BIEI, Hokkaido—Over the course of a year, a stampede of tourists 200 times larger than the local population barrels through this northern town of less than 10,000 for its, now ironically, pastoral views.  

The “patchwork landscape” of farmland and trees that enchanted so many throughout Japan and abroad has brought on overtourism that the town government is now being forced to confront. 

Despite this, the town is set on pursuing the coexistence of agriculture and tourism as its two staple industries.

This begins with Hiroyuki Kakuwa, Biei’s mayor, introducing a rarity for the Japanese countryside. After much anguished deliberation, parking fees are coming to Biei.

In a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Kakuwa, 57, shared his account of how this came and what he envisages will give the town more breathing room while still preserving and promoting tourism.

THE ‘APPLE EFFECT’

Biei is in the middle of Hokkaido and is a major producer of wheat, sugar beets and white potatoes. Gently rolling hills account for a large part of the town’s terrain.

During the 1980s, landscape photographer Shinzo Maeda (1922-1998) documented the rich expanse of idyllic farmland.

His photos would eventually appear in various media including cinema, TV commercials and corporate advertisements, earning Biei national fame as a scenic town.

Kakuwa said the number of tourists visiting Biei dropped following the collapse of Japan’s bubble economy of the late 1980s but rebounded after Apple Inc. coincidentally included a photo of Biei's scenic spot as a desktop wallpaper option in 2012. It was a shot of Shirogane Blue Pond.   

The pond was formed after water from Bieigawa river pooled behind a government-built dam blocking mudflows from Mount Tokachidake, which erupted in 1988. Why does this matter?

The pond’s vivid blue color is the result of river and hot spring water containing aluminum mingling together.

What was once a spot only known among limited circles had been hit by what can only be described as the “Apple effect,” catapulting it into global renown as a top photo spot.

FEARS OF XENOPHOBIA

The town’s distress began when annual visitor numbers exceeded 2 million.

Many tourists were from overseas, and not all of them respectful—some trespassed onto farms to take photos. The upshot of private cars and giant sightseeing buses in the small town also meant traffic jams.   

This was not the end of the changes.

“In recent years, residents have been unable to get seats at restaurants so more and more people are missing out on lunch opportunities,” Kakuwa said.

As locals became increasingly discontent with the growing number of visitors, Kakuwa drew on 110, Japan’s emergency phone number for the police, to create a separate online system.

“Dial 110 for tourist rules and assistance” allows people who witness illegal visitor-related activity to submit an online report and include photos as evidence.

“We receive 30 or so reports a year (via the system),” Kakuwa said. “We are issuing warnings, as the situation demands, to (tourism) companies for illegal parking. We are also progressively relying more on information technology in recent years to make up for staffing shortages.”

The town authorities have also started an online service that allows viewers to see at a glance how crowded sightseeing spots are in real time with artificial intelligence-powered surveillance cameras at those locations.

New worries, however, continue to emerge.

“Outrageous cases, such as people walking on a frozen pond, have declined sharply in number,” Kakuwa said. “No matter how many measures we take, however, new conundrums arise, so we are in a cat-and-mouse game." 

Some 2.38 million tourists visited Biei in 2023, the second highest total on record. Not everyone is thrilled by the feat.

“Some of our residents are somewhat feeling put off, as they believe they could be living peacefully were it not for these tourists,” Kakuwa said. “Our town was not actively soliciting these tourists in the first place who, even so, have disproportionately swelled in number.”

All the hustle and bustle is even more difficult to deal with as it was never envisaged.

The mayor said he is “worried very much” that a xenophobic sentiment could emerge among the town’s residents.

Those trespassers? Not all are international tourists.

“Foreigners enter these premises because they do not know why they should not,” Kakuwa said. “Japanese enter knowingly and argue when they are told not to do so. It is not that people behave poorly because they are inbound visitors.”

In the hope residents will reach a more realistic consensus through actual cultural exchange, Biei’s authorities have organized lunches and tea parties with “local vitalization cooperators” hailing from Britain, South Korea and Taiwan.

These individuals specifically moved from Japan’s urban areas to live in rural regions to help enliven communities through commissions from local governments as part of a national framework.

Throughout all of this, Kakuwa has come to realize politics is never easy when unanticipated circumstances arise. 

MAKING IT HAPPEN

Kakuwa never intended to go into politics. The Yokohama native graduated from the Department of Political Science of the Doshisha University Faculty of Law in Kyoto before joining The Kyoto Shimbun Co.

Working as a newspaper reporter was fun, but he decided to quit after developing a desire to be a farmer and work on his own hours.

He relocated to Hokkaido in 2005, a region he loved and had visited over 20 times since his student years. He officially became a farmer after a two-year training period in Biei.

Kakuwa was elected to the town assembly in 2011 after a district representative retired and named him as the successor. However, he continued to see himself as a farmer serving on the town assembly on the sidelines even after winning the election.

Heading the local government would become his primary occupation after he later assumed office as mayor, but he still grows vegetables in a plastic greenhouse.

“I think I should never deviate from the standpoint that I am a farmer and a member of the ordinary folk,” Kakuwa said.

As a reporter, he interviewed well-known politicians from Kyoto Prefecture, including former Liberal Democratic Party power broker Hiromu Nonaka (1925-2018) and longtime Diet member Seiji Maehara.

Kakuwa thought he understood political circles, but the mayorship has turned out to be a succession of hardships.

Biei’s population fell below the 10,000 mark in 2019, the year Kakuwa was first elected mayor.

The population count has since dropped to a mere 9,300. Although the town government offers generous child care assistance measures, they have so far failed to curb the depopulation trend.

“Our town is currently understaffed in all industries,” said Kakuwa. “The population, which is the foundation of social life and the economy, is so important after all, and I have a sense of responsibility about that.”

Biei leaders have taken measures to attract people to move there and have more nonresidents forge ties with the town.

This still has not been enough.

Kakuwa said he finally came to believe the most important thing is to “have our town’s residents get a firsthand sense that tourism, as an industry, is beneficial and useful to this town.”

“It gives a sense of confidence to our residents that Biei is visited by so many people,” the mayor said. “Tourism has nurtured Biei’s brand value that cannot be represented solely by numerical figures, unlike things such as the consumption value which can.”

His ambition is to make tourism an indispensable and sustainable industry.

Biei adopted an “ordinance for realizing a sustainable tourist destination,” on Kakuwa’s initiative, in spring last year.

It states in its provisions that the town should work out a master plan of its tourism measures and may designate restricted areas on its own.

The ordinance carries no penalties, but Kakuwa said he sees its adoption as a “first step toward seeking a coexistence between residents’ livelihoods and tourism.”

The town’s general account budget for fiscal 2024 is worth 11.3 billion yen ($74 million). The tourism budget, which accounts for 526 million yen, or 5 percent of the total, is expected inevitably to grow in the years to come.

Town authorities considered an accommodation tax of 300 yen per person each night. Overnight visitors, however, are far outnumbered by those on day trips.

Because of this, the town government decided to combine that measure with parking charges, adding it to fees at a lot next to Blue Pond that has seen explosive visitor growth.

“The parking lot charge is broader than the accommodation tax and can be collected from day visitors, even though it cannot be collected from all tourists,” Kakuwa said.

It is expected to cost 1,000 yen to park standard-size vehicles and 4,000 yen for buses. Annual revenue is estimated at 349 million yen.

If implemented, the parking lot fee would be the first of its kind in Hokkaido.

“I believe in the viewpoint that maintaining a sustainable setting is vital for tourism in the coming years,” Kakuwa said. “I hope our town’s approach will evoke a favorable response.”

***

Born in Yokohama in 1967, Hiroyuki Kakuwa served as a Biei correspondent for The Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper from 2007 through 2011. He has been mayor of Biei since 2019. He also personally operates Farm Udocsha.

Kakuwa has authored a book titled: “Biei no Oka de Hyakusho Shugyo” (Apprenticing to be a farmer on Biei’s hills).