Been coming to Japan for +40 years - a blemish on everything that makes Japan worth returning to
I have been coming to Japan for over forty years, since 1979, often staying for months at a time — sometimes closer to a resident than a tourist. In all those visits, across every corner of this country and many others around the world, I have never been treated as poorly as I was by Sumyca (which is part of Matsuri Technologies 株式会社).
What made it worse was not just the problems themselves — and there were many — but the manner in which they were handled. Every complaint was met with a performance of concern: polite nods, reassuring language, the appearance of action. But it was theatre. Nothing was ever resolved. Each response was simply a delay tactic dressed up as customer service, designed to exhaust your patience until you gave up and went away.
Japan has a well-deserved reputation for hospitality, professionalism, and genuine care for the people it serves. That standard is not accidental — it is cultural, hard-won, and something the Japanese take genuine pride in. Sumyca trades on that reputation while delivering the opposite. They wrap indifference in the language of service, which is a particular kind of dishonesty.
In a country where even a convenience store cashier treats you with more dignity than most luxury establishments elsewhere in the world, Sumyca manages to stand out — for entirely the wrong reasons. They are not merely a disappointment. They are a blemish on everything that makes Japan worth returning to, again and again, for a lifetime.