While a much rarer sight these days, enter this district in the Japanese city of Kyoto, and you will find geisha on the wooden Tatsumi bridge or, amid upscale Japanese restaurants and boutiques on Hanamikoji Street.

These women dressed in colorful kimonos are performing artists well-versed in traditional Japanese dance, music, and games which they perform at tea houses for their guests.

But starting in April, tourists visiting Gion district will no longer be allowed to pass through private alleyways, or geisha entryways.

It's a move that has divided opinion.

I wonder why it's being enforced. To me, this is a unique heritage area, I guess that people want to enjoy and would like to photograph the architecture.

I think it's very good to ban to take pictures of here in the area because, you know, of the privacy of the girls, of the women.

I think you have to be careful and take care of the habits of the country you visit.

I like it here very much in Japan: the hospitality, they are generous to you, they want to help you.

That's very, very nice to see here as a tourist.

But it can be a problem too when it's too much and when people from the West, like me, from Europe, want to um take over all the rules and the manners they have here in Japan.

Geisha have reported being harassed for photos and having their delicate hair ornaments touched by tourists.

Tourism in Japan has been increasing since pandemic restrictions were dropped in April 2023.

The number of foreign arrivals in Japan is expected to exceed a record 31 million people in 2024.