‘Infested’: Attention-seeking YouTubers accused of ‘ruining’ Japan amid tourist crackdown
Attention-seeking live-streamers have been accused of “ruining” one of the most popular travel destinations for Aussies.
Attention-seeking live-streamers have “ruined” Japan with their disruptive and annoying attempts at making content, one of the world’s most famous YouTubers has claimed in a scathing video.
Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, released a video this week reacting to a number of such clips, expressing outrage at the nuisance creators and facetiously branding them “terrorists”.
Kjellberg claimed these YouTubers were acting as “obnoxious as possible [to] get a bunch of attention, get a bunch of hate clicks”, and that this growing trend had become an “infestation”.
“YouTubers, they’re the worst,” he said in the video, which has been viewed more than 1.3 million times. “YouTubers ruin everything, and right now YouTubers are ruining Japan … and now it’s come so far that Japan is actually starting to take action.”
The Swede, who was for many years the most subscribed creator on YouTube with 111 million followers, rose to fame streaming video games before semi-retiring in 2022, when he moved to Japan to live with his wife Marzia.
Kjellberg highlighted multiple videos of streamers trying to create viral content and publicity by being a nuisance in the conservative country, such as refusing to pay a bus fee and a train ticket.
He also reacted to another infamous streamer, Johnny Somali, who sparked outrage in Japan last year after filming himself harassing people in public and in the subway, as well as trespassing in a construction zone and repeating “Fukushima” when he was caught and told to leave.
The Somali-American streamer, whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael, was eventually arrested and fined 200,000 yen ($1930) before leaving the country.
Kjellberg was open with his disapproval, slamming Ismael as “such an idiot”.
He also had a message for anyone trying to replicate this behaviour.
“It’s not going to be worth it,” he said. “You’re not going to grow your channel, you’re just going to make everyone hate you and you’ll regret it. Don’t be an idiot.”
Ismael later fired back, threatening to sue the multi-millionaire creator and calling him a “hypocrite” and a “racist”.
“Racist against blacks, and a anti-Semite! This hypocrite has no room to even discuss me, especially with misinformation and lies!” he wrote on X, referencing Kjellberg’s past controversies.
In 2017, Kjellberg was criticised for saying a racist slur while livestreaming.
Ismael followed up by saying, “He called me a ‘terrorist’. Very interesting use of language that could be racially motivated. Definitely defamatory, and considered slander, and libel. See you in court FELIX.”
It comes as Japan increasingly cracks down on disruptive behaviour from tourists.
Earlier this month, a Japanese town mounted a large 2.5-metre by 20-metre mesh barrier at a popular viewing spot for Mount Fuji, in an attempt to deter photo-taking by an ever-growing number of tourists.
Japan’s most famous sight can be seen for miles around, but Fujikawaguchiko locals were fed up with streams of mostly foreign visitors littering, trespassing and breaking traffic rules in their hunt for a photo to share on social media.
Parking illegally and ignoring a smoking ban, they would cram a pavement to shoot the snow-capped mountain, which soars photogenically into the sky from behind a convenience store, residents said.
And in April, a new tourist ban was established in a popular district of Kyoto.
Tourists are now barred from entering certain alleys in Gion, the famous district where geisha work in teahouses, with Aussie travellers warned to take note.
Local residents had become fed-up with hordes of tourists, saying their neighbourhood “is not a theme park”, pleading with the city to take action.
Reported incidents of unruly tourists included a maiko’s kimono being torn and another having cigarette butt put in her collar. A maiko is an apprentice geisha.
“We don’t want to do this, but we’re desperate,” said Isokazu Ota, an executive member of a Gion residents’ council, comparing tourists who crowd around geisha emerging from the narrow alleys to “paparazzi”.
One video shared on Reddit showed a female tourist aggressively running up to a geisha as she walked down a street to take photos, obstructing her path and forcing to her to go around.
“What the hell is wrong with that idiot? How can anyone not understand how absolutely wrong that is? That level of stupidity is beyond measure!” one commenter said.
“People think real places are similar to Disneyland,” wrote another.
More than 25 million international travellers visited Japan in 2023, according to the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO), after the country’s borders reopened to tourists following Covid.
Japan has grown in popularity among Aussie travellers, rivalling Bali in some industry rankings, helped by the gradually increasing strength of the Australian dollar against the Japanese yen.
— with Chantelle Francis
‘Imploding’: China crisis we can’t ignore
China is in financial turmoil as its lucrative property market implodes – and the consequences for Australia will be inescapable.
’Innocent’ death row inmate acquitted
The world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been declared innocent after 56 years.
Wild scenes on Sydney Harbour
Sydney Harbour was centre stage when military personnel from around the world worked together to counter illicit trade of weapons of mass destruction.