Tour specializing in lying attracts customers in Tokyo

Tourists visit Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo on April 4. Photo: EPA-EFE — Tourists visit Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo on April 4.

One afternoon in Tokyo’s tourist- filled Asakusa district, a group of 16 tourists stood on the sidewalk outside a Uniqlo store as a guide holding a tape recorder pointed to the store and said, “The Minato Shokuhin Co., famous for its ginger ponzu sauce, used to be based here.” He then pressed a button on the tape recorder to produce a “clinking” sound—a sound believed to be associated with the now-defunct sauce company.

A tourist in his 20s said his grandmother used to hum the song about the company's soy sauce. "It was loved by your grandmother's generation," the guide agreed, and the tour continued.

In reality, none of the above statements are true. Minato Shokuhin never existed. The jingle is not real, nor is the memory of the 20-year-old tourist.

The day tour the 16 tourists were taking was called Uso no Tusa, or “lie tour,” a new tourism product that has been more successful than its creators had expected. The tour mainly takes visitors through the old center of Tokyo, along a route of nearly 2 kilometers.

The tour, which included a guide, illustrations, and AI-generated videos , raised concerns among many that it was a “lie-only” tour, leaving visitors confused. However, the tour provider reassured participants that knowing the information was incorrect would not require checking.

The "father" of this lie tour is Shigenobu Matsuzawa, a professional tour guide. Most of the information Matsuzawa gives to his guests on his tour is false. He once introduced guests to a tree that is said to be the inspiration for Android to use its image in its operating system.

Matsuzawa went beyond simply telling lies and created a parallel world of lies by convincing local businessmen to make outlandish claims or products, including cursed cookies and plastic bags sold from a fictional convenience store to attract customers.

More specifically, tour guests are encouraged to tell lies related to the topic the tour guide is talking about. One example is a 20-year-old man who said his grandmother loved Minato's ginger sauce.

Uso no Tusa first took place in March. In the first 6 weeks of the tour, more than 400 people eagerly participated. The tour is expected to be open for sale until the end of August.

Soma Ito, a 17-year-old travel blogger, initially suspected the tour was "just a rumor." He said he was "relieved to know it was actually selling." Ito said that when people travel, they usually only remember the beautiful things about the places they visit. But this tour offered a different experience. "It made me think seriously and filter the information, to see which is fake and which is real," Ito said.

The creator of the lie tour was shocked by the level of interest and love from tourists. When asked to explain the new tourism product that many people are interested in, Matsuzawa said "I have a broader view of the definition of lie".

According to him, movies and novels around the world are all fictional, "so you can call them lies." "That means a lot of things that people love are not real," Matsuzawa added. Selling lie tours reminds Matsuzawa that the line between truth and lie is not so clear because in fact, local legends are not real either. They exist based on things that do not exist.

In addition to lie tours, Matsuzawa's company also operates truth tours, which are regular tours.

TB (according to VnExpress)

Source