At least the inflation is there and readily apparent, if i decide its a hit i’m willing to take at least i appreciate the open intention of taking my money at a markup. Having gone abroad i pick up on these prices with relative ease because there’s just a tourist trap quality to the products on hand or the location. It’s easy to avoid throwing money away but every now and then you see something that you just gotta have and i can decide for myself to splurge.
When i went to Japan this year i was able to hold back and avoid overpaying. The few items i did spend extra on i did so knowing i was likely not getting a deal but i didnt have time to shop around.
In San Francisco, the city-owned Japanese tea garden explicitly charges $6 for residents and $9 for non-residents. As with hotel taxes, this is a “soak the tourist” fee, even if the “tourist” is from a couple miles away, just not living in SF.
I get that, in fact I’ve been in taxis with a “mixed group” i.e. locals and tourists, where the driver tried to charge tourists more, and an elderly local woman chastized the driver and made him charge me the correct amount.
