Pāntu

　On Miyako Island, the largest and most populous of the Miyako Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, the number of foreign tourists has increased with the arrival of cruise ships and property prices have soared on the island due to the rush for resort hotels, known as the ‘Miyako Island Bubble’. The island is also vulnerable to external influences, such as the Corona Disaster, where the mayor called for people to stop coming to the island, even though it is not an overtourism phenomenon like Kyoto.
　The Shimajiri area in the north of Miyako Island is home to mangrove forests. In this village, a traditional event is held every year in September of the lunar calendar in which the masked god Pāntu parades through the village to ward off evil. Pāntu, who has mud all over his body, smears mud on newly built houses and babies when he finds them. The exact date of the event is not currently published, as there have been incidents where tourists who came to see the event did not understand the meaning of the event and assaulted the Pahntu. However, Pāntu masks are on display in the city’s general museum, and a video shows what it used to be like.
　In Kyoto, the behaviour of foreign tourists with a lack of respect for the local area is a particular problem, but tourists, whether Japanese or foreign, inherently have some negative impact. How to minimise the negative impacts of tourism on local communities is a fundamental issue for tourism operators.