When the story of Japan’s Go to Travel subsidy initiative to revive tourism broke, would-be travelers worldwide jumped for joy at the idea of having their next trip to the Land of the Rising Sun paid for by the government.
Come on now, you should know that when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
What is Go to Travel?
God knows Japan is counting on travelers to salvage its severely hit tourism industry. There were 99.9% fewer travelers in April 2020 than in 2019. As the country is slowly reverting back to normalcy, tourism authorities are making initial steps to restart the industry—starting with a subsidy program named Go to Travel.
Fake news
As more and more websites and blogs enthusiastically shared news of the subsidy plan, Japanese people expressed their surprise at what now looks like “fake news” on Twitter. They mostly blamed the confusion on the English name of the campaign.
それはメディアにまるフェイクニュースです
Go to Travel キャンペーンとをっているのでややこしいですが、けにのまで補助してがないためしたをするという
ですが日本のフェイクを海外メディアがコピーしてるのでしょう
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“This is fake news spreading among foreign media.
It’s confusing because they’ve named it ‘Go to Travel’ and write it using western characters. But the measure is trying to support tourist spots that are suffering because foreign travelers aren’t coming by covering up to half of Japan residents’ domestic travel expenses.
The source is unknown, but it seems that overseas media are copying fake news from Japan.”
これネーミングのなじがしますね……。
もしこれが「COVID-19ふっこう」だったら、外国人はタイトルのがわからないのでしなかったが……。
「STAY HOME」とか「Go To Travel」とかにのタイトル付けると、けキャンペーンだと誤解するんじゃないだろうかという。
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“I feel like the name is the issue here… If the name was ‘COVID-19 reconstruction support,’ foreigners would probably not get confused about the meaning.
I wonder if trivial English names such as ‘STAY HOME’ and ‘Go to Travel’ created the misunderstanding that the campaign is directed at travelers from overseas.”
We’d guess that “Go to Travel” is just a new chapter in a long line of miscommunication from the Japanese government.
While it’s not totally safe just yet to explore all the wonders Japan has to offer, we can still plan a future trip to uplift our spirits until we can finally board a plane again. For those outside Japan, just be prepared to pay full price.
Learn the Japanese expression 向け
向け is the short-form of the word 向ける which means “to direct (your attention towards…)” or “to point (at)” and is used as a suffix with nouns to express that something is intended for, suitable for, or oriented towards someone or something.
日本在住者向けに = for residents of Japan
海外向けキャンペーン = a campaign oriented towards foreigners
Be sure not to confused 向け with 向き, another suffix that works with nouns. The word 向き comes from the verb 向く, which means “to face” (e.g., a direction). While both convey the idea of something “being suitable for,” 向け carries the notion of objective or intent.
The Go to Travel campaign is intended for domestic travelers. On the other hand, 向き doesn’t imply a specific intention but rather express suitability, such as in “a book suitable for children” or 向きの本 in Japanese.
Vocabulary
海外メディア kaigai medeia foreign media 広まる hiromaru go around, circulate フェイクニュース fueiku nyuusu Fake news キャンペーン kyanpeen campaign 横文字 yokomoji Western characters 使う tsukau use ややこしい yayakoshii complicated, confusing 日本在住者向け nihon saijyuusha muke towards Japan residents 国内旅費 kokunai ryohi domestic travel expenses 半分まで hanbun made until half 観光地 kankouchi tourist spot 応援する ouen suru support 出所不明 shussho fumei unknown source フェイク報道 fueiku houdou fake news 問題 mondai problem, issue 感じがする kanji ga suru feel ふっこう割 fukkou wari reconstruction help 意味 imi meaning 誤解する gokai suru misunderstand 可能性 kanousei possibility 無駄に muda ni futile, waste だろうかという darou ka toiu I wonder 子供向き kodomo muki suitable for kids
