south, saw an increase of 5% based on last years already high passenger numbers.
It would seem a large number of these extra visitors are flooding into Osaka for the Expo and other seasonal events.
The mostly clement weather throughout the holiday period was, no doubt, also a factor in all this.
Kansai Airport also reported “busier than expected footfall” both from inbound and outbound travelers.
Overall, it seems like it was a good week for Osaka’s burgeoning tourist trade. And hopefully most residents enjoyed a few days off too.
Concerns remain about overtourism. However, for most people in Japan, there is now a reluctant acceptance that everywhere becomes really busy, really expensive and really crowded for that first week of May.
That hasn’t stopped some people however from calling for the government to intervene in what they see as excessive pricing from hotels and airlines. Passengers expressed anger as some hotels charged up to 5 times their usual room rate for the holiday period. Likewise, the price of some domestic flights more than tripled.
However, while people remain willing to pay these prices, things are unlikely to change.
And Finally…
Osaka has a new team of national champions to celebrate this week. The Suntory Sunbirds Osaka, the city’s representatives in the inaugural men’s professional volleyball league season, clinched the title in Tokyo this week.
The relaunched SV League hosted its final championship match in Chiba on May 5th.
The Sunbirds claimed victory over Aichi’s JTEKT Stings, as almost 10,000 fans watched on in Funabashi City’s Lala Arena.
However, for the players in the SV League, this is just the beginning. Organizers have big plans for the League going forward. They say there is firm plan in place to make this the biggest, and most lucrative, men’s professional volleyball league in the world by 2030.
Certainly, if they can keep drawing crowds in the range of 10,000 people to games then they’ll get there in short order.
That’s all for now but be sure to check back again same time next week for another round of this week in Osaka!
