Hyogo

Live Translation Tool for Foreign Students Coming to Kobe Schools

Toru Kurita from The Mainichi:

As the number of children with foreign citizenship in Japan grows rapidly, a tool enabling teaching staff to display their translated speech in real time has been introduced for the first time in the country by this city's education board.

This is great news to inclusivity for foreign students not versed in Japanese. The article states that the numbers of foreign students without language skills is over 600 in Kobe so this is a total game changer for their education in an already restrictive system.

Foreigner Admission Fees to Rise at Himeji Castle

From Kyodo:

"We would like to charge around $30 for foreigners and around $5 for residents," Kiyomoto said at the symposium on cultural heritage and natural disasters.

When asked about his reason for the $5 fee, Kiyomoto told reporters Monday that he wants "to avoid raising the admission fee for local residents."

For cultural sites like castles, I think a higher admission fee could be appropriate for certain tourists from higher wealth countries. But grouping all tourists in a single high-cost bucket is unfair for people from less developed nations. But the challenge is obvious in devising a pricing strategy like this. You can't expect a passport check at a ticket window.