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What makes it extra annoying is that Japan is a collective culture which means that everyone is doing the same thing at the same time.

But maybe it's also a human thing. My own country has a long coastline yet everyone seems to single out one single beach where everyone congregates.

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Most people don't do things because they like them, but because they enable their relationships with other humans - so they can talk about something with them, compare their experiences, etc etc. This really is the conceptual basis for mass-culture; in Japan they've just accepted it a bit more openly than elsewhere.

This is like beach season in South Korea. June 30th, Haeundae is deserted and has a few people looking around. July 1st hits and it is completely packed until Aug 31. Then Sept 1 hits and it is deserted again.

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