Photo/Illutration Kyoto Mayor Koji Matsui, center, attends a news conference to announce the start of the “Donate & Go” system. (Fuka Takei)

KYOTO--This city of temples, shrines and Zen gardens is so swamped with tourists that authorities initiated a program to solicit donations from foreign visitors to help pay for the upkeep of the sights in the embattled ancient capital.

In return, the city provides digital coupons that people can use during their stay, for example, at restaurants, shops and other outlets.

In announcing the drive on Sept. 11, officials said visitors from outside Japan can choose from among four categories of donation purpose, including cultural preservation and landscape protection, on a dedicated website.

Donations to the “Donate & Go” system can be made via smartphone and credit card. The Kyoto municipal government takes half of the donation amount for efforts to conserve historic sites and traditional craft industries.

The other half comes in a digitized voucher sent to the person who made the donation so they can purchase items at any of 380 designated stores across Kyoto. More businesses are expected to join the program at some point.

Donations from as little as 1,000 yen ($6.90) to 1 million yen are being accepted.

The site is accessible solely in English at present. Whether to make the service available in other languages is still under discussion.

The Donate & Go system was developed by Tokyo-based Giftee Inc. and other entities.

Giftee operates a system under which Japanese travelers make financial contributions to their trip destinations through the state’s “furusato nozei” (hometown tax payment) program and receive coupons that can be used at accommodation and tourist facilities, restaurants and shops.

Kyoto became the first regional government nationwide to embrace the system. It did so because the massive influx of sightseers has contributed little to raising tax revenue.

Another objective is to motivate the hordes of foreign visitors to work together toward the goal of making the city even friendlier to tourists.

The program looks likely to be adopted by other local governments from here on out. Plans are already afoot to put one in place in the Niseko resort area extending across the towns of Niseko, Kutchan and Rankoshi in Hokkaido in December.

To make donations, access the Preserve Kyoto site: https://preservekyoto.city.kyoto.lg.jp/

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