Ninja welcome you to Otaru, and want you to follow the rules while you’re here.
Otaru is one of the most beautiful towns in Hokkaido Prefecture. Located on the coast of Ishikari Bay, Otaru is famous for its preserved canal district, illuminated by streetlights after sundown, and roads that rise steeply from the shoreline making for dramatic wide views of the city and sea, especially from the vantage point near the top of the slope known as Funamizaka (“Ship-viewing Hill”).
However, being a picturesque place means lots of people coming to take pictures, and Otaru, like many of Japan’s most popular tourism destinations, is struggling with issues related to overtourism from foreign travelers who, inadvertently or not, aren’t following Japanese etiquette norms. As shown in the news report below, tourists have been standing in the middle of public roads to line up their photos just as they like them, and there have also been incidents of tourists encroaching on private property to snap pictures or create their own shortcuts from Point A to Point B.
So to address the problem, Otaru has decided to dispatch ninja.
Mercifully, the ninja won’t be incapacitating offenders with shuriken, blowgun darts, or other shinobi weaponry. Instead, Otaru Next 100, a local community outreach organization made up primarily of local residents in their 20s, is creating a series of multilingual poster-style awareness graphics in an effort to adjust tourist behavior in a way that’s informative and direct while still being playful and non-aggressive. “I think it’s simply a matter of [foreign tourists] not knowing the rules, and not that they’re intentionally choosing to break them,” said Otaru Next 100 member Noriaki Ikeda. “What we need is to have them enjoy sightseeing while understanding [what is and isn’t OK].”
So far three posters have been produced, cautioning tourists to keep out of private property, not walk in the middle of the road, and especially not to stand in the middle of the road and pose for pictures.
Sure, the English translations could be better. “Local people are in trouble,” for example, sounds more like locals themselves have been caught doing something wrong, when what the poster is really trying to say is that local people are troubled by tourists’ behavior. Still, it’s clear what each poster is saying to not do, and the way they all cordially start with “Thank you for coming” and include the hope that visitors will “enjoy Otaru” communicates that the ninja/city have no beef with foreign tourists themselves, and that it’s only the demonstrated dangerous/inconsiderate actions that they want to stop.
小樽でオーバーツーリズム対策‼️
参の巻 #道の真ん中で写真はダメ
⚠️写真に集中する余り、車道に出ての撮影は大変危険です！
⚠️付近が住宅地などでの撮影は、周囲の迷惑に注意して！
⚠️車を運転する方も、十分注意しての走行をお願いいたします！
撮影場所：船見坂#ルールを守って小樽を楽しんで pic.twitter.com/SGlX718YMO
— Otaru Next 100 実行委員会 (@otarucanal100th) April 6, 2025
There are at least seven more ninja manners posters planned, and they’ll be shown through the Otaru Next 100 official Twitter account as they’re completed.
Source: Otaru Next 100, FNN Prime Online, NHK News Web
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Otaru Next 100
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