#this was less of a problem at meiji jingu tho tbf i was there so early it was just me and the elderly japanese people lmao

[queenerdloser]

so i just got back from japan and i gotta say. i think i fucking hate Tourists. 

and like. to preface. not all tourists obvs. but it’s becoming increasingly clear that like... in many ways social media has fucking destroyed the way we take vacations. because in the past (i have to imagine, since i’ve only been on my own vacations post-social media) we took pictures and it was like... for our scrapbooks and to share with family/friends and there was so so much less pressure to have a “perfect” picture or to have things be, as they say, instagrammable. but now you Need to have pictures that are perfect and social media worthy which means that so many places i went to there were droves of young adults who were turning places into their own personal photo shoot. like.

okay. i went to fushimi inari which is a very famous japanese temple in kyoto. it has hundreds of torii gates which are definitely a huge photo draw and i’ve been there before when it’s really busy - people stop all the time on the path to take their photo under the gates (usually in kimono - this is both japanese and foreigners btw. very popular either way). whatever. but i went there early this time to avoid the crowds (around 7am) and it was me and a few groups of young adult american/european tourists. and like. i’ve been there before. i have zero desire to get a selfie of myself under the gates bc tbh trying to do that is annoying. so i take some pictures of the gates bc they are pretty and then i just walk up the path admiring them because that’s... what i came there to do. i wanted to experience walking through them, up the hills, look through all the side paths with the cool tiny shrines and admire the trees in the early morning.

and i’m watching these other tourist groups who, for the most part, are hunting for the spot for the Perfect Picture. and like i get it. i’m not like... you Can’t Take Pictures. but i think where social media has destroyed vacations is that we’ve ceased to look at these tourist spots as a place to experience or take pictures of it’s own beauty and it’s become a Hunt For The Perfect Instagram Post. now we gotta turn these places into our own little photo shoots bc god forbid we just experience it ourselves, we gotta Prove we went there by taking the Perfect Picture for social media clout. 

idk. maybe i’m just annoyed bc i had to stop behind these fuckers like eight times so they could get the best angle and take multiple shots and frankly it’s fucking annoying to have people treat any public space as their own personal photoshoot. (like that one tiktok of that girl getting annoyed at people for getting in the way of her video in the subway??? the fucking subway???) and frankly, i do feel like it’s becoming less about enjoying the actual experience of being in this cool place than taking a Good Picture and going on your way. there’s so many foreign tourists in japan i would watch take a picture of something and then move on without actually stopping to experience it - even for a moment! - in real time themselves. and it’s come to a point where i almost don’t even want to take pictures anymore bc i am kind of feeling like... okay. it’s fun to share these with friends back home but at the same time why am i even here if not to experience it for myself? if i just wanted a picture of japan, i could look that up on google, you know? i’m here to see it, to experience it, to walk the streets and smell the early morning pine trees while i see the moss on the shrines and the cracks in the red torii gates.