[GoNative]

In the case of Niseko Town it isn't really that much of a tourist town at all. There is an excellent farmers market at the Niseko View Plaza but other than that not much else that draws in many tourists. And the plaza is situated beyond the main street that has had a facelift. I've never seen many tourists in the town proper and there are no touristy shops. The aesthetic difference though between Niseko Town and the Kutchan (where I lived) was incredible.
I agree that if a place becomes overly touristy and if things aren't done well it can all come off as contrived. In the examples I've given above though I don't think that's the case at all.
Often, like in the case of Niseko Town, it doesn't take a huge amount of money to change things for the better. They did not demolish any of the existing houses or buildings. Only the facades facing the main street had to comply with a consistent theme. The paving and widening of the sidewalks was a nice touch and putting the powerlines underground for about 1.5km's along the main street has made a huge difference. Also incredibly simple things like restricting street advertising signs and maintaining planter boxes with flowers in summer makes a huge difference. It didn't feel contrived or purely done for tourism. It was just a mayor who cared about the aesthetics of his town and got the locals on board with his vision.
If this were to happen more often throughout Japan then there wouldn't be so many incredibly ugly towns! I mean you'd have to agree this would be a good thing wouldn't it? There just seems to have been some disconect in Japan for really planning for beauty in their towns, houses and other buildings in the modern era since the war. There's some great stuff of course, like in the examples I've shown above but I'd like to see more!