Against the grain: anger grows at spike in ‘sand graffiti’ by tourists in Japan

Tottori prefecture to install more foreign-language signs urging visitors not to vandalise dunes

Local authorities in Japan have drawn a line in the sand amid anger over a rise in graffiti by foreign tourists disfiguring its pristine coastal dunes.

Tottori, a prefecture (county) on the Japan Sea coast, banned the defacement of its sand dunes – a major tourists attraction – a decade ago, but the local government said there had been a dramatic rise in “sand graffiti” in recent years as the area attracts more visitors from overseas.

Continue reading...