The EconomistJune 9th 2018 Asia 252 blems. Akihiko Tamura, the head of the
government tourism agency, acknowl-
edges that the industry faces “many chal-
lenges”, most obviously a shortage of la-
bour. In the town of Nikko, a tourist spot
close to Tokyo, one of Japan’s most storied
inns, Kanaya Hotel, is hiring pensioners
because it cannot recruit enough working-
age staff, let alone those with the right
skills, says Yasuo Mine, the (himself age-
ing) chairman.
Relatively few Japanese have both the
ability and confidence to converse
smoothly in English or other foreign lan-
guages. Tobu Railway, a sprawling com-
pany that runs hotels as well as tourist
trains between Tokyo and Nikko, has em-
ployed some foreignstaff tohelp visitors,
but still has problems communicating
with non-Japanese, says Kenji Aoyagi,
who heads its foreign-tourism depart-
ment. Most companies rely on point-
sheets, translation apps or telephone ser-
vices to communicate with guests.
There are cultural barriers, too. Shizue
Usui, the head of Nikko’s association of
okami—female hosts at inns—says they
tend to think “tradition should be main-
tained.” That often boils down to rigid
rules about check-in, meal times and other
services.
Infrastructure is also a concern. There
are limited international flights to cities
other than Tokyo and Osaka. Landing slots
are in short supply in Tokyo, where the
government recently approved the con-
struction of a new runway at Narita air-
port. There are not even enough beds. To-
kyo is reckoned to have a shortage of 3,500
hotel rooms. This month a new law will ex-
plicitly legalise the rental of private rooms,
via platforms such as Airbnb, to help re-
duce the shortage of accommodation.
Marketing is yet another problem. The
government wants more people to make
repeat trips, and to visit places beyond the
three big hubs of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.
It would also like to attract more tourists
from Europe and America, since it reckons
they stay longer and therefore spend more.
(About 85% of visitors are Asian.) Many
Westerners consider Japan for a holiday
but only a small proportion actually end
up going, says Tasuku Kuwabara of McKin-
sey, a consultancy. They worry that Japan
will be expensive and do not realise the
variety of attractions it offers.
There is an obvious solution to the la-
bour shortage, at least: importmore work-
ers. Hotel Royal Marine Palace on Ishigaki
has hired nine Chinese employees, includ-
ing three this year. But their visas are limit-
ed to short periods. The local tourist office
has been asking the government to ease
visa rules to make it easier for tourist busi-
nesses to employ immigrants. But the idea
is a political hot potato. If more foreigners
were allowed to work, even more foreign-
ers would be able to come as tourists. 7
A
T A crossroadsoutsidethe hamlet of
Hakadua, in the state of Jharkhand, a
small and solemn group of villagers gath-
ers around a slab of rock erected near a sa-
cred grove. Under the noon blaze a white-
whiskered priest and a troupe of young
women in red saris murmur, sing and
place cups made of folded leaves at the
base of the rock, which is covered on both
sides with inscriptions. These include pas-
sages from the constitution and the PESA
act of 1996, which is supposed to ensure
self-governance for people living in “tri-
bal” areas, such as this. An elderly partici-
pant has trouble reading the text, but no dif-
ficulty explaining the locals’ grievances.
First, to the extent the state is present in the
area at all, it is incompetent, corrupt and
domineering—in effect abrogatingPESA
and other laws meant to protect tribal in-
terests. Second, they fear their land is being
stolen. Mining companies, keen to get at
coal and other riches underground, run cir-
cles around tribal leaders in court. The up-
shot is that the villagers want no part of In-
dia any more: the inscribed monolith is, in
effect, a declaration of independence.
Hundreds of such monoliths have been
erected outside tribalsettlements in recent
months. The consecration of one near the
village of Omto is followed by a rally of
some 2,000 tribal men carrying primitive
weapons. Most shoulder bows and arrows
fletched with chicken feathers. Others bearwicked-looking axes and spears, and a few
have fashioned crossbows out of surgical
tubing and bamboo bolts.
These men see themselves as descen-
dants of Birsa Munda, a 19th-century tribal
leader who fought a brief but fierce guerril-
la war against the British. Independent In-
dia has adopted him as a nationalist; Jhark-
hand’s main airport is named for him. But
Omto’s headman hails these modern-day
Mundas with cries of “Our village, our
rule!” and “Out with India!” The current
leader of the monolith-raising movement,
Joseph Purti, waves a thick copy of the con-
stitution above his head as he speaks.
“They are imposing citizenship on us,” he
says of the Indian state, urging a boycott of
all government institutions.
Tribals, arguably the most neglected of
India’s many minorities, make up almost
9% of its 1.3bn people. Between 1947 and
2000 roughly a quarter were displaced.
Some 40% of those living in tribal villages
are malnourished. Many live along the line
that separates north India from south, and
regard themselves as the aboriginal inhab-
itants. Their ancestors somehow managed
to live in India for thousands of years with-
out becoming culturally Indian. Many of
their languages are primordially distinct,
as different from Hindi as Basque is from
French. Some tribals are Hindu and others
Christian, but many persist in forms of
worship that predate both religions—such
as erecting large stones to mark undertak-
ings of great significance.
Jharkhand’s chief minister has prom-
ised to crush Mr Purti’s movement (two
days after the rally, a criminal complaint
was filed against everyone present). Its pre-
vious leader has been arrested on charges
that include making “assertions prejudi-
cial to national integration”. The govern-
ment has accused the activists of wanting
to cultivate opium poppies and of propa-
gating Maoist revolution.
For years the authorities have conflated
the campaign for tribal rights with India’s
long-running Maoist insurgency. The
terms “Red Corridor” and “the tribal belt”
are used interchangeably. But the insurgen-
cy has largely been suppressed over the
past decade by a ferocious military cam-
paign, without snuffing out tribals’ com-
plaints of injustice. Maoist ideology plays
no visible role in the monolith movement.
Meanwhile stone slabs have started
catching on in the neighbouring states of
Chhattisgarh and Odisha. The security ser-
vices can hardly be happy about that. It
may be fair to label the movement “anti-
national”, a favourite term of abuse these
days. But at least it is not violent, if “not ex-
actly non-violent”, in the words of an intel-
lectual sympathiser. Indeed, all the angry
tribals are asking is that the government re-
spect its own laws and undertakings. The
ferocious response to such an
innocuous request is telling in itself. 7“Tribals” in IndiaRevolution rocks
HAKADUA
Villagers set their grievances in stoneMenhir of distinction