I have felt this way for the past six months and I will say it again, I hate Chinese tourists, especially the tour groups. There attitude and sheer numbers takes away from the authenticity of seeing seemingly far away places. And with modern technology allowing us to get to anywhere in a matter of hours, those distant places have become a lot less distant.

With the large masses that congregate around the most famous sites due to its ease of access, it takes away some of the authenticity of visiting such places. That isn;t to say every landmark is no longer worth visiting, sites such as where the first nuke was dripped as an act of war is still worth visity. But sites such as the 17th century Edo Period Himeji Castle are greatly devalued with the proliferation of mass tourism.

One aspect of global exploration that still holds great value I think is meeting new people. I don;t think the human connection can ever truly be not valuable. It is priceless. This reinforces my belief that life is not about things, it is about people.

Kingston S. Lim
October 5, 2019
Osaka, Japan