NOTIFICATION SQUAD: I honestly regret not talking about this sooner on Abroad in Japan. But hopefully if we can prevent just a few of you from enduring it, it'll make up for it. But what's the WORST scam you've encountered inside or outside Japan? SHARE your wisdom below!
My favourite part about the woman who stopped Chris on the cycle has always been the idea that she knew exactly how to lure a British man into a trap….. biscuits. Great video as always, nothing wrong with alerting people to dangers especially ones aimed at tourists
general rule that holds true with tourism anywhere: you never ever go with the person who approaches you, doesn't matter if it's cab drivers, guys in front of clubs, store owners, etc... they don't need to drag you in if they're legit.
Not even to the seedy backroom strip club at a bar in Riga where the bloke said everyone coming out had "BIG smiles!!!" and that it was all "lovely jubbly"? I mean, I said no at the time but it's one of my biggest regrets in life that I didn't go to see what was behind the curtain.
@@zam023 you do know they can drug the water and the juice don't you? Or should one not leave home ever? There is a easy rule don't follow strangers... or one can be a puritan...
A story about the time I stayed in Shinjuku. It was my last night there and I decided to spend it at the Golden Gai. On my way back to my hotel, I was bombarded by touts trying to get me to come into their scam bars but I was told to act like they're ghosts by my travel agent. There was this one swole tout who clearly did not take kindly to me ignoring them and he followed me up the block shouting slurs at me. I was scared out of my mind but suddenly, a guy in a suit up the road, smoking a cigarette walked out in front of us, arms crossed, and the tout was suddenly gone. He was clearly Yakuza and I'm not exactly sure why he stepped in to save me, but I still think about it.
I think he could've been the touts' boss and he was simply disapproving of the guys behavior since being loud and irate could drive away potential victims. Or like the other guy said, he was protecting his territory which the tout may have come too close to
If something like this ever happens to you, NEVER tell your bank/card that you were scammed. Always tell then you LOST your card (or it got stolen) and you don't know anything about the transactions. This gives you a much higher chance of them cancelling the transactions.
@@josephsmith961 It's not naive to be surprised that they have to make up an explanation because the bank doesn't consider it a robbery when somebody drugged them and then took their cards and used them while they were blacked out.
@@snowangelnc If you don't understand how your financial instruments work, that's just being stupid. Had they read the rules of how the card works, they wouldn't have lost any money. They didn't bother to do that, which makes them one or the other, naive, or just plain stupid. I think stupid applies here more than naivete.
I've had to explain this to many others so I'll leave this here as well: Just because Japan has this ''squeaky clean'' image of crime doesn't mean that it isn't crime ridden or crime doesn't happen. It's just leagues & fathoms lower than many places elsewhere in the world.
The more I look into it the more I start to call into question this belief. Crime isn't actually low just Japan is good at covering it up. There is no one to counter argue because police torture suspects for a false confession and have them locked up. It is extremely easy to get preyed upon in tourist spots and difficult to get out of when the criminals know the law. (or bribe police) Corruption is extremely common. Only recently Yakuza were running the streets and fighting in broad daylight. The problem is still there just better hidden.
@@sunwukong5413 But in terms of overall crime, it's substantially a world of difference than in say another G7 nation like the US or the UK. There were 45,000 shooting deaths in the US in 2021 alone -- there were barely 30 since 2016 in Japan. There's no comparison (or excuse) for modern, industrialized countries like the UK, US, and Japan. There's car jackings _daily_ in Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, LA, and NYC. It's a *DAILY* occurrence.
Literally the exact same thing happened to my cousin in Roppongi with around $4k total across 4-5 transactions for be below the amount that usually triggers banks to fraud. Same thing happened, cops had zero interest in getting to the bottom of it. No report lodged, not showing on the reports… BUT, lucky for him, I speak fluent Japanese and lost my shit at the police, got them to put together a report, which then was given to the bank to lodge the fraudulent access claim, which led to him getting his money back. 👍🏻 Hot tip: get a report saying that there was a violation!
"Hot tip: get a report saying that there was a violation!" That was my thought after hearing the first story. Without it, the bank would probably do nothing.
@@vilena5308 How do you get the report? Is there a specific information that we need to provide? I’ve always thought that if the police refuse to help then there’s nothing we can do 🫠
It happened to my coworkers visiting Japan for business. There were 5 them in a bar with a total bill of about 12K USD. They all used their credit cards just to be able to get out of the bar manned by Nigerians. Then they all call their banks (individually, no group drinking happened, cards were from different banks) and claimed that they have lost their card a few hours prior to the scam. They all got their charges reversed. Sometimes you just have to tell the bank a different story. When I travel, I always have a "scam" credit card for the scammers. I was scammed in Budapest, Paris, Amsterdam recently in small amounts but get all my money back.
@@rin__ This depends on the country. There should certainly be a complaint procedure: what to do if the police is not taking your report, you feel they are not providing all the information, they are dragging their feet, etc. When you are in a foreign country, it depends. If you are in Japan, and know Japanese well enough or have someone in the police who speaks English, you can push them, insist you are staying till the report is filed or tell them you want to file a complaint on them and ask what is the procedure. It also depends what's the situation overall. Honestly, in this case (first story), drugs, theft and molestation, I would have first contacted my embassy and asked them for help and advice how to proceed with the criminal charges. When I travel and stay in a foreign country, as a rule, I carry a printout with contact info of my country's embassy and I enter it in my phone as well.
had this happen to me in kabukicho about seven years ago (spiked drinks, handsy hostesses, $2k charged to my card) - fortunately, my credit card provider reversed the entirety of the charge after calling the bar's listed phone number and finding it was disconnected (canadian banks are apparently quite benevolent at times)
I hate our banks but they only thing that makes me proud about them is that they don't tolerate fraud, same thing happened with my friend but in different country and they got his money back
@@astrothelad had they called the bar and reached a legitimate establishment with a proprietor who could confirm the charge, they likely would not have reversed it, particularly because i didn't bother filing a police complaint.
The first time I went to Japan my bank preemptively blocked my card because "someone" was suddenly spending so much in a foreign country far away from mine, and it seemed suspicious to them. I had to call them to tell them that it was me acting like I'm rich (when I'm not).
@@astrothelad I was an investigator for a credit card company for 13 years until recently. My job was literally investigating cases like the first story. US, Canadian and Australian law require that the banks provide a dispute process to argue suspicious transactions. The review process is much more than just a phone call to the business. On top of that, in the rare case the bank allows the charge, VISA, AMEX and MasterCard all give the customer the opportunity to request a deeper investigation through them directly. So the victims in the first example either didn't do their diligence or are exaggerating the story.
@@simonlemlem9759 Had my Gmail hacked a few years back and they took $115 through my PayPal. Thankfully I was able to go to my Canadian bank and get my money back after a few days of panic. I also added the finger parent verification to sign in with my phone. @Dragonfly hell my bank gets suspicious if I use a VPN so in cases like this I'm glad to have a Canadian bank.
A similar scam went on in Budapest in Hungary (without the drugging). There is a RUclips channel that covered it. They heard about the scam and, with a hidden camera, let themselves be led into a bar, secretly filming the whole process. Their video actually got quite a media coverage in Hungary and the bar was closed down after that
There is a Japanese youtuber who actually secretly recorded himself getting scammed and the yakuza threatening him with the police. He walked with the yakuza to a police station where the police did absolutely nothing at all until he forced their hand with video and audio proof of the whole situation. These scammers usually get off scot free just because the police don't like to "rock the boat" without 190% undoubtable proof of guilt..
Oh yeah. I think his account name was "The Dark Side of Japan" or something like that and he does videos on the sketchy parts and stuff that goes on in Japan
From what I heard the Japanese police turns a blind eye to the Yakuza as long as they don't have any wars or any murders and keep smaller crimes off the street, sort of like a symbiotic relationshiop. Not sure how true that is but yeah...
I was in Tokyo a few years ago with a friend and a street tout physically grabbed our arms when we walked by ignoring him. He tried to drag us away into the store (we're both small Asian girls). He only let go after my friend started screaming at him. He then let us go and shouted slurs/derogatory terms at us while everyone stared without helping. This happened in the middle of a crowded street during the day too. Love Japan and Tokyo but the street touts are honestly some of the worst scum I've ever encountered in any country.
@@DragonEdge10 not only does it have to do with that (unfortunately), but it also has to do with the fact that Japanese are really quiet and don't really engage socially with strangers. What we may think is "shyness" from their part is actually just their standard mindset of "I'm on my own, and everybody else is also. I'm just going to carry on with my day, I have nothing to do with other strangers".
I was almost caught out by a street tout. This happened about 7 years ago and had only been in Japan for about a week. I had missed my last train and was in Chiba city, so was waiting outside the station for the earliest one (I was very very drunk). Someone came up and started chatting, a friendly dude supposedly from Colombia. Anyway we chatted for like 30 minutes about Japan and family and stuff, he seemed like a genuinely cool dude (although I had heard of the street touts, it hadn't at all crossed my mind with him). So we got walking whilst chatting, (sure beat the hell out of sitting outside the station) and then suddenly he said "Hey, actually I know this bar that's still open we could go to, you wanna go?" and red flags started jumping around in my head. Trying to be friendly I was like "Okay, sure!" whilst trying to fight my sobering brain cells screaming at me to get away as soon as possible. We got to a fairly busy crossroad where there was another foreigner standing around who gave the Colombian dude strong eye contact, then a big smile, and they high fived. That confirmed what was going on, and I realised we must be close and it was now or never. I said to him, "Sorry, you know what, I've got to go." So I turned around and started walking the other way. He ran back to me and grabbed my arm tightly (not exactly what I was expecting), and said to me, "Hey you need a drink or some food?" and dragged me into a 7eleven right next to us. He was gripping pretty tight, but I didn't want to get into a fight and possibly end up in a koban for the rest of the night, so I allowed him to drag me into the 7eleven. He was saying "You want a coke, a sandwich?", he grabbed a bottle of coke from the fridge and walked me over to the till. At that point I thought I was in a pretty safe environment with cameras etc, so I jolted my arm from his grip and briskly walked out. He didn't follow, probably because he was still holding a bottle of coke at the till. When you're in Japan for the first time, you definitely can let your guard down due to how friendly people can seem, and how trusting people can be. I've now reverted back to my British cynicism though.
I don't usually leave comments on You Tube, but I couldn't help it after reading your message. I am very sorry that this happened to you. As a Colombian, I feel deeply ashamed that there are always malicious people who give a bad reputation to our nation (more than what is already historically known). 🤦🏽♀🤦🏽♀🤦🏽♀🤦🏽♀ And to anyone reading this message, not all Colombians are bad people or criminals. Unfortunately for us, it is an invisible yoke that all citizens carry whether we want to or not when we live abroad because of the bad reputation that some bastards have created.
As a Colombian I am so sorry that you went through this experience and am glad that you made it out ok . We are not all bad even though the media usually portrays otherwise. We have our good and bad people just like every other nation
I was unfortunately drugged at a bar in Roppongi, but since I was with about 10 burly men who were all worried about me passing out, the bar just pretended I was too drunk to be there and kicked me out to be picked up at the street. I am forever grateful to all my friends who took care of me until the next morning.
That was your first mistake. I went to college in Japan, and my Japanese classmates told us, NEVER go to Roppongi. That's where the Yakuza and their hired help set up bars.
A Dutch journalist once made a series in which he intentionally got scammed in different countries to show the practices. He also got himself into one of these Tokyo bars (and saved a tourist). The episode is on youtube (auto translate subs works pretty well): "Oplichters in het Buitenland - S04E01 Deel 1/5 - Tokyo"
General rule of thumb in Japan: If an overly friendly person comes up to you in English, they want your money If an overly friendly person comes up to you in Japanese, they want you to join their cult/religion
yess, this is so true. I once went to a huge 2nd hand store and when my girlfriend and I came out, we had a mother and a child ask us in Japanese if we wanted to pray at their shrine because of the current tsunami situation in the south of the country. we expected them to just take us to a local shrine where we would go through the very common procedure of throwing coins into a box, clapping and bowing. Instead, they took us on a 40-minute train ride, up 20 stories of some skyscraper handed us a necklace and a booklet, where we spend the next 30 minutes sitting in a tatami room chanting some form of us religios song. Still the weirdest experience i've had on all of my trips to japan, but at least we got free icecream after 😂 Edit: i was only haveway through the video when looking at the comments. So yeah, I guess I experienced this 2nd form of "scam" or religions recruitment xd We did not have to sign documents to join their ranks on the other hand....
Fortunately I have to disagree with you.. I met a wonderful Japanese lady in Japan about 11:00 at night in the hotel laundry 😂. We met again the following day and enjoyed the whole day out doing sightseeing in Tokyo. She came and visited me in Australia for a month the following year and I joined her in Osaka in the family home for three weeks. I heard the most fantastic time!!!! We are still in touch and planning to get together again!!
It seems to me many tourists try to be too polite. With a tout, don't try to reason with them, say no and walk away. It's best to not even slow your pace, shake your head and keep walking. It's ok to be "rude" to them. I've never had a problem, lived in Tokyo for 10 years and have traveled all over the world.
I've got a similar story to the first one. 2005 mine and my brothers first trip of two to Japan. We are out on the town in this big club called vanilla on 3 floors, I went to the bar to get a drink come back and he is gone from the standing table thing where I left him, I thought he had just gone to find a bathroom so I finish my drink and dance some and he doesn't show up I look for him for a bit and then an hour or so I go back to the hotel thinking he will show up, well at 4 in the morning there is a knock on the door there he is barely standing with a cab driver behind him, the cab driver explains he could not pay for the cab but promised I would so I get him in the room go get some money pay the cabbie, I wrestle out of my brother that he lost his card and so I go down to the lobby and get to make a call back to Iceland to Visa and tell them my brother has lost his card and they need to close it, his card had been maxed out but unlike those unlucky ppl in the video visa cancelled most of the charges from the night. But the story doesn't end there I get informed in the morning that someone had called the hotel around noon demanding to speak to my brother giving the room number and name. The hotel staff that I talked to in the night said to them there must be some mistake to that person and that the info did not match, we were then moved to a different room and put under a different name. Needless to say there was quite a bit less nightlife in our trip after this traumatic experiance.
As a 16yr old on a school trip to Japan, we were warned about the touts beforehand. I looked a little older than my age and managed to attract the attention of a tout during our free time. I'm notoriously jumpy due to a childhood of jump scares from my cousin, so when he appeared behind me suddenly I shrieked. He apologised and made a very quick get away. Felt terrible that I'd hurt his feelings until our teacher reminded us what their job was.
The fact that your bank said that was an authorized transaction is BS. I would definitely look for another bank. It’s called claiming fraud for a reason.
This is why you need to use a credit card. Your debit card is your money and the bank doesn't care. The credit card is their money and they will get it back. They will fight for their money
I live in Akasaka, one of the most prestigious and high tier addresses in Japan. Even here, drunk one night after drinking at my local, I was approached by a cute and friendly Taiwanese girl. After a short conversation where I told her about my travels in her country, she told me she’s working at a local bar and asked if I’d like to go. I thought why not, she seems nice and Akasaka has a great reputation, I’ve never had problems here before. She took me to her bar which looked sketchy as hell from minute one. I decided I would only stay for one drink, and the girl also asked for a drink and I said yes. After 30 minutes I came over very tired, and luckily I still had the consciousness to ask for the bill. Pretty much as I did so, another 2 girls entered carrying a clearly drunk and semi-conscious salary man who could not even walk or talk. Immediately they started ordering drinks for him and themselves even though he was basically unconscious. I was beginning to feel like I would be scammed. 2 drinks, one for me and one for the girl came to a whopping 60,000 yen (around $600). I said can I use the restroom first? They said okay. I ran home without paying, but fell unconscious half way in the side streets - in hindsight, I think I must have been drugged. I woke up hours later, a policeman had been tipped off about the unconscious gaijin in the neighborhood and had come to check on me. He took my ID and then helped me get home. My ankle was in a lot of pain. The next day I woke up to the most horrendous headache, much worse than the worst hangover I’ve ever had, and my left ankle was massively swollen and bruised. It took a few days for me to even get out of bed, but when I did get to a doctor he told me it’s lucky that my ankle wasn’t broken and it’s the worst sprain he’s ever seen. It took around 6 weeks to fully recover. I must have fallen hard on my ankle when I passed out, again I think I must have been drugged. Luckily, I made it out without losing any money. But even then, the sprain was hardly worth it. Don’t talk to touts!
If you lived there why didn't you search for the bar afterwards? To make them trouble, or just write anonymous tip/review? Exact address name, even take photos
@@roberts3423 I live in Japan and stuff like that is actually legal what they don’t do is tell you about all the “hidden fees” like walking in the bar fee talking to the girls fee sitting down fee etc
Japan: We have low crime rate! Also Japan: Report a crime and you're told there's nothing they can do. Technically a lot of variation in crime statistics between countries actually reflects a difference in how crimes are reported.
@@AnotherPointOfView944 Key words "followed up." If the police tell you there's nothing they can do for crimes that may be difficult to bring to a conclusion, taking only the ones that can be readily resolved, yeah, that makes your "solved" rate look fantastic.
The fact that the police didn't care when those two got robbed and sexually molested/assaulted is a great highlight of the Japanese policing and justice system. It's terrible. And the reason they can be is because of low crime rates due to culture etc. But it definitely needs improving.
Japan's police mandate is to "maintain peace", not necessarily "enforce the law". Therefore, taking out the crooks they know predate primarily on tourists and creating a power vacuum is probably viewed as more endangering to the "peace" than letting them do their thing.
Yeah, that's why it's best to avoid getting into trouble in Japan. And IIRC Japan back in pre 2000s is known to their notorious crime and modern society only change how they work. While every country can have corrupt police, Police in Japan can be irresponsible as they get when it comes to such matters.
The thing most ppl don't know about the japan low criminal rate is that it don't include sexual misconduct/assault on women's (if it did it will be like 3 or so in the world). So most women's report if considered at all are 4 or 6 in the priority list. property law is #3 on the list so most get under the rug with the usual excuse if you don't know the guy why you talked/replied to him so you're the one who prompted the incident type of reply. also the cultural fact that you need to keep quiet and don't bother ppl/family with your problem don't help eighter
That’s alarming as a woman. So their low crime rate probably isn’t right. I wonder if the police in any country is actually good or at the bare minimum.
I was at Dotonbori in Osaka when a Japanese schoolgirl came running up to me and asked to use my phone because she had to call her parents right away. I said sorry, my phone doesn't work here, which was the truth because I didn't have a Japanese SIM card. But the street was absolutely crowded with Japanese people, and I have to question why she would want to use the phone of the obvious tourist and not a local who spoke Japanese. I feel like I dodged some sort of bullet.
Asking a stranger for a phone is awkward and embarrassing and some Japanese people feel more comfortable asking foreigners for such things because you are not viewed as part of Japanese society, and may be more likely to be open and understanding. But, we can only speculate.
This is a known scam where you unlock your phone, hand it to them, they call somebody, run away with your phone then basically they've stole your phone and can reset / sell it. it happens all over the world. It's always "I need to call my parents" because something has happened.
@@Yarnocalypso Thank you for this info! It's good to know my scam-detector is working. Seriously though, who lets a complete stranger use their phone, even if it's a kid?
I think the same precaution applies in _any_ country: If some stranger comes to you and asks you to follow him or her somewhere, politely decline. There's literally zero reason why that would ever be a good idea.
@theseb1979 The religious scam isn’t seen much in western countries so I can see why people fall for it. But the bar scams and touts along with Africans “giving” arts and Crafts, and Moroccans/Colombians selling fake drugs are in pretty much every capital/most major cities.
This scam actually happened to me at my home university in Austria. I was sitting in a park when a japanese guy approached me and we had a very nice conversation. He told me that he is working for a company that holds an event at our biggest concert venue and invited me to come. He even said that famous artists from a TV show come and have a performance. I didn't have anything better to do that day and since he seemed really nice I thought "cool why not" and bought tickets for me and my boyfriend. When we got there we realized that the entire event was about religion and it was definitely a cult we were recruited for. So this kind of japanese scam can even reach you in your country.
I got got by friggin MORMONS that way once, music concert my ass... never trust white boys on bicycles in America, even if they're not in the dang mormon uniform lmao...
I had to report 2 assaults in Japan and they essentially bully you into not reporting and saying reporting won’t do anything since I didn’t have any substantial proof. Oh I had to persist to submit a report for 2 hours before they caved and let me. But not after berating me and making me talk through and act out what had happened. Gross police work.
@@galamotshaku Exactly. Just like in South Korean police ignores your peports, mocks you and etc. You HAVE to know legal basis for you actions beforehand to force them register you case and give you report number. That would allow you to file a complaint in case they try to avoid invistigation. And many other little trick you have to know. Otherwise you get nothing. There is not crime if there is not case registered, right? And lets not forget about society shaming victims of harrasment and sexual assault. yeah, yeah. japanese police develops alarm application, creates seminars about that but its nothing more than a cute dressing.
Having lived in Japan, I can honestly say that the Japanese Police are the most useless police force in the world. They are essentially cosplayers in police outfits. Whenever I visit Japan I avoid them like the plague.
in other words: If the police doesn't accept and record a crime, there's no crime added to the statistics. Therefore the statistics are insanely good. This however leads to more people believing crimes and rip-offs don't exist in Japan. I think I spot a pattern there
Interesting point, but i still think its safer than most. Every country has its crooks. Heck, in japan someone had to make their own diy gun to shoot that ex japanese politician because they are practically non existent. But yeah, crime still does happen. :(
If you think about it. Japan would be the perfect place for a scam. Your guard is down and you think you are going to be ok because you hear how safe it is. Just know your surroundings and be safe out there!
can understand why Nigerians Iraqis and Albanians are trafficked to the UK in boats because they will be working illegally in a factory or a scam in London. I don’t think it just happens in Japan
I had a really scary experience in harajuku when I was there on a school trip many years ago. Our teacher gave us time to explore and I was with two girls that I wasn't really friends with. This really shady looking guy invited us to his T-shirt shop which had 'many more sizes and styles' than the few on a rack he was standing beside. The girls I was with quickly took his offer even though I tried to tell them not to. I ended up going with them out of fear that something would happen to them if I didn't, he led us down an alleyway and up several flights of stairs into this room with no windows filled with T-shirits and a BIG and HEAVY looking door. The other two walked straight in but I planted myself in the doorway leaning against the door on the wall.The dude looked SO pissed at me and several other workers tried to draw me away to look at their items. They sent us away and told us they're closing as soon as it became obvious I knew something fishy was up. So terrifying to think what might have happened if I didn't do that.
Actually doors look like that in Japan. It’s completely normal. All apartment and office doors etc, are metal and heavy looking. You probably didn’t know that if you were just there for a very short time. I am pretty sure that absolutely nothing would have happened to you. Harajuku has many hundreds of small little privately owned boutiques run from tiny apartments, with a clothing rail somewhere outside to attract customers.
@@dragonbone5000 'I am pretty sure that absolutely nothing would have happened to you.' hooo boy. you thought being led into a windowless room by a stranger is not a big deal? not to mention that there are SEVERAL other 'workers' inside that windowless room??? and all of a sudden,magically,that guy said that they are closing as soon as OP doesnt want to come in?(even though shes on a school trip,and free time to explore usually meant that its not late night or midnight?) theres plenty of red flags here,and you didnt think that anything is wrong here? im going to miss you when something bad happens to you. LOL!
@@dragonbone5000 'not sure what ‘hoo boy’ refers to, as actually I am a female.' and THIS is your main concern? youre not worried at all about your lack of common sense and awareness for your own safety? yep. my worries is justified. LOL!
Me and my friends almost got into one of these scams when there was an overly friendly guy in Roppongi trying to lure us into a bar.. unfortunately for the guy I am Mexican and somewhat paranoid and told my friends that’s basically how one ends waking up without a kidney. 😅
I also remember chatting with someone in a hostel who had practically the same experience with forcibly joining a cult, but he seemed more amused by it than annoyed.
I was in a bar in Roppongi when a random guy approached me. He was from Spain and was trying to make small-talk. Then out of nowhere he starts telling me that could hook me up with anything. You name it! Weed, cocaine, meth, etc. I acted like I had to go to the restroom and just booked it
The drugging happened to me in Tokyo. I called my bank and had the charges reversed by saying "I got charges from a company that doesn't exist on Google. This is fraud."
@@murry001 no but it helps you tell your bank its a fraud if they can't find it they will believe the fraud charges. 4000k was swiped from mine and i still had 2 weeks to go in singapore on only $500 cash.
@@sidewithwerewolves yeah the main isuue with the victims is they acknowledged the existence of the place and the fact that they were there...if you tell your bank this is a fraud charge I wasnt there they would most likely take the charge back specially if it doesn't fit your shop profile.
Moved to Tokyo about a month ago and have already encountered the cults quite a bit. They have definitely evolved beyond just approaching you on the street, I met people via language exchange and dating apps as well that start off with totally normal encounters that end either with Japanese that has all of a sudden gotten very very fast and trying drag you off somewhere or "would you like to come pray with me?" and being handed registration sheets half filled in with the information they already know about you
What we (westeners) understand as "regular" religion, is just every day life in Japan. People go to shrine or temple, throw in their 100 yen, toll the bell and clap and bow and buy an omamori... And they just don't talk about their "spiritual experience". People who do, are part of cult. People who talk religion, mean cults. And most of them are pyramid schemes. People who talk about religion in Japan are only after you money and that of your family and that of your friends... and lots of it. STAY AWAY from anyone who talks religion, who offers religion. Shrines and Temples that are wide open to the public are generally safe. Those that are in Office Buildings or closed to the public... don't enter.
you're living in tokyo as a foreigner or japanese? so many questions lol, what are you doing there any how much rent do you pay? Im so jelous lol we visit japan 1-2 times a year but would love to live.
@@krisb-travel : You can get a one room, 1DK or even 2DK apartment central Tokyo (and I mean central, as in inside Yamanote-sen) for under 10man (about 900USD)... though you need to be relatively fluent in Japanese language and culture / behaviour, because most of those aren't rented to foreigners.
when i was in japan there were some people trying to get my whole group into a bar and they tried like 4 times theyre very persistent and they even tried to offer us a free round of drinks if we went in the 3rd time, funny everything you said about that scam was exactly what happened and im glad i avoided it even though the guys in my group were happy to take him up i convinced them to follow me away. the same night my friends insisted on going to this club, we went and when my friend went with one of the strippers in the back she actually took his wallet out of his pocket while he wasnt paying attention and put it in her purse, luckily my friend was ballsy enough to just open her purse in front of her to check, but i know most people myself included wouldnt have done that and just assumed i lost it before that, definitely be careful, if something feels shady it doesnt matter how safe the country is it probably is shady This was on okinawa
I'm glad you mentioned this, Chris. In 2019, I took a month-long trip to Japan (not my first, but my most extensive) and I had some of your stories in mind when I did. Good thing, too, because when I was visiting Hirosaki, Aomori during the Neputa Matsuri, I'm pretty sure I was targeted by one of these scams. I was on my own, exploring the area around Hirosaki castle, when a young man about my age comes up to me on the street and strikes up a conversation. As you mentioned, this isn't really something that happens in Japan, so I was already a bit confused, but he seemed nice enough. He asked me the same questions you listed - where I was from, what I was doing in Japan - and when he found out I was there for the festival, he said, "My town has a festival going on too. I would like to take you there." Immediately I thought about your experience with the woman in Niigata and politely declined, doing my best to end the conversation as fast as possible and making up a BS reason that I had to go meet some friends back at my hotel (figured he was less likely to do anything weird if he thought people were expecting me). Eventually he gave me a pamphlet for some sort of religious movement and left (still saved it as a souvenir). These types of stories are very helpful for foreigners going to visit, just so we can be aware of what to look for. If I hadn't heard from you and Sharla about some of these scams that target foreigners, it likely never would have crossed my mind.
People in Japan don't "just come up and talk". Yes, there are places, where people are "shabe-yasui" (easy to talk to), Taito (in Tokyo) or Okinawa are such places where people genuinely just want to chat. But there is one stark difference... they (at least to me) never feel creepy. And they don't approach you if you're not welcoming to conversation. And they never ever want to give you something or take you places. NEVER. The rules we were taught as children apply to adults as well. NEVER TAKE CANDY FROM STANGERS. NEVER FOLLOW STRANGERS.
@@marihanderkhan5663 Midsommar is actually always nice, sun, drinking, and strawberry cake. As a Swede I haven't experienced anything like in the movie.
I have had these guys bother me in Shinjuku. One guy followed me to an ATM and stood behind me asking me if I was a “faggot” because I didn’t want to go to the girly bar he was trying to entice me too. What pissed me off the most, was that outside the 7-11 there was a police sign that said the police would arrest anyone bothering people. Unfortunately this is complete crap. They don’t do anything.
As someone who's spent the past 12 years in Japan, I really want to stress that like Chris said, it's more of a Tokyo/big city thing. (The incident in Niigata took me by surprise!) The pros and cons of big cities and small towns are mirrored; in the cities you get people who can speak English, tourist spots that are more foreign catered, etc. In rural areas, there's not much in the way of tourist support, but less tourists also means less tourist targeted scams. That said, as long as you stay away from anyone who's oddly persistent in taking you somewhere, Japan should be safe and a pleasant experience!
I went to University in Niigata (a uni with a lot for foreign students), and we were warned against cults because members (usually middle-aged ladies) wait around the supermarkets we visit on weekends to try and pry foreign students into their cult. They stopped me once when I was alone, they wanted me to "have lunch with them" and they would "take me back to school in their car." (Im born and raised Latina, Im not stupid enough to get into any stranger's car). I escaped them by saying I was getting back together with my friends.
i feel like it's this way globally i've experienced all kinds of things in LA, Vegas, and NYC that would never happen in smaller towns across the US it really just boils down to a 'street smarts' thing, which only comes with lived experience. it is what it is
From what I gathered, Japanese in general rarely invite people/friends into their homes, much less strangers. These women readily inviting you in for tea or whatever is already suspect.
The "sect" story happened to me in Tokyo. I was walking out of the Tokyo SkyTree and an elderly women approached me. She asked me if I wanted to go see a temple. I was much in my yes-man phase, on a high honestly with everything in Tokyo. So said yes. Deep down I also cursed myself, would I be assassinated in japan and not in my home country? Anyway we walked for a bout 2 minutes before we reached a normal looking building. There, the elderly lady introduced me to 3 approx. 30 years old women, only one of them spoke enough English to get around so it was more a game of telephone with the other two. They were really lovely. They took me inside, gave me a book of prayer and a set of beads (which I still have!). The shrine was pretty I have to admit. We sat on some office chairs and a prayer started. One of the women pointed at the words while they were being chanted so could follow along. Then they took me to a small tatami room where a monk was waiting. I think he baptized me??? I will never know. I just remember they were impressed with my seiza. lol Never was money mentioned once. (Which was surprising) After the whole ordeal, I explained I was going to go back home, that I would stop somewhere to have supper alone, since I was travelling on my own. One of the 3 women wouldn't have it and off we were the four of us in a family restaurant (my first time there and not my last!). I got to know them more, after the meal, we exchanged line and I was off to bed with a nice story to tell. But it's not over! At another point of my trip I was back in Tokyo, the ladies asked me if I wanted to go visit their 'main' temple, thinking about it now, I can't remember for the life of m where it was but they actually RENTED a car and took me along. It was outside of Tokyo, we drove for a while. There, we got to sit n the biggest golden room I ever been into, I think there were at least a thousand people or so. After the prayer, we had lunch on the premises and then they drove me back! Once again, no money was ever discussed! I think i saw them once more ate that for dinner, I gotta say, really amazing and selfless people! I'll never know what their deal was beside allowing me a good time haha! Wherever they are, I hope they're well :)
Excellent story, but my favorite part was the implication that you know you're going to be assassinated somewhere, and you were upset that it looked like it wasn't going to be at home.
Have you tried finding out about it by asking other Japanese people? You had their LINE so with the help of a Japanese speaker, you can find out. My guess is that they are some new religious group trying to convert people without bad intention. Basically missionaries. MAny Christians also do this but usually not to people who they cannot communicate with.
When I was in the US Navy we were briefed about the bar scams specifically in Roppongi and "drink girls" in general, never heard about the cults though. We had a guy who broke the battle buddy rule, went off by himself and came back hours later talking about how he sang karaoke with these really cool tatted up japanese guys. Surprisingly he didn't get scammed lol.
@@dragxnnu Well, if there's one thing the Yakuza video games has taught me is that those guys can really bring down the house! ... whether while singing, or otherwise.
The irony is, from all the stories I've heard of westerners in Japan, it's dangerous to mess with people who work for the yakuza, but the yakuza themselves are a blast to hang out with, since they've got money to burn and think it's fun to show off to the tourists. I've heard of people being afraid of tatted-up Japanese guys, but never actually getting hurt or scammed by them, and lots of stories of neverending actual free drinks, crowds laughing at each other's bad karaoke, and comped hotel rooms and onsen visits.
I was "kidnapped" by some young street gangster types in Kyoto. They took me bar hopping and clubbing, paid for everything, and I danced with their girls -- who I mostly hung out with because they spoke some English. The next morning, excruciatingly early, some of us went to see a TaiDo tournament, which was filled with yakuza making huge money bets out in the open. I went back to Korea thinking, "did that just happen?"
a youtuber called “dark side of japan yuki” intentionally went to one of these bars while secretly recording, so any claims were recorded. in the end he was threatened to be killed and he just said no im leaving. ended up at the police station with the guy asking for a tens of thousands of yen, but he had confirmed the prices on camera before drinking so they settled the bill correctly and they split ways. i think this worked since hes japanese, a foreigner might not be so lucky the video is called I battled Yakuza at a Yakuza rip-off bar in Shinjuku Tokyo Kabukicho
Have you also noticed it’s almost never the ethnic native population either. Europe is rife with this stuff and it’s never a blue eyed blonde haired Nordic boy.
I vividly remember the tourist horror stories on the podcast so it’s great that you finally had the chance to make a video on them. Also, petition to make Abroad in a Scam your next channel idea 🙏
The video game "Judgment" has a side quest set in the game's version of Kabukichō in which the lead character follows a tout into a bar and gets a hundred thousand yen bill and can't get out of it.
I literally just started watching Bakemonogatari yesterday showing that mom getting into the cult and found it super coincidental right now that a video about cults was released by Chris. It's sad but coming from a crime ridden country it's really nothing new for me.
Moral of the story, Crime is very much alive and well in Japan. Its just hidden so perfectly that everyone is able to pretend it doesnt exist, including the cops. And in many cases, this is far more dangerous than situations in other countries.
Can attest to the experience with scouts on the streets of Kabukicho trying to lure us to a club and being very persistent and following us down the street when we felt like making a quick exit to escape the conversation. After that encounter we learned to avoid that street and stick to the areas that were more lit and had more people and eateries. Other than that, our stay in Shinjuku just adjacent to Kabukicho was a fun time!
When I researched Japan in 2017 to go, your videos came up a lot. I remember you mentioning somewhere that they are still very much a cash society. I left my card in my hotel room each time we went out at night and paid cash for 90% of everything on my trip. I went off to this bar where girls were overly friendly. Like, almost 'lap dance' friendly. I saw one girl pocket this dude's card and I immediately bailed. Had I not followed your advice, it could have happened to me as well. Thanks for that.
Except for a limited few cases, touching is an absolute NO-NO in Japan. Those exceptions are Hostess (or Host)-Bars / -Clubs, Snacks (similar, but smaller, with a "Mama") and Soap-Land (you go there to be touched). But any regular (non-sexual) establishment... NO TOUCHING. Even Maid Cafes and Girls-Bars are NOT for touching.
I just came back from a trip to Bangkok and had withdrawn all the cash i needed b4hand (before even getting into the country LOL at the airport). I took some of the cash everyday to spend. Nice solo trip in general.
"There's no such thing as a free lunch." Everybody is looking for a deal or a steal. Often times you get something stolen from you in the process. Either pay for a tour group with an agency, or follow your own itinerary trip as closely as you can. If someone's "too friendly" with you in a foreign country, clearly something messed up is about to occur.
I was warned to stay far away from Kubukicho by an uncle that lived in Japan. He said exactly what you said about the Nigerians. First day in Japan I had a yakuza guy grab me by the arm and tried to pull me into a sexual setting. It was pretty terrifying and I had to use force to get away. The other yakuza dude was laughing but I didn't find it all too funny. The whole trip I got bombarded by men and women trying to get me sexual favors for $50. You just have to be confident in saying NO. My second trip was a lot better since I brought my wife but then I got hassled by a monk trying to scam with beads and sob stories.
Unfortunately this exact scenario happened to me. Got drugged. Woke up with £1700 charged to my card (more than I had on there to begin with). Police didn't care. Luckily my bank reimbursed me.
@@qopiqq3629 exactly how described in the video. I was walking through the golden gai district while on my way back to my hotel. Got approached by a Nigerian tout offering free drinks. Initially said no, but was very insistent. Went in, had one drink, don't remember anything else until I woke up the next day and realised what had happened. Felt very strange for 24-48 hours.
@@christopherbaldwin8146 That's real fortunate that your bank was able to reimburse you. Some bank would not reimburse for stolen or missing credit card happen in oversees. (Bastards..) Visiting nearby embassy may or may not be helpful... (I cant say so certain about this..)
Fun story: Back in 2019 my brother and I were in Shinjuku for a layover. We went to a yakiniku place near the red light district for dinner and when we were walking home we stumbled into an area with a lot of seedy looking bars. We got approached by one of the street greeters who was telling us they had cheap drinks and cute girls and we were both like “naw were good.” He wasn’t taking it and as we were walking away he grabbed my brother by the arm and was like “man I’m telling you you’re gonna love it in there.” My brother, a 6’4” dickhead grabs the dudes arm like how your grandpa would shake your hand and looks this dude dead in the eyes and says “We’re Mormons, and our 5 wives will kill us if they find out.” The dude gets stunned and lets go of my brother and we walk back to our Airbnb. Last thing I heard him say was “Did he say they have five wives?” Laughed my ass off all the way home.
Holy shit, this almost happened to me when I was in Tokyo in 2019, a Nigerian women with ok English latched onto my arm and kept directing myself and my mate to a nightclub we had no interest and she suddenly started asking “Do you want girls” and both of us said “no thanks just exploring and etc…” and then she goes “Oh I can get you boys instead “ I broke myself laughing and asked her just to go away at that point I am terrified to think what could have happened if we gave in and followed her.
Yeah, I've been to Shinjuku recently and I've had quite a few people come to me saying things like "are you looking for sex? massage and sex? fuck?". And every now and then there would be loudspeaker announcements in the entirety of kabuki-cho saying that you should avoid, by all means, going to places recommended by people who would proactively reach out to you in the street and/or paying with card on bars/clubs due to the risk of fraud. The problem being -- those announcements were just in Japanese, so 99.9% of the foreigners would stay in a vulnerable state regardless...
When visiting Japan several years ago, I stayed in Shinjuku one night with my gf. We were walking around and suddenly it seemed like the atmosphere on the street changed with many of these touts hanging out outside many of the establishments. It was so jarring that we left the area immediately and seeing this, I’m glad I did. I absolutely loved my time in Japan and this was the only time I felt uneasy.
Once I visited Shinjuku and some guy advertised to one of our guys in our group if we want free hookup. That was really weird, it's the usual darker melanin guy tryna pimp. In a Japanese city suburb.
@@FiredAndIced I visited Kabukicho back in 2019. Same thing happened. The entire district was filled with street touts, most of them were black foreigners. They came asking if i'm looking for prostitutes. Took us by surprised really.
Good lord, shame on their bank. A situation like that would absolutely be regarded as an unauthorized transaction by our bank and federal credit union alike.
Yeah that seems off. All banks i know wont even argue against it,. Unless maybe somehow i spend 6000 dollars every other day (and even then that wlukd probably make me a Very important client and they would treat me with care)
But I mean think about it...you went to a bar that you don't remember the location of and also doesn't show up in google, you definitely got drunk there, and not sure if you were drugged or just had too many drinks. You claim that they sneaked your money without consent which you also can't prove since you don't have a proper alibi and were drunk to begin with, also there is no footage evidence since you can't find the bar anymore. So now you roll up to police and say you were scammed kinda feels like your fault
My bank would instantly block that amount of money and they always ask for the pin. The bank is at fault also. It can freeze the money. And I would have made a scandal at the police since drugging people isn't something they should shrug off
Hi Chris, My son has lived in Japan for around 20 years, and we used to visit every year and stay with him and his family, one time when he picked us up from the airport he stopped at an IKEA store near Tokyo, as I waited for my wife and son at the bottom of the escalator I was approached by a Caucasian women with a Japanese man pushing a trolley, she started asking various questions which ended with her giving me a pamphlet and when I looked, I had gone 6,000 miles only to be approached by a jehovah witness.😤
They have headquarters in many major cities in the world really. If you check, you will find they own whole buildings outside of the US in many very expensive major cities.
I don’t want you guys to hate Japan, but I hear the same kind of story from my japanese friends. Just don’t believe in every people in Japan. If you have any questions, ask them to some normal citizen who is around you (hoping one of them can speak English) As an English learner, I would love to communicate with foreign people. Hope you guys have a safe trip
@@soujemn5 I'm not a professional in law, but I think it's illegal. If some police ask you to show your stuff and they find a collapsible baton with you, then they may tell you to follow them to a police station. Self-defense cannot be a sufficient reason to have a collapsible baton in japan. Japan is not dangerous to make you carry them though.
I got targeted as soon as I walked out of Shinjuku Station after traveling from the Airport. "Come with us for a good time", "Come and party with me and my friends", and "Come and meet my friends" all by Japanese women whose grasp of English was probably limited to those phrases. Being 6' 2" didn't help. I was like a lighthouse in a storm attracting everyone and everything. By far the worst though was the Nigerians. They get right in your face and try to stop you from walking down the street. In the end, I reverted to a common English phrase "Get the f**k out of my way!!". Walking in Shinjuku at night, on my own, I was lucky to walk more than 50 meters without getting propositioned. The interesting thing was that during the day a loudspeaker system announces that what these touts are doing is illegal and to avoid them or report them to the Police. The mixed up world that is Japan
@@almark6548 Why does that even bother you so much...? Do you like him or something wtf, you're caring about a strangers height. And yes, 6'2 would definitely be considered tall in Japan, have you been there?
@@SomeOne-wr1wr 6'2 is tall everywhere ... 5.8 is an average height for men so being 4 inches above that is tall, totally agree with the rest of the comment.
I'm glad this is finally addressed by someone! My partner got scammed in Shinjuku with his friend in 2016, where they followed a tout into a bar. They got drugged, separated and threatened until they made card payments, they lost about $3500 combined. They also tried to go to the police, who were listening at first, but when the police man spotted someone outside (who had clearly followed my partner and his friend) they became completely unhelpful. The next day the boys both felt terrible due to the drugs and basically just fled Tokyo as they still felt very unsafe. Hearing this story completely shook me as I had never heard of things like this happening in Japan!
@@dannydaw59 Yeah, definitely. My partner and his friend actually went to a different police station when they returned to Tokyo for their flight home and those officers were much more helpful. It even got escalated to a higher level when my partner mentioned the guy who ran the bar had a scar on his face (they clearly knew who this dude was and were keen to hear more).
@@DutchieAbroad Yeah Police in Kabukicho are mostly useless because a lot of them are paid off by those scam owners to don't do anything, i'm from Mexico and Kabukicho for me felt super safe compared to my city XD, also because of Mexico for me was super easy to tell scams apart, we meme in Latin America that we have this "Latin America instict" in which we can easily tell if someone wants to rob or scam us.
You and this guy told stories about people being robbed, held hostage, kidnapped, one of the worst crimes in many if not most countries on Earth, at least in Western civilization, in sleazy bars after being roofied then going to the police and being told to get bent, to take it with their credit card company. Lovely police response and “justice” system! On par with the UAE, Qatar, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia where victims are totally helpless. Ghastly!
Pro-tip for traveling anywhere: If you use an android, turn on your google timeline. It will keep a record of where you go, and you can pull it up in the future to find the names of places you've been. In situations like the clip joint, it could have at least gotten them some more details about where they were. Also, I definitely had a similar cult experience last time I was in Tokyo (2019). Me and 3 friends were out in west Tokyo by Shimokita, and these 3 middle aged/older ladies made a B line for us, and kept insisting we come with them to church. Politely sidestepped it, and eventually just started to wander off to the side to break conversation.
I have heard from military friends that Roponggi is off-limits all because of the Nigerian bar scammers. There are even "neighborhood watch" people standing around in yellow reflective vests near these bars. How has Japan allowed this to continue???
At best the police rather to pretend it doesn’t happens or blame foreigners instead of do something and risking tarnishing their reputation. At worse they are into it.
This happened to me in China. I went to the concierge at my hotel and they had the assistant GM go with me to the Chinese Tourist Police who were excellent and put me in a van with me, the AGM, and 3 cops. We then drove around to the involved bars (and a few others) and they grabbed all the cash they could find (huge amounts of RMB 100 notes, in stacks), the credit card machines, etc. and they gave me ~120% or so of what I'd been charged in cash, as well as detaining all the people involved back at the station. It was pretty amazing. Other people were getting scammed at the same tea shops while we were raiding them and we rescued them (they were...disbelieving at the time, but then I talked to them).
Chinese police in large cities like Shanghai is actually very efficient even for petty crimes like theft or robbery, there is zero tolerance for crime or scam over there especially against foreigners. If you report it they usually investigate and make right if it’s true and arrest the criminal or make them pay, there are high def video cameras everywhere so finding the criminal is super easy. As long as you don’t get political and fuq with the government.
the chinese do not fuck around when it comes to crime. the law breakers get whats coming to them, unlike the japanese. i do like japan but their inability to admit their fault in the atrocities they committed in world war 2 is a reflection of the type of society japan is today. sweep the evil under the rug and hope it goes away.
Similar story happened to me my first year living here. I met a girl on a dating app who immediately was asking to go to a bar with her and listing the drink menu with prices. I didn’t think anything of it since we were chatting for about an hour. I meet her at the station and she grabs my arm which was really unexpected and walks me to a bar. A tout on the street met us and took us in. We have a few drinks on the nomihoudai menu and she asks if I want another drink. She stands up and grabs a bottle of champagne like she works there which was a huge red flag for me but I thought it was part of the menu. The bill comes at $400 which was way more than I had on me. I quickly said I only had enough for the drink set I intended to pay for but they didn’t buy it. Proceeded to call security where a big bouncer and a smaller guy with tattoos escort me to a combini to get the cash. It was a horrible night and my last time using dating apps in Japan.
Yeah, never use dating apps in Tokyo. It's a horrible idea. I did use Tinder before and ended up hooking up two girls (one was older and one was younger) but the other 3 who tried to meet were obvious scams. Two of them really wanted to meet in Kabukicho and I told her I'd rather go to Ebisu and she wouldn't budge. The other asked me to buy VIP tickets to a concert (about 17000 yen) and that she'd meet me there. I've had so many friends who have fallen for these scams. It's a shame.
As a general rule: learn a few colloquial dismissive phrases in Japanese. Once a tout suspects you aren't a tourist they typically lose interest and go looking for a new target
15:10 "whenever someone comes up to me in a very friendly and happy manner I assume it will be a scam" .... can definitely say that is the rule in Britain.... no one in their right mind would be happy walking on the street!!!
People need to understand that no place in this world that is “completely” safe. Low crime rate does not mean “no crime”. Japan is in the safe side of the world but Japan has one of the most bizarre crimes. Low crime rate but bizarre. That’s usually the description I hear from people living in Japan.
NO SANE ONE OF THEM, COMMITS CRIMES,. The ones that do commit crimes, are always crazy and also because Japanese are wound up so tightly, that when they spin out of control, it's lot of released energy.
It is true that Japan was the country where the world's first poison gas attack targeting civilians took place, but there is a downward trend across minor and serious crimes and the murder rate is quite low.
This is probably the only time I’m somewhat content with being born in a poorer neighborhood . From the start, you doubt what everyone says and you never trust anybody fully. It’s simple, it prevents you from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I mean I don’t even trust the ATM when I withdraw money, I’m sure as hell not trusting no person to show me a good time. Pro tip: beware of credit card scammers. Those guys are the real deal, cameras and fake pin pads. Those guys work overtime trying to take your money.
In the world of visa and master card i have always been wondering why anyone would withdraw money from atm. I myself havent seen cash for many years, have been travelling in eu, usa, thailand. I m sure visa works in japan as well
@@bambinaforever1402 Oh boy, Japan and Germany for example still use cash primarly and some places won't accept card pavements. In Germany it got better since this pandemic started, but I still need to carry cash with me because some places just won't accept card payment, like bakeries.
I agree with you for most parts, but don't destroy your chances of opportunities. Opportunities do exist. Aka: skill trades like dental technician, truck driving, plumbing, electrician, will pay off much more than minimum wage, saving money in mutual funds start it when economy is down, etc.
my pro tip, leave all money if possible behind before you follow the people if you want to (prevents them from getting the money from you). otherwise break the card into multiple pieces right before the atm cause that atm will have like at least 35% commission so if i withdraw 1000 id pay like 1350. best idea to not have a possebility of being found in a ditch is to just not follow
This is never a benefit. You will never have a legitimately happy moment in life. Being robbed 2 times in your life because you are a Decent Human Being instead of constantly claiming everyone is lying is obviously much better then never being robbed but also never having a friend, never looking for help during your own emergency, never having a happy marriage, and never talking to strangers.
The scam with drugs in a bar probably happened to me last year in Roppongi. A tout came to me and started persuading me to come to a bar nearby. I was drunk and it was almost the end of my vacation so I was like yeah man let's do it (a bad idea). The bar was hidden on one of the upper floors of some building, and it was a classic hostess bar with everything as you'd expect - free drinks for you, expensive drinks for the girls that spend time entertaining you and ridiculously overpriced champagne (100k yen for a bottle or so). Well, at the beginning it was quite fun, but after a few more drinks I basically blacked out and I don't remember much afterwards. From the moments that I do remember, I know that I indeed felt like a zombie and had no control of what I was doing. I kinda remember using my card to buy the fucking champagne tho. At least a few times. Overall, my stupid little decision to go with the tout cost me around $3k and I have very little recollection of how I even got back to my hotel. Up until I saw this video I didn't realize there were may have been drugs involved, I thought that I just got too drunk. I've never experienced anything even close to this state though, so I'm quite confident some other substance was involved. I guess it could've ended up even worse, but I sure as hell won't be going with a tout anywhere ever again.
One time when I was living in Tokyo, I met a Korean girl on a language exchange app. I can speak Korean conversationally, but I was new to Japan so I wanted to learn Japanese. She was really kind and offered to meet up for coffee, so I accepted. Upon arriving at the station I noticed a few other people waiting at the exact same spot. Someone appeared with a sign and the girl eventually came and said we would all be having coffee together. I guess it seemed safer in that there was a group of us, so I went. They took us to what looked like an old office building, and in the room were about 50 people, with a sign up table and people serving coffee/tea. We were split into groups depending on language ability, so I chose a Korean group. We looked at a picture of Michelangelo's the Creation of Adam, and discussed it. We also had to introduce ourselves, etc. After the study session we were made to sit through a long lecture about God in Japanese. It was fairly innocent in that I didn't lose anything, they were very excited to have me (I guess as the only non-Japanese or Korean there) so they made me sign up for a following session. I told them I'd come again, and left and never spoke to the girl after that. But, as a tourist I would be aware that this kind of thing exists just in case 😅 I actually met a guy there that spoke English, and he said he just used the sessions to study for free, lol.
I imagine someone stealing my card and trying to swipe it for a $200 transaction Too bad it won't go through because I rarely have more than $60 on it. But also! Always keep a daily limit on your cards, especially when traveling if you just can! It's just a handy safety measure.
I always have had 2 different bank accounts. One that is linked to my card, and one that isn't, and i ALWAYS keep my money on the one that isn't linked to the card, and just move the amount that i need to the card account. I overestimate just a little bit most of the time, but after i'm done using money again i just put it back to the other account, so technically i always have no money at all, haha.
Keep touch transaction off. Also where I am, credit cards barely are a thing so we got Debits. Now unless someone explains to me how they can use my debit card without PIN, I feel like the said story was a bit exaggerated in the debit card aspect
Same, I have a monzo card which is a sort of top up credit card. It takes seconds to transfer money on my phone to it so I keep hardly anything on it and top up for specific purchases.
@@clemet2 some debits will let you run them as credit, meaning you’re supposed to sign for the transaction after it goes through instead of needing a PIN.
I went to Tokyo with my girlfriend right before the pandemic. I was looking at hotels in Kabukicho but she didn't want to stay there because it was "crime ridden". So we got a place in the nice suburb of Kamata, which turns out has a fairly big Yakuza population. They would be hanging around the main street we walked through every night on the way back to the hotel. They didn't bother us at all, but I thought it was funny.
yukuza generally dont mess with the regular populace unless you are drunk in one of their bars or owe them something. they are much more white collar criminals these days. however, their underlings, the chimpira can be shitheads. usually much younger and rougher looking than the full up yak, and quicker to fuck with someone just because. As long as you dont owe them money, the yakuza usually wants nothing to do with you.
I don't believe anybody in Japan would describe kamata as a nice suburb. Kamata is definitely one of the worser parts in Tokyo, lots of prostitutes and rather questionable establishment's
Kamata is certainly not a "nice suburb". First of all, it's far from a "suburb" (those are an hour to the north-east or west). It's basically the dirt cheap place for employees of terrible companies to stay on a business-trip to Tokyo. You know you're a loser when your company books your hotel there. I mean it's ok for a "budget minded" tourist who has no issue with such a seedy place (it's still safer than many high price places in Europe and Murrica), but it's far from "nice".
@@bikkiikun your " It's basically the dirt cheap place for employees of terrible companies to stay on a business-trip to Tokyo. You know you're a loser when your company books your hotel there." got me, haha. The first company I worked for did book me a cheap business hotel in Kamata when they sent me to Tokyo for training. I was 22 and did not know much about Kamata though I spent 4 months in West Tokyo on a university exchange programme. I just went to the office, worked and had dinner with colleagues, and went back to the business hotel without wandering around. Nothing bad happened. Now I have been living in Tokyo for more than a decade, but I never went back to Kamata at all as I know it is not a place for me.
me being japanese i’ve almost been scammed in takeshita street. there’s foreign men in the street who have this paper about their clothing store. they say just looking is okay but after u enter their store they kinda give u the vibe to buy something. i lied i’m busy, i have no money and i said i’ll come next time (which i didn’t lol) and let the store. it’s really common, lately there’s security guys in the street but that’s not stopping them from trying to lure people in their stores. moral of story, don’t follow people into stores or buildings, if someone wants you to do a survey, say no or ask them if you can do it on the spot, if not, chances are they’re gonna take you into their building and make you buy something, and you can’t leave if you dont
Nearly happened to us in Tokyo, too. We already talked and walked with such a scam dude towards the bar, but fortunately met people from our own country just coming out of this scam bar and talk to us. The tout was not happy, when he realized we both spoke the same language he doesn't understand (German) 😅 Close call.
It is nice to strike up conversations with people on your solo trips, and often makes the trip. But you need to be cautious. Much better to find a reputable bar which clearly isn’t a scam and talk to the bar staff/wait staff and other customers than chat to random people who want things. I had some lovely encounters in Barcelona at my hotel bar by tipping the wait staff and talking to other visitors without ever putting myself at risk.
I remember going on vacation to Tokyo 6 years ago and being shocked that people left their laptop, phone and wallet on the table when going to the bathroom. Absolutely unthinkable in Europe
@@lars-akechesburg9911 okay to be more specific: Western Europe. I live in Belgium and have been to several other countries. You don't see people just leaving their belongings at the table here
@@lars-akechesburg9911 It'd be a much shorter list to name the countries in Europe where you CAN leave things completely unattended without running the risk of them being stolen.
By the way guys, disable the magnetic band payment on your debit cards. Only use the chip payment. With the chip payment they actually need a PIN code for payments and can't just steal your card
@@therealjetlagthat still only uses the chip, not the magnetic strip. You’re thinking of contactless payment which came in AFTER the chip and pin thing. The band is what they swipe and you have to physically sign for it, like my parents used to have to do whenever they used their debit or credit cards.
@@therealjetlag you can use your mobile banking app to turn it off in the uk and also set a limit on spend on tap and pay. Also you can holders aka sleeves that you put your card in that shield from people trying to scam your detail's. Same with mobile phones just turn off apple pay or on Android turn off nfc in settings
I live in Japan for 13 years of my life as originally an American. I've seen so many tourists interacting with the scammers outside of bars and actively told them it's like 25 bucks a drink there before they go in. Each one of them was like F that and walked away. I used to always tell them ask how much a drink was before and if it's brought to you decline immediately and leave, you didn't ask for it.
I had a similar experience occur when i was in Vietnam. Where i had a middle aged woman who wanted me to go to her home with her to chat to her elderly parents about my country as there daughter was studying there. Something was off about the interaction and i politely declined and left. Turns out a week later when i returned home they got someone else with this scam took them home drugged them and stole all their stuff.
LOL The last scam with the menus you brought up, I was stationed and lived in Okinawa for 6 years and my friends from Sweden were in town. We all went to a bar down in Naha, Okinawa's capital city, and it was our first time in that bar (they also lived in Japan for years in Okinawa and we frequently went out to bars). We walk in and sit down at a table and immediately open the Japanese menus that were already on the table, when a waiter sprints over and replaces our menu's for English ones. However, they forget to grab one of the menus and my buddy almost immediately pointed out how drinks on the English menu were 3-400 yen more than on the Japanese menu. The waiter comes back and we all order beers, but we demand the Japanese price for the beer and he is SHOCKED that we can read the menu and doesn't know how to respond and just says to talk to the manager. So we confront this guy and he is just as shocked that we can read the menu's and he apologizes MULTIPLE times and even gives us a free round of drinks. We drink them and just leave.
@@pepedeltoro6647 yeah, they have a lot of strange laws people don't talk about as well. Like openly displaying signs in some restaurants that if you're a foreigner you are not welcome. Pretty rare to see. But I've seen it enough to talk about it.
I met a tout in Shinjuku, not far from the Robot Restaurant. In a matter of seconds they make themselves seem so friendly and welcoming and will shake your hand, ask about where you're from, and invite you to cheap drinks and accompaniment of young women (who were standing behind him closer to the door, wooing at me). I knew what was up, and when I went to release the handshake and he didn't, I calmly and sternly said, "Let go of my hand." He did, the girls pouted at me, and he seemed to know he wasn't going to get me so he didn't try to save it. The whole exchange was 10 seconds or less and I was on my way. All of my other experiences in Japan were awesome and I met a handful of genuinely kind and friendly people who I enjoyed conversation with. It's good to be aware of these scams, but don't let it scare you into doubting everyone!
Went to Japan about a decade ago. Our tour group went to Roppongi and our guide gave us all the warnings about touts beforehand. He was very intent that we keep our heads down and don't take anything from the loud, pushy guys outside the bars. I didn't know they were Nigerian, but I just remember a bunch of black guys yelling at us in perfect English. It was a curious experience.
Oh my god, you've explained something that happened to me in Kyoto in 2010. Me (an English girl) and my friend (also an English girl), both in our early 20s at the time went on a night out in Kyoto, bought one drink in a club that we had to use a lift to get to in what looked like an office building (my friend's suggestion as I was fairly new to the city) and then can barely remember the rest of the night... it was obvious we had been drugged. My friend reacted very badly and started being sick and somehow in my addled state I managed to take control of the situation and get us out of there. I have very patchy memories of the night with long gaps (it was like one second I was in the club helping my sick friend and what seemed to me a second later we're outside looking for a taxi, I'd apparently just fallen over and some random Japanese guy was helping me up and my friend was practically passed out). I don't remember missing any money but I was so out of it I don't think I would have noticed and probably just assumed I spent it during the blank parts of my memory, thankfully I only took cash with me, and not that much, never even crossed my mind that it was a scam! Coming from a city in the UK with quite an active nightlife scene (Liverpool) I was used to not accepting drinks from random people and keeping an eye on any drinks to make sure nothing was put in them, never thought to worry about the bar staff as well!
This is the most fucked up cause you can’t trust even the bar so what can be done? Take your own drink???? Guilty of that no regrets… but it is still so fucked up
@@heyhorinshi I have a strict no open bottle policy wherever I go overseas for this reason, if I'm not the person opening that bottle or I see the barman not do it in front of me, im not drinking it.
In college I studied East Asian politics we learned how, while Japan is relatively safe, it is not nearly as crime-free as the stats show. The government manipulates the statistics and a lot of crime against foreigners is grossly underreported. While westerners don’t experience it, non-Japanese Asians get the brunt of it. When I was last in Japan (back in 2000), this guy from Malaysia who was a friend of my then-Japanese fiancée was severely beaten in Yamaguchi-ken and the police wouldn’t even investigate it. And I was confronted by “Yanki” hoodlums once as well. But it is still relatively safe.
From my experience and stories I've heard from my class mates it turns out Japan is relatively racist towards other Asians. Fortunately for me I am South African, 1.8m blond and blue eyes. So clearly a foreigner but most end up being very friendly with me.
@@Mw_kwak I mean yeah, there's the entire WW2 murder all the other asians and cut open pregnant women in competition thing. They saw others as subhuman. There's an undercurrent of right-wing shittery in Japan like in many other countries.
Thanks for the really great video. I experienced something similar to the cult story in Tokyo about a decade ago when I first moved to the city. It started at a friend's party, when I met someone who seemed cool to hang out with. We exchanged contact details, and some months later agreed to meet up for lunch at a family restaurant. All seemed perfectly normal, until a few of this person's friends joined us during the meal. Everyone was having good conversation, so it didn't seem strange that they proposed to continue the fun and go "for a coffee" at someone's apartment near by. When we got to the apartment, I found it filled with people chanting buddhist prayers and no sign of coffee, so I decided to make a speedy exit. The story ended with me dashing to the closest train station, with two of these people in close pursuit, shouting out things like "Wait! You don't understand. We can share the secret of true happiness". It was a quite scary at the time, and one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had. Fortunately, I've never experienced anything else like that in my many years here.
One of my more memorable experiences from my study abroad summer in Japan in 2004 was in Kabukicho. I ended up getting stuck talking to one of these street touts, an absolutely gigantic Nigerian dude who wanted me to go into a strip club. He told me that he was getting me a sweet deal and that "we gaijin gotta stick together," and it was pretty much impossible to gracefully get out of the situation. I ultimately had to fake a phone call from a friend of mine who I said was meeting me but was somewhere on the west side of Shinjuku station but didn't know where he was going, so I would go get him and bring him back so we could both go in the bar. Peaced out from there, made sure I wasn't being followed, and promptly got right back on the Sobu line back to Chiba prefecture.
I did my own ‘Journey across Japan’ in 2019 and at the first night almost got scammed in Kabukicho by the same Nigerian touts. Luckily i already had my eyes set to the Albatross bar in Golden Gai, which had favorable reviews for fair prices and a good, honest owner. (Which turned out to be true) Just don’t listen to the touts and don’t let them distract you from where you originally wanted to go.
I had what I suspected was a different scam in Japan. I visited Tokyo in 2015 with my then girlfriend who had lived in Japan previously. We went to see where my girlfriend had lived at the time and when walking down what I would call a quiet street an American came around a corner and came straight up to me. He was saying that he only had US dollars and if I could change him some JPY because he needed cash at that moment. He was holding quite a large wad of USD in his hands and looking at me. He probably thought that I was American, and my girlfriend was pulling on my arm because we were both getting weird vibes. Luckily I'm Australian so I poured on the accent really thick and lied, 'Mate, I only use a travel card for everything, never carry cash, but we did walk past a bank a few blocks back that way, maybe they can help out. Have a good one!' He seemed a little taken back by my accent and just stood there as we walked off. When I looked back a minute later I saw him turning back down the side street he had come from. I imagine it was either fake USD or he would have tried to short change me with a rigged exchange rate, probably why he would only approach a foreigner in japan as they would be easier to confuse with the JPY conversion.
Probably a scam similar to the dodgy exchange stations in Indonesia. Offer a good exchange rate, then they count the money twice in front of you. At some stage they would sleight of hand and hide some of the cash, and if you want to recount the notes in front of them, they would try to grab it back and try to convince you that it is the true count. If you walked away with the money you probably lost a few hundred dollars. This happened to me personally when in Indonesia, but I got lucky because I always recount any money in a larger sum. At the end they still didn't let me recount the money, gave my money back and said they don't want to exchange anymore 🤣
@@Smile936 find Honest Guide at YT, they are from Prague and have a lot of videos (in English) with revealing money scams. I suppose this kind of thing is same all around the world.
I'm sure this is going to be a hot take -- I don't drink alcohol when I travel. It would be nice if I could "trust" that the places I'm going to are safe, but there are BAD people out there even in the best hotels. The only way to be safe is to avoid situations where someone could take advantage of you, and abstaining is a big step you can take to make yourself less of a target. The bad actors know that once you've voluntarily had a few, it will be hard if not impossible for you to get them in any trouble for taking advantage of you. Sad but true.
What I have definitely learned to get touts to leave you alone is to learn a few words of a non-common language in Japan. Luckily, I can speak Spanish as well as English and Japanese. What I did every time a tout came up to me I would just start talking to them in Spanish, they would quickly walk away and never bother me again. My advice, learn a few words of a random language that foreign touts cannot speak (I do not recommend French, many African countries speak French) and you should largely be left alone.
Well I have a pretty low monotone voice, in any language I could see it coming off as aggressive. I was not intentionally being aggressive, just confident.
If I spoke Gibberish in a very aggressive manner do you think they would fuck off? Genuinely just wondering... (Gibberish is English but every syllable it's extended x3 and even english people will not know what you're saying unless they know the pattern themselves)
@@meme-gy5gx If they can't understand it sure since there's tons of languages most people will have never heard of. So gibberish could be anything to them if you do it right
Back in 2018 we went to the robot restaurant and after the fact one of the girls in our group got approached by a nigerian fellow trying to convince her to go with her for drinks and to take the whole group. We didn’t know about these scams but thankfully enough of us got a bad feeling from the situation and walked away. That girl was mad with the rest of us for the rest of the trip because she thought the guy was cute and wanted to go with him, but knowing what we do now we definitely saved her from a shitty situation :)
I feel the same way about the time share scam in the USA. They don't even call the time shares anymore because people know how bad they are. They have touts that offer free tickets to shows or if you're in Florida they offer Disney World. I always tell them I would rather hang myself than sit through a sales presentation.
Yeah, they took my money for the vacation and literally a week before the trip they suddenly declared that I needed to have 45 k or someone with me making at least 45k or I couldn't have the Vacation I PAID FOR. I had spent months working with them and setting up this trip with no mention of such a requirement, not in the calls, emails, or even their pamphlet yet they swore it was in the digital deal I signed (searched all through my copy and found nothing so I think they had doubles, switching one page out after its been signed).
The only way to profit is to get someone who tells you that you get a free cruise or whatever if you sit through the sales pitch, but you resolve to tell them no thank you at the end from the get-go and you have bravery and a very strong conviction. I wouldn't personally do it, because I know I would be coerced due to being mentally ill if they chomped at the bit hard enough. I have C-PTSD, so if they started strong-arming me, I would do absolutely anything to get away from them. If I was ever questioned by police, they could probably get a false admission of guilt out of me under duress.
@@mcy2phil Valid as hell. Mine ain't, I sat thru a several-hours sales pitch, helped myself to free food and drinks, said no a bunch of times to some visibly disappointed in me sales people, and walked away with $150 and a free week long resort stay. 🤣 All that being said, you're still right, people shouldn't do it. They're very good at applying pressure and being convincing.
A friend and I got drafted into one of those cults, kept saying we'd play games and learn about happiness LOL. Stupidly we went along with them but when they got us into a cab rather than just on the subway we tried telling the taxi driver we didn't trust them (after they were saying some shady stuff about us coming over to HQ on the phone during the ride) and he dropped us off near our airbnb and the girls who took us paid for our part of the cab ride. Then we booked it into a konbini until they were long gone before heading back to our lodging :')
Nice work. It sounds like a close call! 😅 But I just want to share my own experience as well… Once, in my first year in Japan, I was invited to a ‘zazan meditation session.’ (Not by a random stranger, but a friend of one of my students). It ended up being a really interesting and valuable cultural experience, and not ‘culty’ at all. I just wanted to mention this experience so people don’t thing this kind of thing is always a scam or trap. Japan has a lot to offer in the way of perspectives on spirituality, and it would be a waste to close our minds to this out of fear. Basically, use your sense. If something feels weird or scammy, it probably is. 🍻
@@Aeybiseediy true. I guess a major difference is that I already had a personal connection with the person doing the inviting (via my student). And the temple was like a proper neighborhood temple…in my town…not some random person’s living room.
@@Jordan-inJapan Oh that actually sounds really nice!! I would love to attend a gathering like that knowing it would all be legit and get some real experience with Japanese beliefs and spirituality☺️ Of course we weren't sure what they were actually taking us to but it dawned on us way too late that that was exactly the problem! It gave us the major creeps and we decided rather to be safe (and rude?😅) than sorry, also we were only two young women by ourselves... We had a flight back home early the next day so we used that mainly as an excuse to get out asap.
I received a few sect leaflets to my house (which I discarded in my ever-expanding pile of post I couldn't understand), and some persistent recruiters to our door on occasion. I wish that (plus the attempts of being recruited to hostess bars, lol) was the extent of the scams/crime we encountered, but my housemate had caught the attention of a stalker who would follow her from the station after work. He found out where we lived and came to hover around the street corner to our house. At one point he rang our intercom, and we could see him hiding just out of view of the camera. It was mortifying. We were in touch with police weekly for a good while, but ultimately the stalker ended up assaulting my housemate and she moved back home as a result. Japan, just like most places, has its fair share of crime regardless of its pristine image abroad and sadly women are often more at risk. And, in my opinion after dealing with them, the police in Japan is not the best.
sexual assault is rampant there. What a crazy experience you had. Sorry to hear. I was astounded by how much of that I observed when I lived there. It was like a national pastime. I bought a little knife for my Japanese friend and told her to stick it into the hand of the next person who groped her or chase her down an alley. She told me that I did not understand. She said that crying out would draw attention and shame the people who did not help. I was like f*k that, cut him. This was in the 1990's. I really hope this is not the case today. I read that these chikan's now flee the train and run onto the tracks causing delays with some amount of frequency. I remember a Canadian girl telling me that a guy groped her in a bar, she turned around kneed him, he fell and she proceeded to punched and stomp him until people dragged her off the guy who curled into a ball. Seems she was the villain. Imagine that?
@@storagebox1793 it’s very telling of a society’s view on women when they dare not speak out against sexual assault for fear of inconveniencing others…
@@storagebox1793 It sadly is. What was kind of a shock to me was that I read this little official guide for women as to how you could reduce your chances of getting groped on public transport. And how all the phones are manufactured so that you can't turn off the shutter sound. I recall it was this big news when a woman grabbed her groper's hand, held it up, refusing to let go, dragging him off at the next station and notifying staff. Where my friend is concerned, I was the one who spoke to the police when they checked in, and they would frequently ask what she was wearing or else suggest she dressed conservatively...
@@mouneydonuru2769 It was super scary, and I was out drinking at the time the assault happened, so it took me a good while to get back. The policemen that were there were at the time were really pressed, my friend said they yelled at her because she couldn't understand them properly. They were not nice, especially if you've just gone through that ordeal.
There is a similar scam in the Pigalle district in Paris: you get tricked into a bar with free drinks and then beautiful girls start drinking next to you, what they don't tell you is that they are drinking on your tab very expensive bottles of Champagne. When it's time to pay you're suddenly surrounded by not so friendly people that will not let you go until you're out of money...
When I first moved to Japan, we were visiting a tourist area and one lady from a small group in the area came up and was asking if she could pray with and for me and my children. She had pamphlets and kept wanting to hold our hands for prayer (I saw them do this with other foreigners there who prayed with them holding hands and with closed eyes). I'm super skeptical having grown up in a big city where scams happen all the time, so I said "no thank you" and she insisted and even my kids were saying, "come on mom she just wants to pray". I ended up walking away saying thank you and that she could pray for me from a distance if she wanted to but I did not want to stay there and hold a stranger's hand while she prayed God knows what in a foreign language. Scam or not, IDK for sure, but it felt very suspicious so I insistently declined. Thanks for this video!!
This happened to me in Tokyo. I was lead into a place, handed a drink and the next thing I knew was I woke up feeling extremely groggy and disorientated with a insanely large bill and all my cash missing. It was a horrible experience.
I had a similar situation in Japan. When my family and I were scratching our heads over which station tickets to buy for our next destination, some random guy swooped in and talked really fast. I assumed he was trying to help us to get the correct tickets after seeing us staring at the station map for a while. What's crazy is that he literally took all our change from the ticket dispenser after we put the money in (around 600-700 yen of change).
That is exactly why the crime rate in Japan is so low. I got robbed, went to the police to report it and after about 16 hours at the police station (no joke, I think they wanted free English lessons) they told me they wouldn't do anything. So no report, no crime on their stats. You have to wonder how often that happens, and how often people don't even bother reporting crimes in the first place.
Tbf there is next to no violent crime, but yeah especially when it happens to foreigners nobody will do anything. But like compare it to any city in the US and it is incredibly safe. It's kinda silly to say it's not safe at all.
@@derekskelton4187 Maybe, but literally drugging people to get at their money wouldn't be called a "scam" in my country, and police would actually do their job! So I can't help but wonder how bad crime really is in Japan...
I’m honestly dubious of any country/city that prides itself for being “safe.” Just because it looks nice and citizens can leave their doors unlocked DOES NOT mean a place is actually safe. Also, considering the significant stalking and harassment issues female citizens face on a daily basis, I doubt that Japan is as crime-free as people make it out to be.
Well I'd assume it has something to do with about half the population having one foot in the grave. Old people don't commit a lot of violent crime. One if the reasons the U.S has a bigger issue with violent crime is we're about a decade younger then most other developed nations.
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NOTIFICATION SQUAD: I honestly regret not talking about this sooner on Abroad in Japan. But hopefully if we can prevent just a few of you from enduring it, it'll make up for it.
But what's the WORST scam you've encountered inside or outside Japan? SHARE your wisdom below!
Early
Pogger
Early for once
You and Pete discussed it a lot in the podcast you don’t promote.
Edit: oh, you did this time. Good job, Chris!
Nfts probably...
My favourite part about the woman who stopped Chris on the cycle has always been the idea that she knew exactly how to lure a British man into a trap….. biscuits. Great video as always, nothing wrong with alerting people to dangers especially ones aimed at tourists
We all know it's only a matter of time before she pulled out the tea, then Chris really couldn't leave. Good thing he did!!
If a cult involved tea and biscuits they can have my unwavering dedication and loyalty.
Little did she know she was just one piece of familymarkt fried chicken away from luring Chris in
creepy serial killer vibes. lure them back with biscuits and pictures of previous victims.
You gotta ask yourself how bad can a cult that deals In tea and biscuits be?
general rule that holds true with tourism anywhere: you never ever go with the person who approaches you, doesn't matter if it's cab drivers, guys in front of clubs, store owners, etc... they don't need to drag you in if they're legit.
Not even to the seedy backroom strip club at a bar in Riga where the bloke said everyone coming out had "BIG smiles!!!" and that it was all "lovely jubbly"? I mean, I said no at the time but it's one of my biggest regrets in life that I didn't go to see what was behind the curtain.
The 2nd woman would have skinned n stuffed Chris i guarantee it
There is an easier solution, but no one wants it... JUST DON"T DRINK ALCOHOL.
just not for tourism but its true for every salesperson
@@zam023 you do know they can drug the water and the juice don't you? Or should one not leave home ever?
There is a easy rule don't follow strangers... or one can be a puritan...
A story about the time I stayed in Shinjuku. It was my last night there and I decided to spend it at the Golden Gai. On my way back to my hotel, I was bombarded by touts trying to get me to come into their scam bars but I was told to act like they're ghosts by my travel agent. There was this one swole tout who clearly did not take kindly to me ignoring them and he followed me up the block shouting slurs at me. I was scared out of my mind but suddenly, a guy in a suit up the road, smoking a cigarette walked out in front of us, arms crossed, and the tout was suddenly gone. He was clearly Yakuza and I'm not exactly sure why he stepped in to save me, but I still think about it.
He was protecting his territory, not trying to save you.
@@alexanderarmfelt4452 or maybe it was kazuma kiryu????????
I think he could've been the touts' boss and he was simply disapproving of the guys behavior since being loud and irate could drive away potential victims. Or like the other guy said, he was protecting his territory which the tout may have come too close to
kazuma-chan saved your ass lmao
KIRYU-CHAN!
If something like this ever happens to you, NEVER tell your bank/card that you were scammed. Always tell then you LOST your card (or it got stolen) and you don't know anything about the transactions. This gives you a much higher chance of them cancelling the transactions.
Right? There is no way a bank wouldn't work with you in this situation. That's the whole reason there is a fraud department and charge backs.
That was my first thought. Someone robbed us last night. People are so naive, then they wonder why they're so easily scammed.
@@josephsmith961 blaming the victims
@@josephsmith961 It's not naive to be surprised that they have to make up an explanation because the bank doesn't consider it a robbery when somebody drugged them and then took their cards and used them while they were blacked out.
@@snowangelnc If you don't understand how your financial instruments work, that's just being stupid. Had they read the rules of how the card works, they wouldn't have lost any money. They didn't bother to do that, which makes them one or the other, naive, or just plain stupid. I think stupid applies here more than naivete.
I've had to explain this to many others so I'll leave this here as well: Just because Japan has this ''squeaky clean'' image of crime doesn't mean that it isn't crime ridden or crime doesn't happen. It's just leagues & fathoms lower than many places elsewhere in the world.
The more I look into it the more I start to call into question this belief. Crime isn't actually low just Japan is good at covering it up. There is no one to counter argue because police torture suspects for a false confession and have them locked up. It is extremely easy to get preyed upon in tourist spots and difficult to get out of when the criminals know the law. (or bribe police) Corruption is extremely common. Only recently Yakuza were running the streets and fighting in broad daylight. The problem is still there just better hidden.
@@sunwukong5413 But in terms of overall crime, it's substantially a world of difference than in say another G7 nation like the US or the UK. There were 45,000 shooting deaths in the US in 2021 alone -- there were barely 30 since 2016 in Japan. There's no comparison (or excuse) for modern, industrialized countries like the UK, US, and Japan. There's car jackings _daily_ in Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, LA, and NYC. It's a *DAILY* occurrence.
@@sunwukong5413 _[citation needed]_
@@sunwukong5413
You know nothing, that's "your desire".
I know that you have not gone to japan.
A sseth_tzeentach avatar?
An individual of culture we have here.
Literally the exact same thing happened to my cousin in Roppongi with around $4k total across 4-5 transactions for be below the amount that usually triggers banks to fraud. Same thing happened, cops had zero interest in getting to the bottom of it. No report lodged, not showing on the reports… BUT, lucky for him, I speak fluent Japanese and lost my shit at the police, got them to put together a report, which then was given to the bank to lodge the fraudulent access claim, which led to him getting his money back. 👍🏻 Hot tip: get a report saying that there was a violation!
"Hot tip: get a report saying that there was a violation!"
That was my thought after hearing the first story.
Without it, the bank would probably do nothing.
VERY important info... embarrass the Police into writing a report. Tell them you will lodge a complaint against them, if they don't do their job.
@@vilena5308 How do you get the report? Is there a specific information that we need to provide? I’ve always thought that if the police refuse to help then there’s nothing we can do 🫠
It happened to my coworkers visiting Japan for business. There were 5 them in a bar with a total bill of about 12K USD. They all used their credit cards just to be able to get out of the bar manned by Nigerians. Then they all call their banks (individually, no group drinking happened, cards were from different banks) and claimed that they have lost their card a few hours prior to the scam. They all got their charges reversed. Sometimes you just have to tell the bank a different story.
When I travel, I always have a "scam" credit card for the scammers. I was scammed in Budapest, Paris, Amsterdam recently in small amounts but get all my money back.
@@rin__ This depends on the country. There should certainly be a complaint procedure: what to do if the police is not taking your report, you feel they are not providing all the information, they are dragging their feet, etc.
When you are in a foreign country, it depends. If you are in Japan, and know Japanese well enough or have someone in the police who speaks English, you can push them, insist you are staying till the report is filed or tell them you want to file a complaint on them and ask what is the procedure.
It also depends what's the situation overall. Honestly, in this case (first story), drugs, theft and molestation, I would have first contacted my embassy and asked them for help and advice how to proceed with the criminal charges.
When I travel and stay in a foreign country, as a rule, I carry a printout with contact info of my country's embassy and I enter it in my phone as well.
had this happen to me in kabukicho about seven years ago (spiked drinks, handsy hostesses, $2k charged to my card) - fortunately, my credit card provider reversed the entirety of the charge after calling the bar's listed phone number and finding it was disconnected (canadian banks are apparently quite benevolent at times)
I hate our banks but they only thing that makes me proud about them is that they don't tolerate fraud, same thing happened with my friend but in different country and they got his money back
@@astrothelad had they called the bar and reached a legitimate establishment with a proprietor who could confirm the charge, they likely would not have reversed it, particularly because i didn't bother filing a police complaint.
The first time I went to Japan my bank preemptively blocked my card because "someone" was suddenly spending so much in a foreign country far away from mine, and it seemed suspicious to them. I had to call them to tell them that it was me acting like I'm rich (when I'm not).
@@astrothelad I was an investigator for a credit card company for 13 years until recently. My job was literally investigating cases like the first story. US, Canadian and Australian law require that the banks provide a dispute process to argue suspicious transactions. The review process is much more than just a phone call to the business. On top of that, in the rare case the bank allows the charge, VISA, AMEX and MasterCard all give the customer the opportunity to request a deeper investigation through them directly.
So the victims in the first example either didn't do their diligence or are exaggerating the story.
@@simonlemlem9759 Had my Gmail hacked a few years back and they took $115 through my PayPal. Thankfully I was able to go to my Canadian bank and get my money back after a few days of panic.
I also added the finger parent verification to sign in with my phone.
@Dragonfly hell my bank gets suspicious if I use a VPN so in cases like this I'm glad to have a Canadian bank.
A similar scam went on in Budapest in Hungary (without the drugging). There is a RUclips channel that covered it. They heard about the scam and, with a hidden camera, let themselves be led into a bar, secretly filming the whole process. Their video actually got quite a media coverage in Hungary and the bar was closed down after that
Sadly, in many cases, media pressure is the only way to get actions taken.
only to re-open with a different name and exact same MO approximately 9 hours later.
Really? Source?
Please tell me...I'm going there in September , my abnb is by the party district and I'm a solo female traveler 😮
I think it happens everywhere. London is notorious for it.
There is a Japanese youtuber who actually secretly recorded himself getting scammed and the yakuza threatening him with the police. He walked with the yakuza to a police station where the police did absolutely nothing at all until he forced their hand with video and audio proof of the whole situation. These scammers usually get off scot free just because the police don't like to "rock the boat" without 190% undoubtable proof of guilt..
Oh yeah. I think his account name was "The Dark Side of Japan" or something like that and he does videos on the sketchy parts and stuff that goes on in Japan
@@jaredf.6532 Thats the one!
They really like their statistic of 99% conviction rate and will do anything to keep it like that. Such a joke.
Yes I remember that, it is a video I will remember certainly
From what I heard the Japanese police turns a blind eye to the Yakuza as long as they don't have any wars or any murders and keep smaller crimes off the street, sort of like a symbiotic relationshiop. Not sure how true that is but yeah...
I was in Tokyo a few years ago with a friend and a street tout physically grabbed our arms when we walked by ignoring him. He tried to drag us away into the store (we're both small Asian girls). He only let go after my friend started screaming at him. He then let us go and shouted slurs/derogatory terms at us while everyone stared without helping. This happened in the middle of a crowded street during the day too. Love Japan and Tokyo but the street touts are honestly some of the worst scum I've ever encountered in any country.
Why doesn't the Japanese police do anything about this? This has clearly become a systemic issue. Do you think they're being bribed?
@@gnarlin4964 I imagine a societal image of it "not really being a crime" because nobody was hurt, as well as not wanting to step on anyones toes
@@gnarlin4964 the police might happen not close in there, so they are not aware something like these happen.
@@DragonEdge10 not only does it have to do with that (unfortunately), but it also has to do with the fact that Japanese are really quiet and don't really engage socially with strangers. What we may think is "shyness" from their part is actually just their standard mindset of "I'm on my own, and everybody else is also. I'm just going to carry on with my day, I have nothing to do with other strangers".
Staring while not helping definitely sounds like a Japan thing.
I was almost caught out by a street tout. This happened about 7 years ago and had only been in Japan for about a week. I had missed my last train and was in Chiba city, so was waiting outside the station for the earliest one (I was very very drunk). Someone came up and started chatting, a friendly dude supposedly from Colombia. Anyway we chatted for like 30 minutes about Japan and family and stuff, he seemed like a genuinely cool dude (although I had heard of the street touts, it hadn't at all crossed my mind with him).
So we got walking whilst chatting, (sure beat the hell out of sitting outside the station) and then suddenly he said "Hey, actually I know this bar that's still open we could go to, you wanna go?" and red flags started jumping around in my head. Trying to be friendly I was like "Okay, sure!" whilst trying to fight my sobering brain cells screaming at me to get away as soon as possible.
We got to a fairly busy crossroad where there was another foreigner standing around who gave the Colombian dude strong eye contact, then a big smile, and they high fived. That confirmed what was going on, and I realised we must be close and it was now or never. I said to him, "Sorry, you know what, I've got to go." So I turned around and started walking the other way. He ran back to me and grabbed my arm tightly (not exactly what I was expecting), and said to me, "Hey you need a drink or some food?" and dragged me into a 7eleven right next to us. He was gripping pretty tight, but I didn't want to get into a fight and possibly end up in a koban for the rest of the night, so I allowed him to drag me into the 7eleven. He was saying "You want a coke, a sandwich?", he grabbed a bottle of coke from the fridge and walked me over to the till. At that point I thought I was in a pretty safe environment with cameras etc, so I jolted my arm from his grip and briskly walked out. He didn't follow, probably because he was still holding a bottle of coke at the till.
When you're in Japan for the first time, you definitely can let your guard down due to how friendly people can seem, and how trusting people can be. I've now reverted back to my British cynicism though.
That’s certainly quite scary but I must say, the bloke didn’t fail for lack of commitment.
I don't usually leave comments on You Tube, but I couldn't help it after reading your message. I am very sorry that this happened to you. As a Colombian, I feel deeply ashamed that there are always malicious people who give a bad reputation to our nation (more than what is already historically known). 🤦🏽♀🤦🏽♀🤦🏽♀🤦🏽♀ And to anyone reading this message, not all Colombians are bad people or criminals. Unfortunately for us, it is an invisible yoke that all citizens carry whether we want to or not when we live abroad because of the bad reputation that some bastards have created.
As a Colombian I am so sorry that you went through this experience and am glad that you made it out ok . We are not all bad even though the media usually portrays otherwise. We have our good and bad people just like every other nation
You are weak
That last sentence made it for me! xD
I was unfortunately drugged at a bar in Roppongi, but since I was with about 10 burly men who were all worried about me passing out, the bar just pretended I was too drunk to be there and kicked me out to be picked up at the street. I am forever grateful to all my friends who took care of me until the next morning.
That was your first mistake. I went to college in Japan, and my Japanese classmates told us, NEVER go to Roppongi. That's where the Yakuza and their hired help set up bars.
you lucky I wasnt there
@@demored3017ok edgelord
NEVER go to Roppongi!!! That is the foreigner district, and is practically run by the Nigerian Mafia!!
@@2shadowcats2 the mafia from niger with 2 gs?
A Dutch journalist once made a series in which he intentionally got scammed in different countries to show the practices. He also got himself into one of these Tokyo bars (and saved a tourist). The episode is on youtube (auto translate subs works pretty well): "Oplichters in het Buitenland - S04E01 Deel 1/5 - Tokyo"
Kees van der spek 😍😍
ooh thanks for this, will make a good follow up watch
definitely a good program , he's gotten tons of scammers arrested before.
Danku voor de suggestie
I've seen that guy and show!! Great
General rule of thumb in Japan:
If an overly friendly person comes up to you in English, they want your money
If an overly friendly person comes up to you in Japanese, they want you to join their cult/religion
Or they’re Natsuki 😅
It they want you to eat some spiked tofu with who knows what. lol
yess, this is so true. I once went to a huge 2nd hand store and when my girlfriend and I came out, we had a mother and a child ask us in Japanese if we wanted to pray at their shrine because of the current tsunami situation in the south of the country. we expected them to just take us to a local shrine where we would go through the very common procedure of throwing coins into a box, clapping and bowing. Instead, they took us on a 40-minute train ride, up 20 stories of some skyscraper handed us a necklace and a booklet, where we spend the next 30 minutes sitting in a tatami room chanting some form of us religios song. Still the weirdest experience i've had on all of my trips to japan, but at least we got free icecream after 😂
Edit: i was only haveway through the video when looking at the comments. So yeah, I guess I experienced this 2nd form of "scam" or religions recruitment xd We did not have to sign documents to join their ranks on the other hand....
Fortunately I have to disagree with you.. I met a wonderful Japanese lady in Japan about 11:00 at night in the hotel laundry 😂. We met again the following day and enjoyed the whole day out doing sightseeing in Tokyo. She came and visited me in Australia for a month the following year and I joined her in Osaka in the family home for three weeks. I heard the most fantastic time!!!! We are still in touch and planning to get together again!!
@@victoriakudry3127
Thats lovely, what video game did you pull that story from?
It seems to me many tourists try to be too polite. With a tout, don't try to reason with them, say no and walk away. It's best to not even slow your pace, shake your head and keep walking. It's ok to be "rude" to them. I've never had a problem, lived in Tokyo for 10 years and have traveled all over the world.
If people would actually say no to anything they have the entire world at their feet and can do everything.
I’ve had to be violent with touts because of them harassing me and my friends.
You're completely right. I'v spent a reasonable amount of time in Egypt and you have to be like that on a daily basis.
Yeah that's what I do in big cities. Just keep walking. If they follow I say no and don't reply
Yup! I just act like I don't even see them, not even a no😅
I've got a similar story to the first one. 2005 mine and my brothers first trip of two to Japan. We are out on the town in this big club called vanilla on 3 floors, I went to the bar to get a drink come back and he is gone from the standing table thing where I left him, I thought he had just gone to find a bathroom so I finish my drink and dance some and he doesn't show up I look for him for a bit and then an hour or so I go back to the hotel thinking he will show up, well at 4 in the morning there is a knock on the door there he is barely standing with a cab driver behind him, the cab driver explains he could not pay for the cab but promised I would so I get him in the room go get some money pay the cabbie, I wrestle out of my brother that he lost his card and so I go down to the lobby and get to make a call back to Iceland to Visa and tell them my brother has lost his card and they need to close it, his card had been maxed out but unlike those unlucky ppl in the video visa cancelled most of the charges from the night. But the story doesn't end there I get informed in the morning that someone had called the hotel around noon demanding to speak to my brother giving the room number and name. The hotel staff that I talked to in the night said to them there must be some mistake to that person and that the info did not match, we were then moved to a different room and put under a different name. Needless to say there was quite a bit less nightlife in our trip after this traumatic experiance.
That’s awful!
seriously though, the staff is such a huge saviour!
How awful.
As a 16yr old on a school trip to Japan, we were warned about the touts beforehand. I looked a little older than my age and managed to attract the attention of a tout during our free time. I'm notoriously jumpy due to a childhood of jump scares from my cousin, so when he appeared behind me suddenly I shrieked. He apologised and made a very quick get away. Felt terrible that I'd hurt his feelings until our teacher reminded us what their job was.
Thank you for the screaming tip! That should actually work almost 100% of the time 😂
@@soldadogomez3811 wtf?
@@x8Pukaluka8x you too kid
Damn, must be a nice school if you are getting a trip to Japan.
@@x8Pukaluka8x what did he say?
The fact that your bank said that was an authorized transaction is BS. I would definitely look for another bank. It’s called claiming fraud for a reason.
The scary thing is that in Japan, you don't even need to put in your pin for a transaction 😭
@@ReXiRa787 as in the US.
This is why you need to use a credit card. Your debit card is your money and the bank doesn't care. The credit card is their money and they will get it back. They will fight for their money
@@ChikNoods Yeah, I never used my debit card at all in japan, credit cards and their travel protections are really the way to go
I live in Akasaka, one of the most prestigious and high tier addresses in Japan. Even here, drunk one night after drinking at my local, I was approached by a cute and friendly Taiwanese girl. After a short conversation where I told her about my travels in her country, she told me she’s working at a local bar and asked if I’d like to go.
I thought why not, she seems nice and Akasaka has a great reputation, I’ve never had problems here before.
She took me to her bar which looked sketchy as hell from minute one. I decided I would only stay for one drink, and the girl also asked for a drink and I said yes. After 30 minutes I came over very tired, and luckily I still had the consciousness to ask for the bill. Pretty much as I did so, another 2 girls entered carrying a clearly drunk and semi-conscious salary man who could not even walk or talk. Immediately they started ordering drinks for him and themselves even though he was basically unconscious. I was beginning to feel like I would be scammed. 2 drinks, one for me and one for the girl came to a whopping 60,000 yen (around $600). I said can I use the restroom first? They said okay. I ran home without paying, but fell unconscious half way in the side streets - in hindsight, I think I must have been drugged. I woke up hours later, a policeman had been tipped off about the unconscious gaijin in the neighborhood and had come to check on me. He took my ID and then helped me get home. My ankle was in a lot of pain. The next day I woke up to the most horrendous headache, much worse than the worst hangover I’ve ever had, and my left ankle was massively swollen and bruised.
It took a few days for me to even get out of bed, but when I did get to a doctor he told me it’s lucky that my ankle wasn’t broken and it’s the worst sprain he’s ever seen. It took around 6 weeks to fully recover. I must have fallen hard on my ankle when I passed out, again I think I must have been drugged.
Luckily, I made it out without losing any money. But even then, the sprain was hardly worth it. Don’t talk to touts!
Holy shit! Good that you escaped before anything worse happened!
God damn that's horrible, I hope karma takes care of them!
If you lived there why didn't you search for the bar afterwards? To make them trouble, or just write anonymous tip/review? Exact address name, even take photos
Should have reported it to the police
@@roberts3423 I live in Japan and stuff like that is actually legal what they don’t do is tell you about all the “hidden fees” like walking in the bar fee talking to the girls fee sitting down fee etc
Japan: We have low crime rate! Also Japan: Report a crime and you're told there's nothing they can do. Technically a lot of variation in crime statistics between countries actually reflects a difference in how crimes are reported.
Also... 99% of all reported and followed up (by police) crimes are solved and result in prosecutions in Japan.
Amazing eh?
@@AnotherPointOfView944 Key words "followed up." If the police tell you there's nothing they can do for crimes that may be difficult to bring to a conclusion, taking only the ones that can be readily resolved, yeah, that makes your "solved" rate look fantastic.
So true
@@AnotherPointOfView944 Improbably amazing, sounds like cherry-picking is involved.
And police are useless.
The fact that the police didn't care when those two got robbed and sexually molested/assaulted is a great highlight of the Japanese policing and justice system. It's terrible. And the reason they can be is because of low crime rates due to culture etc. But it definitely needs improving.
They are paid off and part of it. Same as Thailand. It's just an extra income scheme for them. You are viewed as dumb and a sucker to fall for it.
Japan's police mandate is to "maintain peace", not necessarily "enforce the law".
Therefore, taking out the crooks they know predate primarily on tourists and creating a power vacuum is probably viewed as more endangering to the "peace" than letting them do their thing.
Yeah, that's why it's best to avoid getting into trouble in Japan.
And IIRC Japan back in pre 2000s is known to their notorious crime and modern society only change how they work.
While every country can have corrupt police, Police in Japan can be irresponsible as they get when it comes to such matters.
The thing most ppl don't know about the japan low criminal rate is that it don't include
sexual misconduct/assault on women's (if it did it will be like 3 or so in the world).
So most women's report if considered at all are 4 or 6 in the priority list. property law is #3 on the list so most get under the rug with the usual excuse if you don't know the guy why you talked/replied to him so you're the one who prompted the incident type of reply.
also the cultural fact that you need to keep quiet and don't bother ppl/family with your problem don't help eighter
That’s alarming as a woman. So their low crime rate probably isn’t right. I wonder if the police in any country is actually good or at the bare minimum.
I was at Dotonbori in Osaka when a Japanese schoolgirl came running up to me and asked to use my phone because she had to call her parents right away. I said sorry, my phone doesn't work here, which was the truth because I didn't have a Japanese SIM card. But the street was absolutely crowded with Japanese people, and I have to question why she would want to use the phone of the obvious tourist and not a local who spoke Japanese. I feel like I dodged some sort of bullet.
She probably just wanted your attention. Japanese kids still see foreigners as strange oddities even in the big cities.
Asking a stranger for a phone is awkward and embarrassing and some Japanese people feel more comfortable asking foreigners for such things because you are not viewed as part of Japanese society, and may be more likely to be open and understanding. But, we can only speculate.
This is a known scam where you unlock your phone, hand it to them, they call somebody, run away with your phone then basically they've stole your phone and can reset / sell it. it happens all over the world. It's always "I need to call my parents" because something has happened.
@@Yarnocalypso Thank you for this info! It's good to know my scam-detector is working. Seriously though, who lets a complete stranger use their phone, even if it's a kid?
A Japanese schoolgirl could just go to a koban if there were such an emergency.
I think the same precaution applies in _any_ country: If some stranger comes to you and asks you to follow him or her somewhere, politely decline. There's literally zero reason why that would ever be a good idea.
Of course. None of these scams listed in the video are unique to Japan. They happen in all major cities.
So very true, though in my case following a stranger in Japan actually worked out for the best.
@@CyrussNP how ?
Well this is easy. The people I'm not supposed to trust are b|ek? I'm already one step ahead of you.
@theseb1979 The religious scam isn’t seen much in western countries so I can see why people fall for it. But the bar scams and touts along with Africans “giving” arts and Crafts, and Moroccans/Colombians selling fake drugs are in pretty much every capital/most major cities.
This scam actually happened to me at my home university in Austria. I was sitting in a park when a japanese guy approached me and we had a very nice conversation. He told me that he is working for a company that holds an event at our biggest concert venue and invited me to come. He even said that famous artists from a TV show come and have a performance. I didn't have anything better to do that day and since he seemed really nice I thought "cool why not" and bought tickets for me and my boyfriend. When we got there we realized that the entire event was about religion and it was definitely a cult we were recruited for. So this kind of japanese scam can even reach you in your country.
I got got by friggin MORMONS that way once, music concert my ass... never trust white boys on bicycles in America, even if they're not in the dang mormon uniform lmao...
Oh dear, I hope you are okay. Cults sure can be dangerous factions of belief and ideology.
@@Taiyo_Jingu sure I am fine..luckily nothing else happened and we only lost some money :)
I had to report 2 assaults in Japan and they essentially bully you into not reporting and saying reporting won’t do anything since I didn’t have any substantial proof. Oh I had to persist to submit a report for 2 hours before they caved and let me. But not after berating me and making me talk through and act out what had happened. Gross police work.
I guess that's how the keep the crime statistics low
@@galamotshaku Exactly. Just like in South Korean police ignores your peports, mocks you and etc. You HAVE to know legal basis for you actions beforehand to force them register you case and give you report number. That would allow you to file a complaint in case they try to avoid invistigation. And many other little trick you have to know. Otherwise you get nothing.
There is not crime if there is not case registered, right? And lets not forget about society shaming victims of harrasment and sexual assault. yeah, yeah. japanese police develops alarm application, creates seminars about that but its nothing more than a cute dressing.
as safe as japan seems to be, its not because of a robust police force. Police in japan are about as useful as nipples on men.
@@robertnomok9750 can confirm. lived in korea for a year. only thing i saw the KNP do was knock around a few drunks when it was closing time.
Having lived in Japan, I can honestly say that the Japanese Police are the most useless police force in the world. They are essentially cosplayers in police outfits. Whenever I visit Japan I avoid them like the plague.
in other words: If the police doesn't accept and record a crime, there's no crime added to the statistics. Therefore the statistics are insanely good. This however leads to more people believing crimes and rip-offs don't exist in Japan.
I think I spot a pattern there
Wait till you hear about the ‘near perfect’ conviction rate
remind me of a village in Hot Fuzz
same pattern with a lot of government statistics all around the world
that's (sadly) the way it goes
Japan believes in forgiveness
Interesting point, but i still think its safer than most. Every country has its crooks. Heck, in japan someone had to make their own diy gun to shoot that ex japanese politician because they are practically non existent. But yeah, crime still does happen. :(
If you think about it. Japan would be the perfect place for a scam. Your guard is down and you think you are going to be ok because you hear how safe it is. Just know your surroundings and be safe out there!
It's safe cause no one reports crimes and when you try the police don't care
It's also a great place for a scam because the police don't care about foreigners. Scam all the tourists you want.
I think Japan does have a lot of scams directed at the every growing elderly population there.
can understand why Nigerians Iraqis and Albanians are trafficked to the UK in boats because they will be working illegally in a factory or a scam in London. I don’t think it just happens in Japan
Plus people on holiday tend to leave their brain at home...
I had a really scary experience in harajuku when I was there on a school trip many years ago. Our teacher gave us time to explore and I was with two girls that I wasn't really friends with. This really shady looking guy invited us to his T-shirt shop which had 'many more sizes and styles' than the few on a rack he was standing beside. The girls I was with quickly took his offer even though I tried to tell them not to. I ended up going with them out of fear that something would happen to them if I didn't, he led us down an alleyway and up several flights of stairs into this room with no windows filled with T-shirits and a BIG and HEAVY looking door. The other two walked straight in but I planted myself in the doorway leaning against the door on the wall.The dude looked SO pissed at me and several other workers tried to draw me away to look at their items. They sent us away and told us they're closing as soon as it became obvious I knew something fishy was up. So terrifying to think what might have happened if I didn't do that.
Actually doors look like that in Japan. It’s completely normal. All apartment and office doors etc, are metal and heavy looking. You probably didn’t know that if you were just there for a very short time.
I am pretty sure that absolutely nothing would have happened to you. Harajuku has many hundreds of small little privately owned boutiques run from tiny apartments, with a clothing rail somewhere outside to attract customers.
@@dragonbone5000
'I am pretty sure that absolutely nothing would have happened to you.'
hooo boy.
you thought being led into a windowless room by a stranger is not a big deal?
not to mention that there are SEVERAL other 'workers' inside that windowless room???
and all of a sudden,magically,that guy said that they are closing as soon as OP doesnt want to come in?(even though shes on a school trip,and free time to explore usually meant that its not late night or midnight?)
theres plenty of red flags here,and you didnt think that anything is wrong here?
im going to miss you when something bad happens to you.
LOL!
@@ssllsg9439 not sure what ‘hoo boy’ refers to, as actually I am a female.
@@dragonbone5000
'not sure what ‘hoo boy’ refers to, as actually I am a female.'
and THIS is your main concern?
youre not worried at all about your lack of common sense and awareness for your own safety?
yep.
my worries is justified.
LOL!
I think you saved them from an experience they would have regretted for the rest of their lives.
Me and my friends almost got into one of these scams when there was an overly friendly guy in Roppongi trying to lure us into a bar.. unfortunately for the guy I am Mexican and somewhat paranoid and told my friends that’s basically how one ends waking up without a kidney. 😅
I also remember chatting with someone in a hostel who had practically the same experience with forcibly joining a cult, but he seemed more amused by it than annoyed.
I was in a bar in Roppongi when a random guy approached me. He was from Spain and was trying to make small-talk. Then out of nowhere he starts telling me that could hook me up with anything. You name it! Weed, cocaine, meth, etc. I acted like I had to go to the restroom and just booked it
When anxiety is your superpower lol
Sometimes I wonder if we're evolving anxiety to replace the missing common sense, too paranoid to get trapped if you never leave the house.
It is not paranoia, because someone from Mexico has to be the MOST cautious or his kidneys are gunna be in different times zones.
The drugging happened to me in Tokyo. I called my bank and had the charges reversed by saying "I got charges from a company that doesn't exist on Google. This is fraud."
Huh, do companies HAVE to exist on google?
@@murry001 no but it helps you tell your bank its a fraud if they can't find it they will believe the fraud charges. 4000k was swiped from mine and i still had 2 weeks to go in singapore on only $500 cash.
@@sidewithwerewolves yeah the main isuue with the victims is they acknowledged the existence of the place and the fact that they were there...if you tell your bank this is a fraud charge I wasnt there they would most likely take the charge back specially if it doesn't fit your shop profile.
@@kazmaBlends not to mention that puts them in a position to prove that you were there.
Moved to Tokyo about a month ago and have already encountered the cults quite a bit. They have definitely evolved beyond just approaching you on the street, I met people via language exchange and dating apps as well that start off with totally normal encounters that end either with Japanese that has all of a sudden gotten very very fast and trying drag you off somewhere or "would you like to come pray with me?" and being handed registration sheets half filled in with the information they already know about you
That's... Actually fuqqin spooky, i dunno if i have the gal to run or look for an opportunity to dash away
What we (westeners) understand as "regular" religion, is just every day life in Japan. People go to shrine or temple, throw in their 100 yen, toll the bell and clap and bow and buy an omamori... And they just don't talk about their "spiritual experience". People who do, are part of cult. People who talk religion, mean cults. And most of them are pyramid schemes. People who talk about religion in Japan are only after you money and that of your family and that of your friends... and lots of it.
STAY AWAY from anyone who talks religion, who offers religion.
Shrines and Temples that are wide open to the public are generally safe. Those that are in Office Buildings or closed to the public... don't enter.
you're living in tokyo as a foreigner or japanese? so many questions lol, what are you doing there any how much rent do you pay? Im so jelous lol we visit japan 1-2 times a year but would love to live.
What? So that particular episode in Konosuba was true
@@krisb-travel : You can get a one room, 1DK or even 2DK apartment central Tokyo (and I mean central, as in inside Yamanote-sen) for under 10man (about 900USD)... though you need to be relatively fluent in Japanese language and culture / behaviour, because most of those aren't rented to foreigners.
when i was in japan there were some people trying to get my whole group into a bar and they tried like 4 times theyre very persistent and they even tried to offer us a free round of drinks if we went in the 3rd time, funny everything you said about that scam was exactly what happened and im glad i avoided it even though the guys in my group were happy to take him up i convinced them to follow me away.
the same night my friends insisted on going to this club, we went and when my friend went with one of the strippers in the back she actually took his wallet out of his pocket while he wasnt paying attention and put it in her purse, luckily my friend was ballsy enough to just open her purse in front of her to check, but i know most people myself included wouldnt have done that and just assumed i lost it before that, definitely be careful, if something feels shady it doesnt matter how safe the country is it probably is shady
This was on okinawa
I'm glad you mentioned this, Chris. In 2019, I took a month-long trip to Japan (not my first, but my most extensive) and I had some of your stories in mind when I did. Good thing, too, because when I was visiting Hirosaki, Aomori during the Neputa Matsuri, I'm pretty sure I was targeted by one of these scams. I was on my own, exploring the area around Hirosaki castle, when a young man about my age comes up to me on the street and strikes up a conversation. As you mentioned, this isn't really something that happens in Japan, so I was already a bit confused, but he seemed nice enough. He asked me the same questions you listed - where I was from, what I was doing in Japan - and when he found out I was there for the festival, he said, "My town has a festival going on too. I would like to take you there." Immediately I thought about your experience with the woman in Niigata and politely declined, doing my best to end the conversation as fast as possible and making up a BS reason that I had to go meet some friends back at my hotel (figured he was less likely to do anything weird if he thought people were expecting me). Eventually he gave me a pamphlet for some sort of religious movement and left (still saved it as a souvenir).
These types of stories are very helpful for foreigners going to visit, just so we can be aware of what to look for. If I hadn't heard from you and Sharla about some of these scams that target foreigners, it likely never would have crossed my mind.
People in Japan don't "just come up and talk". Yes, there are places, where people are "shabe-yasui" (easy to talk to), Taito (in Tokyo) or Okinawa are such places where people genuinely just want to chat. But there is one stark difference... they (at least to me) never feel creepy. And they don't approach you if you're not welcoming to conversation. And they never ever want to give you something or take you places. NEVER.
The rules we were taught as children apply to adults as well. NEVER TAKE CANDY FROM STANGERS. NEVER FOLLOW STRANGERS.
I havent seen that vid, what happened over in Niigata?
Straight out of Midsommar
@@lou00006 Chris describes it in this video (it's the "biscuit lady").
@@marihanderkhan5663 Midsommar is actually always nice, sun, drinking, and strawberry cake. As a Swede I haven't experienced anything like in the movie.
I have had these guys bother me in Shinjuku. One guy followed me to an ATM and stood behind me asking me if I was a “faggot” because I didn’t want to go to the girly bar he was trying to entice me too.
What pissed me off the most, was that outside the 7-11 there was a police sign that said the police would arrest anyone bothering people. Unfortunately this is complete crap. They don’t do anything.
Shouldve asked the cops you are being harrased.
@@NatzoXavier which cops? The ones that didn’t exist on the streets at all??
i feel like the fact that you're a foreigner is why
@@scottcopeland2585 U didnt mention they werent close by.
They should be deported.
As someone who's spent the past 12 years in Japan, I really want to stress that like Chris said, it's more of a Tokyo/big city thing. (The incident in Niigata took me by surprise!) The pros and cons of big cities and small towns are mirrored; in the cities you get people who can speak English, tourist spots that are more foreign catered, etc. In rural areas, there's not much in the way of tourist support, but less tourists also means less tourist targeted scams.
That said, as long as you stay away from anyone who's oddly persistent in taking you somewhere, Japan should be safe and a pleasant experience!
I went to University in Niigata (a uni with a lot for foreign students), and we were warned against cults because members (usually middle-aged ladies) wait around the supermarkets we visit on weekends to try and pry foreign students into their cult.
They stopped me once when I was alone, they wanted me to "have lunch with them" and they would "take me back to school in their car." (Im born and raised Latina, Im not stupid enough to get into any stranger's car).
I escaped them by saying I was getting back together with my friends.
i feel like it's this way globally
i've experienced all kinds of things in LA, Vegas, and NYC that would never happen in smaller towns across the US
it really just boils down to a 'street smarts' thing, which only comes with lived experience. it is what it is
From what I gathered, Japanese in general rarely invite people/friends into their homes, much less strangers. These women readily inviting you in for tea or whatever is already suspect.
My thoughts exactly. 🍻
@@peko7446 That would be a huge red flag for me but in the moment people might not think clearly.
The "sect" story happened to me in Tokyo. I was walking out of the Tokyo SkyTree and an elderly women approached me. She asked me if I wanted to go see a temple. I was much in my yes-man phase, on a high honestly with everything in Tokyo. So said yes. Deep down I also cursed myself, would I be assassinated in japan and not in my home country?
Anyway we walked for a bout 2 minutes before we reached a normal looking building. There, the elderly lady introduced me to 3 approx. 30 years old women, only one of them spoke enough English to get around so it was more a game of telephone with the other two. They were really lovely.
They took me inside, gave me a book of prayer and a set of beads (which I still have!). The shrine was pretty I have to admit. We sat on some office chairs and a prayer started. One of the women pointed at the words while they were being chanted so could follow along. Then they took me to a small tatami room where a monk was waiting. I think he baptized me??? I will never know. I just remember they were impressed with my seiza. lol Never was money mentioned once. (Which was surprising)
After the whole ordeal, I explained I was going to go back home, that I would stop somewhere to have supper alone, since I was travelling on my own. One of the 3 women wouldn't have it and off we were the four of us in a family restaurant (my first time there and not my last!). I got to know them more, after the meal, we exchanged line and I was off to bed with a nice story to tell. But it's not over!
At another point of my trip I was back in Tokyo, the ladies asked me if I wanted to go visit their 'main' temple, thinking about it now, I can't remember for the life of m where it was but they actually RENTED a car and took me along. It was outside of Tokyo, we drove for a while. There, we got to sit n the biggest golden room I ever been into, I think there were at least a thousand people or so. After the prayer, we had lunch on the premises and then they drove me back! Once again, no money was ever discussed!
I think i saw them once more ate that for dinner, I gotta say, really amazing and selfless people! I'll never know what their deal was beside allowing me a good time haha! Wherever they are, I hope they're well :)
Excellent story, but my favorite part was the implication that you know you're going to be assassinated somewhere, and you were upset that it looked like it wasn't going to be at home.
Have you tried finding out about it by asking other Japanese people? You had their LINE so with the help of a Japanese speaker, you can find out.
My guess is that they are some new religious group trying to convert people without bad intention. Basically missionaries. MAny Christians also do this but usually not to people who they cannot communicate with.
Very interesting
Be wary of this kind of stories. They are easily fabricated. Use your common sense always while traveling.
feels nice to read a story with a happy ending, thought that assassination was inevitable as I kept reading hahahaha
When I was in the US Navy we were briefed about the bar scams specifically in Roppongi and "drink girls" in general, never heard about the cults though. We had a guy who broke the battle buddy rule, went off by himself and came back hours later talking about how he sang karaoke with these really cool tatted up japanese guys. Surprisingly he didn't get scammed lol.
your guy sang karaoke with the Yakuza
@@dragxnnu Well, if there's one thing the Yakuza video games has taught me is that those guys can really bring down the house! ... whether while singing, or otherwise.
The irony is, from all the stories I've heard of westerners in Japan, it's dangerous to mess with people who work for the yakuza, but the yakuza themselves are a blast to hang out with, since they've got money to burn and think it's fun to show off to the tourists. I've heard of people being afraid of tatted-up Japanese guys, but never actually getting hurt or scammed by them, and lots of stories of neverending actual free drinks, crowds laughing at each other's bad karaoke, and comped hotel rooms and onsen visits.
@@tildessmoo the ones with large tats are higher up and don’t need to get their hands dirty the ones starting off are doing it all for them
I was "kidnapped" by some young street gangster types in Kyoto. They took me bar hopping and clubbing, paid for everything, and I danced with their girls -- who I mostly hung out with because they spoke some English. The next morning, excruciatingly early, some of us went to see a TaiDo tournament, which was filled with yakuza making huge money bets out in the open. I went back to Korea thinking, "did that just happen?"
a youtuber called “dark side of japan yuki” intentionally went to one of these bars while secretly recording, so any claims were recorded. in the end he was threatened to be killed and he just said no im leaving. ended up at the police station with the guy asking for a tens of thousands of yen, but he had confirmed the prices on camera before drinking so they settled the bill correctly and they split ways. i think this worked since hes japanese, a foreigner might not be so lucky
the video is called
I battled Yakuza at a Yakuza rip-off bar in Shinjuku Tokyo Kabukicho
Thats not Yakuza.
Yakuza doesn't do small things like that.
You have been fooled
Many of his videos are scripted/fake. But its indeed something that can happen in Japan.
@@Veniks wait proof for how it's fake?
@@sankujamatia525 who is it then?
@@sankujamatia525 You watch too much anime, guy. They're a gang, same as any other.
I hope the pandemic shutting out tourists for years has majorly hurt these scammers financially.
Except they probably double down on the locals to keep profits up.
@@TharzZzDunN I imagine the locals are more aware/informed about the scam. At least I hope so.
when i was there last week there werent many around but i guess when Japan opens up again they will be back out in full force.
They know how to make money other ways. Thiefs are clever unfortunately
@@drumsR4girls i could tell a bullshit artist in my own language/country. They probably prey on the elderly japanese.
It's astonishing there are so many people who are completely comfortable with harming others.
Then the populace just ignores it. So if they didn't see it it didn't happen.
Have you also noticed it’s almost never the ethnic native population either. Europe is rife with this stuff and it’s never a blue eyed blonde haired Nordic boy.
I vividly remember the tourist horror stories on the podcast so it’s great that you finally had the chance to make a video on them. Also, petition to make Abroad in a Scam your next channel idea 🙏
The video game "Judgment" has a side quest set in the game's version of Kabukichō in which the lead character follows a tout into a bar and gets a hundred thousand yen bill and can't get out of it.
Yakuza 0 also has a side quest where you save someone's daughter from one of those religious cults.
@@dannad74 Munancho!
One of the Monogatari characters has a parent who got caught up in a cult as well. The way it was portrayed was quite sinister
I literally just started watching Bakemonogatari yesterday showing that mom getting into the cult and found it super coincidental right now that a video about cults was released by Chris. It's sad but coming from a crime ridden country it's really nothing new for me.
@@robintitanstudios6455 *he knows*
Good to see that Sharmeleon's partner started his own channel, wishing you the best!
But how will he get viewers if he's not a blonde chick in Japan?
He has started a channel and that's fine but i feel like he should start a series where he cycles through the whole of Japan.
@@NZobservatory you mean a broad in japan?
Who's Sharmeleon? Do you mean Bread Girl in Japan?
@@MrBejkovec But... But... But... She's blonde! In _Japan!_
Moral of the story, Crime is very much alive and well in Japan. Its just hidden so perfectly that everyone is able to pretend it doesnt exist, including the cops.
And in many cases, this is far more dangerous than situations in other countries.
Pickpocketing is probably low but for other crimes is another story.
Anybody who's heard of Yakuza shouldn't be surprised by this
@@elgatofelix8917 Every country have their own mafia or criminal group, America is just special having multiples xD
Please quantify "far more dangerous"?
@elgatofelix8917 Not every crime in Japan is Yakuza. Similar bars exist all over the world. A lot of it is migrant crime.
Can attest to the experience with scouts on the streets of Kabukicho trying to lure us to a club and being very persistent and following us down the street when we felt like making a quick exit to escape the conversation. After that encounter we learned to avoid that street and stick to the areas that were more lit and had more people and eateries. Other than that, our stay in Shinjuku just adjacent to Kabukicho was a fun time!
When I researched Japan in 2017 to go, your videos came up a lot. I remember you mentioning somewhere that they are still very much a cash society. I left my card in my hotel room each time we went out at night and paid cash for 90% of everything on my trip. I went off to this bar where girls were overly friendly. Like, almost 'lap dance' friendly. I saw one girl pocket this dude's card and I immediately bailed. Had I not followed your advice, it could have happened to me as well. Thanks for that.
Except for a limited few cases, touching is an absolute NO-NO in Japan. Those exceptions are Hostess (or Host)-Bars / -Clubs, Snacks (similar, but smaller, with a "Mama") and Soap-Land (you go there to be touched).
But any regular (non-sexual) establishment... NO TOUCHING. Even Maid Cafes and Girls-Bars are NOT for touching.
Touching women in maid cafés and girls' bars is prohibited.
Racists will not understand this.
I just came back from a trip to Bangkok and had withdrawn all the cash i needed b4hand (before even getting into the country LOL at the airport). I took some of the cash everyday to spend. Nice solo trip in general.
"There's no such thing as a free lunch."
Everybody is looking for a deal or a steal. Often times you get something stolen from you in the process.
Either pay for a tour group with an agency, or follow your own itinerary trip as closely as you can.
If someone's "too friendly" with you in a foreign country, clearly something messed up is about to occur.
I was warned to stay far away from Kubukicho by an uncle that lived in Japan. He said exactly what you said about the Nigerians. First day in Japan I had a yakuza guy grab me by the arm and tried to pull me into a sexual setting. It was pretty terrifying and I had to use force to get away. The other yakuza dude was laughing but I didn't find it all too funny. The whole trip I got bombarded by men and women trying to get me sexual favors for $50. You just have to be confident in saying NO. My second trip was a lot better since I brought my wife but then I got hassled by a monk trying to scam with beads and sob stories.
Unfortunately this exact scenario happened to me. Got drugged. Woke up with £1700 charged to my card (more than I had on there to begin with). Police didn't care. Luckily my bank reimbursed me.
How did you get in that situation?
@@qopiqq3629 exactly how described in the video. I was walking through the golden gai district while on my way back to my hotel. Got approached by a Nigerian tout offering free drinks. Initially said no, but was very insistent. Went in, had one drink, don't remember anything else until I woke up the next day and realised what had happened. Felt very strange for 24-48 hours.
@@christopherbaldwin8146 Not gonna lie i'd probably have fallen for it aswell. Good thing you got your money back
@@qopiqq3629 Thank you, was a very surreal experience. The police were not helpful in the slightest, luckily my bank was very supportive.
@@christopherbaldwin8146 That's real fortunate that your bank was able to reimburse you. Some bank would not reimburse for stolen or missing credit card happen in oversees. (Bastards..) Visiting nearby embassy may or may not be helpful... (I cant say so certain about this..)
Fun story: Back in 2019 my brother and I were in Shinjuku for a layover. We went to a yakiniku place near the red light district for dinner and when we were walking home we stumbled into an area with a lot of seedy looking bars. We got approached by one of the street greeters who was telling us they had cheap drinks and cute girls and we were both like “naw were good.” He wasn’t taking it and as we were walking away he grabbed my brother by the arm and was like “man I’m telling you you’re gonna love it in there.” My brother, a 6’4” dickhead grabs the dudes arm like how your grandpa would shake your hand and looks this dude dead in the eyes and says “We’re Mormons, and our 5 wives will kill us if they find out.” The dude gets stunned and lets go of my brother and we walk back to our Airbnb. Last thing I heard him say was “Did he say they have five wives?” Laughed my ass off all the way home.
I'm gonna use the 3 weed smoking girlfriends as a get out jail card for this situation if I get into it
Gold
This comment is king.
As a Mormon, this made me and my three wife’s laugh
I love your brother's response!
Holy shit, this almost happened to me when I was in Tokyo in 2019, a Nigerian women with ok English latched onto my arm and kept directing myself and my mate to a nightclub we had no interest and she suddenly started asking “Do you want girls” and both of us said “no thanks just exploring and etc…” and then she goes “Oh I can get you boys instead “ I broke myself laughing and asked her just to go away at that point I am terrified to think what could have happened if we gave in and followed her.
„Well, so you have unicorns? I’m only interested in uniforms. GOOD DAY, MAM!“
"I want spiderman!"
Yeah, I've been to Shinjuku recently and I've had quite a few people come to me saying things like "are you looking for sex? massage and sex? fuck?". And every now and then there would be loudspeaker announcements in the entirety of kabuki-cho saying that you should avoid, by all means, going to places recommended by people who would proactively reach out to you in the street and/or paying with card on bars/clubs due to the risk of fraud.
The problem being -- those announcements were just in Japanese, so 99.9% of the foreigners would stay in a vulnerable state regardless...
I once had a tout just straight up go "do you want pussy?" when I was on my way home from the gym. That was a surprise (I didn't)
Happens in London as well. Just ask them for some ridiculous kink, like do you have horses?
Literally got approached for this today and luckily my buddy had seen your video. 👍 Thanks mate.
When visiting Japan several years ago, I stayed in Shinjuku one night with my gf. We were walking around and suddenly it seemed like the atmosphere on the street changed with many of these touts hanging out outside many of the establishments. It was so jarring that we left the area immediately and seeing this, I’m glad I did. I absolutely loved my time in Japan and this was the only time I felt uneasy.
Once I visited Shinjuku and some guy advertised to one of our guys in our group if we want free hookup. That was really weird, it's the usual darker melanin guy tryna pimp. In a Japanese city suburb.
@@FiredAndIced I visited Kabukicho back in 2019. Same thing happened. The entire district was filled with street touts, most of them were black foreigners. They came asking if i'm looking for prostitutes. Took us by surprised really.
Same happened to us (boyfriend and me) in Osaka. We just kindda rushed for our bikes and rode away
Good lord, shame on their bank. A situation like that would absolutely be regarded as an unauthorized transaction by our bank and federal credit union alike.
shame on the Japanese police as well
Yeah that seems off. All banks i know wont even argue against it,. Unless maybe somehow i spend 6000 dollars every other day (and even then that wlukd probably make me a Very important client and they would treat me with care)
But I mean think about it...you went to a bar that you don't remember the location of and also doesn't show up in google, you definitely got drunk there, and not sure if you were drugged or just had too many drinks. You claim that they sneaked your money without consent which you also can't prove since you don't have a proper alibi and were drunk to begin with, also there is no footage evidence since you can't find the bar anymore. So now you roll up to police and say you were scammed kinda feels like your fault
My bank would instantly block that amount of money and they always ask for the pin. The bank is at fault also. It can freeze the money. And I would have made a scandal at the police since drugging people isn't something they should shrug off
@@NeonSake13 The cops get a kickback from the $6k.
Hi Chris, My son has lived in Japan for around 20 years, and we used to visit every year and stay with him and his family, one time when he picked us up from the airport he stopped at an IKEA store near Tokyo, as I waited for my wife and son at the bottom of the escalator I was approached by a Caucasian women with a Japanese man pushing a trolley, she started asking various questions which ended with her giving me a pamphlet and when I looked, I had gone 6,000 miles only to be approached by a jehovah witness.😤
🤣🤣
The word of god is every where :p
There is no escape from them!
They have headquarters in many major cities in the world really. If you check, you will find they own whole buildings outside of the US in many very expensive major cities.
I thought jehovah witnesses only worked with doors
I don’t want you guys to hate Japan, but I hear the same kind of story from my japanese friends. Just don’t believe in every people in Japan. If you have any questions, ask them to some normal citizen who is around you (hoping one of them can speak English)
As an English learner, I would love to communicate with foreign people. Hope you guys have a safe trip
Did you do this translation yourself? if so it is really good. It is not perfect, but it is definitely passable.
@@theglitchcounter264 yes, I did. Thanks for a kind comment. I appreciate it☺️
@@まんどめ no problem 👍
i've been wondering about collapsible batons in Japan for a while. Is it legal to carry a collapsible baton for self defense reasons in Japan?
@@soujemn5 I'm not a professional in law, but I think it's illegal. If some police ask you to show your stuff and they find a collapsible baton with you, then they may tell you to follow them to a police station. Self-defense cannot be a sufficient reason to have a collapsible baton in japan.
Japan is not dangerous to make you carry them though.
I got targeted as soon as I walked out of Shinjuku Station after traveling from the Airport. "Come with us for a good time", "Come and party with me and my friends", and "Come and meet my friends" all by Japanese women whose grasp of English was probably limited to those phrases. Being 6' 2" didn't help. I was like a lighthouse in a storm attracting everyone and everything. By far the worst though was the Nigerians. They get right in your face and try to stop you from walking down the street. In the end, I reverted to a common English phrase "Get the f**k out of my way!!". Walking in Shinjuku at night, on my own, I was lucky to walk more than 50 meters without getting propositioned. The interesting thing was that during the day a loudspeaker system announces that what these touts are doing is illegal and to avoid them or report them to the Police. The mixed up world that is Japan
Yeah, something tells me you're not actually 6'2.
Especially so since you talk like 6'2 is tall. That's something a 5'4 dude would do.
@@almark6548 lol
@@almark6548 Why does that even bother you so much...? Do you like him or something wtf, you're caring about a strangers height. And yes, 6'2 would definitely be considered tall in Japan, have you been there?
@@SomeOne-wr1wr 6'2 is tall everywhere ... 5.8 is an average height for men so being 4 inches above that is tall, totally agree with the rest of the comment.
@@elieoni-6213 Yea ik the average height for men is 5'8 but the delusional complex guy above doesn't think so...
I'm glad this is finally addressed by someone! My partner got scammed in Shinjuku with his friend in 2016, where they followed a tout into a bar. They got drugged, separated and threatened until they made card payments, they lost about $3500 combined. They also tried to go to the police, who were listening at first, but when the police man spotted someone outside (who had clearly followed my partner and his friend) they became completely unhelpful. The next day the boys both felt terrible due to the drugs and basically just fled Tokyo as they still felt very unsafe. Hearing this story completely shook me as I had never heard of things like this happening in Japan!
So the police were in cahoots with the guy outside the station.
@@dannydaw59 Yeah, definitely. My partner and his friend actually went to a different police station when they returned to Tokyo for their flight home and those officers were much more helpful. It even got escalated to a higher level when my partner mentioned the guy who ran the bar had a scar on his face (they clearly knew who this dude was and were keen to hear more).
@@DutchieAbroad Yeah Police in Kabukicho are mostly useless because a lot of them are paid off by those scam owners to don't do anything, i'm from Mexico and Kabukicho for me felt super safe compared to my city XD, also because of Mexico for me was super easy to tell scams apart, we meme in Latin America that we have this "Latin America instict" in which we can easily tell if someone wants to rob or scam us.
I’m surprised people still get taken by those touts. Even had I not known it was a thing I’d never follow a tout into a bar in any country.
You and this guy told stories about people being robbed, held hostage, kidnapped, one of the worst crimes in many if not most countries on Earth, at least in Western civilization, in sleazy bars after being roofied then going to the police and being told to get bent, to take it with their credit card company. Lovely police response and “justice” system! On par with the UAE, Qatar, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia where victims are totally helpless. Ghastly!
Pro-tip for traveling anywhere: If you use an android, turn on your google timeline. It will keep a record of where you go, and you can pull it up in the future to find the names of places you've been. In situations like the clip joint, it could have at least gotten them some more details about where they were.
Also, I definitely had a similar cult experience last time I was in Tokyo (2019). Me and 3 friends were out in west Tokyo by Shimokita, and these 3 middle aged/older ladies made a B line for us, and kept insisting we come with them to church. Politely sidestepped it, and eventually just started to wander off to the side to break conversation.
I have heard from military friends that Roponggi is off-limits all because of the Nigerian bar scammers. There are even "neighborhood watch" people standing around in yellow reflective vests near these bars. How has Japan allowed this to continue???
Because they're mostly scamming dumb foreigners I guess.
At best the police rather to pretend it doesn’t happens or blame foreigners instead of do something and risking tarnishing their reputation. At worse they are into it.
Japan will probably experience more diversity now that their people are dying en masse. As a European I can tell it won't be good.
DEI = DIE
@@Vercingetorixeur Just grow some balls and say you don't like black people. For real, who do you think you're fooling?
This happened to me in China. I went to the concierge at my hotel and they had the assistant GM go with me to the Chinese Tourist Police who were excellent and put me in a van with me, the AGM, and 3 cops. We then drove around to the involved bars (and a few others) and they grabbed all the cash they could find (huge amounts of RMB 100 notes, in stacks), the credit card machines, etc. and they gave me ~120% or so of what I'd been charged in cash, as well as detaining all the people involved back at the station. It was pretty amazing. Other people were getting scammed at the same tea shops while we were raiding them and we rescued them (they were...disbelieving at the time, but then I talked to them).
Chinese police in large cities like Shanghai is actually very efficient even for petty crimes like theft or robbery, there is zero tolerance for crime or scam over there especially against foreigners. If you report it they usually investigate and make right if it’s true and arrest the criminal or make them pay, there are high def video cameras everywhere so finding the criminal is super easy. As long as you don’t get political and fuq with the government.
Um, I think you are now a criminal in China
That is amazing! Good job Chinese police for actually doing something about it 👏
Yeah, some countries have tourist police who make sure tourists don't get scammed. I think they exist in Thailand too. Every country should have this.
the chinese do not fuck around when it comes to crime. the law breakers get whats coming to them, unlike the japanese. i do like japan but their inability to admit their fault in the atrocities they committed in world war 2 is a reflection of the type of society japan is today. sweep the evil under the rug and hope it goes away.
Similar story happened to me my first year living here.
I met a girl on a dating app who immediately was asking to go to a bar with her and listing the drink menu with prices. I didn’t think anything of it since we were chatting for about an hour.
I meet her at the station and she grabs my arm which was really unexpected and walks me to a bar. A tout on the street met us and took us in. We have a few drinks on the nomihoudai menu and she asks if I want another drink. She stands up and grabs a bottle of champagne like she works there which was a huge red flag for me but I thought it was part of the menu.
The bill comes at $400 which was way more than I had on me. I quickly said I only had enough for the drink set I intended to pay for but they didn’t buy it. Proceeded to call security where a big bouncer and a smaller guy with tattoos escort me to a combini to get the cash. It was a horrible night and my last time using dating apps in Japan.
Yeah, never use dating apps in Tokyo. It's a horrible idea. I did use Tinder before and ended up hooking up two girls (one was older and one was younger) but the other 3 who tried to meet were obvious scams. Two of them really wanted to meet in Kabukicho and I told her I'd rather go to Ebisu and she wouldn't budge. The other asked me to buy VIP tickets to a concert (about 17000 yen) and that she'd meet me there.
I've had so many friends who have fallen for these scams. It's a shame.
So sorry that happened to you!
As a general rule: learn a few colloquial dismissive phrases in Japanese. Once a tout suspects you aren't a tourist they typically lose interest and go looking for a new target
I just told one the tout down the street wanted to talk to him and he walked off to talk to him
Or just NOT ENGAGE YOURSELF in talking to them
15:10 "whenever someone comes up to me in a very friendly and happy manner I assume it will be a scam" .... can definitely say that is the rule in Britain.... no one in their right mind would be happy walking on the street!!!
People need to understand that no place in this world that is “completely” safe. Low crime rate does not mean “no crime”. Japan is in the safe side of the world but Japan has one of the most bizarre crimes. Low crime rate but bizarre. That’s usually the description I hear from people living in Japan.
Bizarre in what way?
NO SANE ONE OF THEM, COMMITS CRIMES,. The ones that do commit crimes, are always crazy and also because Japanese are wound up so tightly, that when they spin out of control, it's lot of released energy.
@@YeetTheMeat panty stealing, groping, peeping, hair sniffing, upskirt hidden cameras, that kind of bizarre crimes and the Police literally don't care.
@@f.b.l.9813 ah yea that sounds...odd to be fair. Panty stealing and hair sniffing have to be the weirdest ones.
It is true that Japan was the country where the world's first poison gas attack targeting civilians took place, but there is a downward trend across minor and serious crimes and the murder rate is quite low.
I still cant get over the fact that connor and his equals went on a rampage. Truly horrifying!
This is probably the only time I’m somewhat content with being born in a poorer neighborhood . From the start, you doubt what everyone says and you never trust anybody fully. It’s simple, it prevents you from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I mean I don’t even trust the ATM when I withdraw money, I’m sure as hell not trusting no person to show me a good time.
Pro tip: beware of credit card scammers. Those guys are the real deal, cameras and fake pin pads. Those guys work overtime trying to take your money.
In the world of visa and master card i have always been wondering why anyone would withdraw money from atm. I myself havent seen cash for many years, have been travelling in eu, usa, thailand. I m sure visa works in japan as well
@@bambinaforever1402
Oh boy, Japan and Germany for example still use cash primarly and some places won't accept card pavements. In Germany it got better since this pandemic started, but I still need to carry cash with me because some places just won't accept card payment, like bakeries.
I agree with you for most parts, but don't destroy your chances of opportunities. Opportunities do exist. Aka: skill trades like dental technician, truck driving, plumbing, electrician, will pay off much more than minimum wage, saving money in mutual funds start it when economy is down, etc.
my pro tip, leave all money if possible behind before you follow the people if you want to (prevents them from getting the money from you). otherwise break the card into multiple pieces right before the atm cause that atm will have like at least 35% commission so if i withdraw 1000 id pay like 1350. best idea to not have a possebility of being found in a ditch is to just not follow
This is never a benefit. You will never have a legitimately happy moment in life. Being robbed 2 times in your life because you are a Decent Human Being instead of constantly claiming everyone is lying is obviously much better then never being robbed but also never having a friend, never looking for help during your own emergency, never having a happy marriage, and never talking to strangers.
The scam with drugs in a bar probably happened to me last year in Roppongi. A tout came to me and started persuading me to come to a bar nearby. I was drunk and it was almost the end of my vacation so I was like yeah man let's do it (a bad idea). The bar was hidden on one of the upper floors of some building, and it was a classic hostess bar with everything as you'd expect - free drinks for you, expensive drinks for the girls that spend time entertaining you and ridiculously overpriced champagne (100k yen for a bottle or so). Well, at the beginning it was quite fun, but after a few more drinks I basically blacked out and I don't remember much afterwards. From the moments that I do remember, I know that I indeed felt like a zombie and had no control of what I was doing. I kinda remember using my card to buy the fucking champagne tho. At least a few times. Overall, my stupid little decision to go with the tout cost me around $3k and I have very little recollection of how I even got back to my hotel. Up until I saw this video I didn't realize there were may have been drugs involved, I thought that I just got too drunk. I've never experienced anything even close to this state though, so I'm quite confident some other substance was involved. I guess it could've ended up even worse, but I sure as hell won't be going with a tout anywhere ever again.
That's terrible. I'm sorry that happened. So sad really
One time when I was living in Tokyo, I met a Korean girl on a language exchange app. I can speak Korean conversationally, but I was new to Japan so I wanted to learn Japanese. She was really kind and offered to meet up for coffee, so I accepted. Upon arriving at the station I noticed a few other people waiting at the exact same spot. Someone appeared with a sign and the girl eventually came and said we would all be having coffee together. I guess it seemed safer in that there was a group of us, so I went. They took us to what looked like an old office building, and in the room were about 50 people, with a sign up table and people serving coffee/tea. We were split into groups depending on language ability, so I chose a Korean group. We looked at a picture of Michelangelo's the Creation of Adam, and discussed it. We also had to introduce ourselves, etc. After the study session we were made to sit through a long lecture about God in Japanese. It was fairly innocent in that I didn't lose anything, they were very excited to have me (I guess as the only non-Japanese or Korean there) so they made me sign up for a following session. I told them I'd come again, and left and never spoke to the girl after that. But, as a tourist I would be aware that this kind of thing exists just in case 😅 I actually met a guy there that spoke English, and he said he just used the sessions to study for free, lol.
LOL @ the guy who used it to "study for free" for his Japanese language skills.
@@TeeBoyd88 totally 😆😆
Pushing religion and being robbed are in different playing Fields just saying
@@longlostcoder6322 What of it? It's an interesting story.
I imagine someone stealing my card and trying to swipe it for a $200 transaction
Too bad it won't go through because I rarely have more than $60 on it.
But also! Always keep a daily limit on your cards, especially when traveling if you just can! It's just a handy safety measure.
I am the same I don't have more than £30 or less on my card. So if anyone does get my card alway be declined.
I always have had 2 different bank accounts. One that is linked to my card, and one that isn't, and i ALWAYS keep my money on the one that isn't linked to the card, and just move the amount that i need to the card account. I overestimate just a little bit most of the time, but after i'm done using money again i just put it back to the other account, so technically i always have no money at all, haha.
Keep touch transaction off. Also where I am, credit cards barely are a thing so we got Debits. Now unless someone explains to me how they can use my debit card without PIN, I feel like the said story was a bit exaggerated in the debit card aspect
Same, I have a monzo card which is a sort of top up credit card. It takes seconds to transfer money on my phone to it so I keep hardly anything on it and top up for specific purchases.
@@clemet2 some debits will let you run them as credit, meaning you’re supposed to sign for the transaction after it goes through instead of needing a PIN.
I went to Tokyo with my girlfriend right before the pandemic. I was looking at hotels in Kabukicho but she didn't want to stay there because it was "crime ridden". So we got a place in the nice suburb of Kamata, which turns out has a fairly big Yakuza population. They would be hanging around the main street we walked through every night on the way back to the hotel. They didn't bother us at all, but I thought it was funny.
yukuza generally dont mess with the regular populace unless you are drunk in one of their bars or owe them something. they are much more white collar criminals these days. however, their underlings, the chimpira can be shitheads. usually much younger and rougher looking than the full up yak, and quicker to fuck with someone just because.
As long as you dont owe them money, the yakuza usually wants nothing to do with you.
I don't believe anybody in Japan would describe kamata as a nice suburb. Kamata is definitely one of the worser parts in Tokyo, lots of prostitutes and rather questionable establishment's
Organised crime keeps the disorganised crime in order 😉
Kamata is certainly not a "nice suburb". First of all, it's far from a "suburb" (those are an hour to the north-east or west). It's basically the dirt cheap place for employees of terrible companies to stay on a business-trip to Tokyo. You know you're a loser when your company books your hotel there.
I mean it's ok for a "budget minded" tourist who has no issue with such a seedy place (it's still safer than many high price places in Europe and Murrica), but it's far from "nice".
@@bikkiikun your " It's basically the dirt cheap place for employees of terrible companies to stay on a business-trip to Tokyo. You know you're a loser when your company books your hotel there." got me, haha. The first company I worked for did book me a cheap business hotel in Kamata when they sent me to Tokyo for training. I was 22 and did not know much about Kamata though I spent 4 months in West Tokyo on a university exchange programme. I just went to the office, worked and had dinner with colleagues, and went back to the business hotel without wandering around. Nothing bad happened. Now I have been living in Tokyo for more than a decade, but I never went back to Kamata at all as I know it is not a place for me.
me being japanese i’ve almost been scammed in takeshita street. there’s foreign men in the street who have this paper about their clothing store. they say just looking is okay but after u enter their store they kinda give u the vibe to buy something. i lied i’m busy, i have no money and i said i’ll come next time (which i didn’t lol) and let the store.
it’s really common, lately there’s security guys in the street but that’s not stopping them from trying to lure people in their stores.
moral of story, don’t follow people into stores or buildings, if someone wants you to do a survey, say no or ask them if you can do it on the spot, if not, chances are they’re gonna take you into their building and make you buy something, and you can’t leave if you dont
Nearly happened to us in Tokyo, too. We already talked and walked with such a scam dude towards the bar, but fortunately met people from our own country just coming out of this scam bar and talk to us. The tout was not happy, when he realized we both spoke the same language he doesn't understand (German) 😅 Close call.
As an introvert i don't understand why anyone would hang out with strangers just because the strangers are being friendly with them.....
Yeah, it has a very "come into my web said the spider to the fly" vibe.
It is nice to strike up conversations with people on your solo trips, and often makes the trip. But you need to be cautious. Much better to find a reputable bar which clearly isn’t a scam and talk to the bar staff/wait staff and other customers than chat to random people who want things. I had some lovely encounters in Barcelona at my hotel bar by tipping the wait staff and talking to other visitors without ever putting myself at risk.
I remember going on vacation to Tokyo 6 years ago and being shocked that people left their laptop, phone and wallet on the table when going to the bathroom. Absolutely unthinkable in Europe
There are 44 countries in Europe. Don't bunch them all together thank you.
@@lars-akechesburg9911 okay to be more specific: Western Europe. I live in Belgium and have been to several other countries. You don't see people just leaving their belongings at the table here
@@lars-akechesburg9911 Spain and France -- you turn your head halfway and it's gone. 🤣
@@lars-akechesburg9911 It'd be a much shorter list to name the countries in Europe where you CAN leave things completely unattended without running the risk of them being stolen.
@@Binerexis it didn't used to be like this *rubs hands*
By the way guys, disable the magnetic band payment on your debit cards. Only use the chip payment. With the chip payment they actually need a PIN code for payments and can't just steal your card
wouldn’t work in the UK either. Contactless payments are up to £100
@@therealjetlagthat still only uses the chip, not the magnetic strip. You’re thinking of contactless payment which came in AFTER the chip and pin thing. The band is what they swipe and you have to physically sign for it, like my parents used to have to do whenever they used their debit or credit cards.
Only use Apply/Google pay and turn off biometrics(face recognition or fingerprint) before going out!
@@therealjetlag you can use your mobile banking app to turn it off in the uk and also set a limit on spend on tap and pay.
Also you can holders aka sleeves that you put your card in that shield from people trying to scam your detail's. Same with mobile phones just turn off apple pay or on Android turn off nfc in settings
@@Jlonotfromtheblock Read the OP again. He says that you need a pin for chip payments. In the UK, you do not, for payments up to £100.
I live in Japan for 13 years of my life as originally an American. I've seen so many tourists interacting with the scammers outside of bars and actively told them it's like 25 bucks a drink there before they go in. Each one of them was like F that and walked away. I used to always tell them ask how much a drink was before and if it's brought to you decline immediately and leave, you didn't ask for it.
I had a similar experience occur when i was in Vietnam. Where i had a middle aged woman who wanted me to go to her home with her to chat to her elderly parents about my country as there daughter was studying there. Something was off about the interaction and i politely declined and left. Turns out a week later when i returned home they got someone else with this scam took them home drugged them and stole all their stuff.
LOL The last scam with the menus you brought up, I was stationed and lived in Okinawa for 6 years and my friends from Sweden were in town. We all went to a bar down in Naha, Okinawa's capital city, and it was our first time in that bar (they also lived in Japan for years in Okinawa and we frequently went out to bars). We walk in and sit down at a table and immediately open the Japanese menus that were already on the table, when a waiter sprints over and replaces our menu's for English ones. However, they forget to grab one of the menus and my buddy almost immediately pointed out how drinks on the English menu were 3-400 yen more than on the Japanese menu. The waiter comes back and we all order beers, but we demand the Japanese price for the beer and he is SHOCKED that we can read the menu and doesn't know how to respond and just says to talk to the manager. So we confront this guy and he is just as shocked that we can read the menu's and he apologizes MULTIPLE times and even gives us a free round of drinks. We drink them and just leave.
They are always so shocked when foreigners can read/understand the language even today in Japan and Korea.
Lol wtf? They allow that in Japan? Im from Sweden and can't believe something like that ever occurring here. That restaurant would be shut down quick.
@@pepedeltoro6647 yeah, they have a lot of strange laws people don't talk about as well. Like openly displaying signs in some restaurants that if you're a foreigner you are not welcome. Pretty rare to see. But I've seen it enough to talk about it.
And their economy has suffered because no tourists during covid lock down, maybe we just all stop going to Japan.
@@dico3557 damn O.O
I met a tout in Shinjuku, not far from the Robot Restaurant. In a matter of seconds they make themselves seem so friendly and welcoming and will shake your hand, ask about where you're from, and invite you to cheap drinks and accompaniment of young women (who were standing behind him closer to the door, wooing at me). I knew what was up, and when I went to release the handshake and he didn't, I calmly and sternly said, "Let go of my hand." He did, the girls pouted at me, and he seemed to know he wasn't going to get me so he didn't try to save it. The whole exchange was 10 seconds or less and I was on my way. All of my other experiences in Japan were awesome and I met a handful of genuinely kind and friendly people who I enjoyed conversation with. It's good to be aware of these scams, but don't let it scare you into doubting everyone!
Went to Japan about a decade ago. Our tour group went to Roppongi and our guide gave us all the warnings about touts beforehand. He was very intent that we keep our heads down and don't take anything from the loud, pushy guys outside the bars. I didn't know they were Nigerian, but I just remember a bunch of black guys yelling at us in perfect English. It was a curious experience.
Oh my god, you've explained something that happened to me in Kyoto in 2010. Me (an English girl) and my friend (also an English girl), both in our early 20s at the time went on a night out in Kyoto, bought one drink in a club that we had to use a lift to get to in what looked like an office building (my friend's suggestion as I was fairly new to the city) and then can barely remember the rest of the night... it was obvious we had been drugged. My friend reacted very badly and started being sick and somehow in my addled state I managed to take control of the situation and get us out of there. I have very patchy memories of the night with long gaps (it was like one second I was in the club helping my sick friend and what seemed to me a second later we're outside looking for a taxi, I'd apparently just fallen over and some random Japanese guy was helping me up and my friend was practically passed out). I don't remember missing any money but I was so out of it I don't think I would have noticed and probably just assumed I spent it during the blank parts of my memory, thankfully I only took cash with me, and not that much, never even crossed my mind that it was a scam! Coming from a city in the UK with quite an active nightlife scene (Liverpool) I was used to not accepting drinks from random people and keeping an eye on any drinks to make sure nothing was put in them, never thought to worry about the bar staff as well!
This is the most fucked up cause you can’t trust even the bar so what can be done? Take your own drink???? Guilty of that no regrets… but it is still so fucked up
@@heyhorinshi I have a strict no open bottle policy wherever I go overseas for this reason, if I'm not the person opening that bottle or I see the barman not do it in front of me, im not drinking it.
@@buda3d2007 Even worse are the scams where they practice resealing the bottles so can't even trust that in a bar.
@@TharzZzDunN happened in China, so I don’t drink there lol
This is awful!
In college I studied East Asian politics we learned how, while Japan is relatively safe, it is not nearly as crime-free as the stats show. The government manipulates the statistics and a lot of crime against foreigners is grossly underreported. While westerners don’t experience it, non-Japanese Asians get the brunt of it. When I was last in Japan (back in 2000), this guy from Malaysia who was a friend of my then-Japanese fiancée was severely beaten in Yamaguchi-ken and the police wouldn’t even investigate it. And I was confronted by “Yanki” hoodlums once as well. But it is still relatively safe.
From my experience and stories I've heard from my class mates it turns out Japan is relatively racist towards other Asians. Fortunately for me I am South African, 1.8m blond and blue eyes. So clearly a foreigner but most end up being very friendly with me.
@@Mw_kwak I mean yeah, there's the entire WW2 murder all the other asians and cut open pregnant women in competition thing. They saw others as subhuman. There's an undercurrent of right-wing shittery in Japan like in many other countries.
Yanki? More like dookie
Where is the evidence of government manipulation of crime statistics?
@@0x081 I can’t cite sources from college research from 25 years ago.
Thanks for the really great video. I experienced something similar to the cult story in Tokyo about a decade ago when I first moved to the city. It started at a friend's party, when I met someone who seemed cool to hang out with. We exchanged contact details, and some months later agreed to meet up for lunch at a family restaurant. All seemed perfectly normal, until a few of this person's friends joined us during the meal. Everyone was having good conversation, so it didn't seem strange that they proposed to continue the fun and go "for a coffee" at someone's apartment near by. When we got to the apartment, I found it filled with people chanting buddhist prayers and no sign of coffee, so I decided to make a speedy exit. The story ended with me dashing to the closest train station, with two of these people in close pursuit, shouting out things like "Wait! You don't understand. We can share the secret of true happiness". It was a quite scary at the time, and one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had. Fortunately, I've never experienced anything else like that in my many years here.
Nothing like being chased and screamed at to make you feel safe and on your way to true happiness 🤣
One of my more memorable experiences from my study abroad summer in Japan in 2004 was in Kabukicho. I ended up getting stuck talking to one of these street touts, an absolutely gigantic Nigerian dude who wanted me to go into a strip club. He told me that he was getting me a sweet deal and that "we gaijin gotta stick together," and it was pretty much impossible to gracefully get out of the situation. I ultimately had to fake a phone call from a friend of mine who I said was meeting me but was somewhere on the west side of Shinjuku station but didn't know where he was going, so I would go get him and bring him back so we could both go in the bar. Peaced out from there, made sure I wasn't being followed, and promptly got right back on the Sobu line back to Chiba prefecture.
I did my own ‘Journey across Japan’ in 2019 and at the first night almost got scammed in Kabukicho by the same Nigerian touts. Luckily i already had my eyes set to the Albatross bar in Golden Gai, which had favorable reviews for fair prices and a good, honest owner. (Which turned out to be true)
Just don’t listen to the touts and don’t let them distract you from where you originally wanted to go.
I had what I suspected was a different scam in Japan. I visited Tokyo in 2015 with my then girlfriend who had lived in Japan previously. We went to see where my girlfriend had lived at the time and when walking down what I would call a quiet street an American came around a corner and came straight up to me. He was saying that he only had US dollars and if I could change him some JPY because he needed cash at that moment. He was holding quite a large wad of USD in his hands and looking at me.
He probably thought that I was American, and my girlfriend was pulling on my arm because we were both getting weird vibes. Luckily I'm Australian so I poured on the accent really thick and lied, 'Mate, I only use a travel card for everything, never carry cash, but we did walk past a bank a few blocks back that way, maybe they can help out. Have a good one!' He seemed a little taken back by my accent and just stood there as we walked off. When I looked back a minute later I saw him turning back down the side street he had come from. I imagine it was either fake USD or he would have tried to short change me with a rigged exchange rate, probably why he would only approach a foreigner in japan as they would be easier to confuse with the JPY conversion.
This is really similar to a scam in Prague
This happens in all tourists places around the world. We are tourists not Banks, never exchange with people you don't know :)
Probably a scam similar to the dodgy exchange stations in Indonesia. Offer a good exchange rate, then they count the money twice in front of you. At some stage they would sleight of hand and hide some of the cash, and if you want to recount the notes in front of them, they would try to grab it back and try to convince you that it is the true count. If you walked away with the money you probably lost a few hundred dollars. This happened to me personally when in Indonesia, but I got lucky because I always recount any money in a larger sum. At the end they still didn't let me recount the money, gave my money back and said they don't want to exchange anymore 🤣
@@kitt3526 How does it work? Is the currency conversion rigged?
@@Smile936 find Honest Guide at YT, they are from Prague and have a lot of videos (in English) with revealing money scams. I suppose this kind of thing is same all around the world.
I'm sure this is going to be a hot take -- I don't drink alcohol when I travel. It would be nice if I could "trust" that the places I'm going to are safe, but there are BAD people out there even in the best hotels. The only way to be safe is to avoid situations where someone could take advantage of you, and abstaining is a big step you can take to make yourself less of a target. The bad actors know that once you've voluntarily had a few, it will be hard if not impossible for you to get them in any trouble for taking advantage of you. Sad but true.
“Two monkeys went on a rampage”
Goddamnit Connor, Wacky weekend got really out of hand
What I have definitely learned to get touts to leave you alone is to learn a few words of a non-common language in Japan. Luckily, I can speak Spanish as well as English and Japanese. What I did every time a tout came up to me I would just start talking to them in Spanish, they would quickly walk away and never bother me again. My advice, learn a few words of a random language that foreign touts cannot speak (I do not recommend French, many African countries speak French) and you should largely be left alone.
Did you talk aggressively or normally?
Well I have a pretty low monotone voice, in any language I could see it coming off as aggressive. I was not intentionally being aggressive, just confident.
If I spoke Gibberish in a very aggressive manner do you think they would fuck off? Genuinely just wondering... (Gibberish is English but every syllable it's extended x3 and even english people will not know what you're saying unless they know the pattern themselves)
would German work?
@@meme-gy5gx If they can't understand it sure since there's tons of languages most people will have never heard of.
So gibberish could be anything to them if you do it right
Back in 2018 we went to the robot restaurant and after the fact one of the girls in our group got approached by a nigerian fellow trying to convince her to go with her for drinks and to take the whole group. We didn’t know about these scams but thankfully enough of us got a bad feeling from the situation and walked away. That girl was mad with the rest of us for the rest of the trip because she thought the guy was cute and wanted to go with him, but knowing what we do now we definitely saved her from a shitty situation :)
And saved her from hiv as well lol
I feel the same way about the time share scam in the USA. They don't even call the time shares anymore because people know how bad they are. They have touts that offer free tickets to shows or if you're in Florida they offer Disney World. I always tell them I would rather hang myself than sit through a sales presentation.
Yeah, they took my money for the vacation and literally a week before the trip they suddenly declared that I needed to have 45 k or someone with me making at least 45k or I couldn't have the Vacation I PAID FOR. I had spent months working with them and setting up this trip with no mention of such a requirement, not in the calls, emails, or even their pamphlet yet they swore it was in the digital deal I signed (searched all through my copy and found nothing so I think they had doubles, switching one page out after its been signed).
There are always those guys hanging around in Waikiki. Generally white guys though.
The only way to profit is to get someone who tells you that you get a free cruise or whatever if you sit through the sales pitch, but you resolve to tell them no thank you at the end from the get-go and you have bravery and a very strong conviction. I wouldn't personally do it, because I know I would be coerced due to being mentally ill if they chomped at the bit hard enough. I have C-PTSD, so if they started strong-arming me, I would do absolutely anything to get away from them. If I was ever questioned by police, they could probably get a false admission of guilt out of me under duress.
@@collinbeal not worth my time. My time is valuable.
@@mcy2phil Valid as hell. Mine ain't, I sat thru a several-hours sales pitch, helped myself to free food and drinks, said no a bunch of times to some visibly disappointed in me sales people, and walked away with $150 and a free week long resort stay. 🤣 All that being said, you're still right, people shouldn't do it. They're very good at applying pressure and being convincing.
A friend and I got drafted into one of those cults, kept saying we'd play games and learn about happiness LOL. Stupidly we went along with them but when they got us into a cab rather than just on the subway we tried telling the taxi driver we didn't trust them (after they were saying some shady stuff about us coming over to HQ on the phone during the ride) and he dropped us off near our airbnb and the girls who took us paid for our part of the cab ride. Then we booked it into a konbini until they were long gone before heading back to our lodging :')
Nice work. It sounds like a close call! 😅 But I just want to share my own experience as well…
Once, in my first year in Japan, I was invited to a ‘zazan meditation session.’ (Not by a random stranger, but a friend of one of my students). It ended up being a really interesting and valuable cultural experience, and not ‘culty’ at all. I just wanted to mention this experience so people don’t thing this kind of thing is always a scam or trap.
Japan has a lot to offer in the way of perspectives on spirituality, and it would be a waste to close our minds to this out of fear. Basically, use your sense. If something feels weird or scammy, it probably is. 🍻
@@Jordan-inJapan you're just being fortunate to stumble into a good one... Its better to be safe than sorry.
@@Aeybiseediy true. I guess a major difference is that I already had a personal connection with the person doing the inviting (via my student). And the temple was like a proper neighborhood temple…in my town…not some random person’s living room.
This is a bot there's another comment that posted the same thing verbatim
@@Jordan-inJapan Oh that actually sounds really nice!! I would love to attend a gathering like that knowing it would all be legit and get some real experience with Japanese beliefs and spirituality☺️
Of course we weren't sure what they were actually taking us to but it dawned on us way too late that that was exactly the problem! It gave us the major creeps and we decided rather to be safe (and rude?😅) than sorry, also we were only two young women by ourselves... We had a flight back home early the next day so we used that mainly as an excuse to get out asap.
I received a few sect leaflets to my house (which I discarded in my ever-expanding pile of post I couldn't understand), and some persistent recruiters to our door on occasion. I wish that (plus the attempts of being recruited to hostess bars, lol) was the extent of the scams/crime we encountered, but my housemate had caught the attention of a stalker who would follow her from the station after work. He found out where we lived and came to hover around the street corner to our house. At one point he rang our intercom, and we could see him hiding just out of view of the camera. It was mortifying. We were in touch with police weekly for a good while, but ultimately the stalker ended up assaulting my housemate and she moved back home as a result. Japan, just like most places, has its fair share of crime regardless of its pristine image abroad and sadly women are often more at risk. And, in my opinion after dealing with them, the police in Japan is not the best.
sexual assault is rampant there. What a crazy experience you had. Sorry to hear. I was astounded by how much of that I observed when I lived there. It was like a national pastime. I bought a little knife for my Japanese friend and told her to stick it into the hand of the next person who groped her or chase her down an alley. She told me that I did not understand. She said that crying out would draw attention and shame the people who did not help. I was like f*k that, cut him. This was in the 1990's. I really hope this is not the case today. I read that these chikan's now flee the train and run onto the tracks causing delays with some amount of frequency. I remember a Canadian girl telling me that a guy groped her in a bar, she turned around kneed him, he fell and she proceeded to punched and stomp him until people dragged her off the guy who curled into a ball. Seems she was the villain. Imagine that?
Woah that stalker incident is super scary 😨
@@storagebox1793 it’s very telling of a society’s view on women when they dare not speak out against sexual assault for fear of inconveniencing others…
@@storagebox1793 It sadly is. What was kind of a shock to me was that I read this little official guide for women as to how you could reduce your chances of getting groped on public transport. And how all the phones are manufactured so that you can't turn off the shutter sound. I recall it was this big news when a woman grabbed her groper's hand, held it up, refusing to let go, dragging him off at the next station and notifying staff. Where my friend is concerned, I was the one who spoke to the police when they checked in, and they would frequently ask what she was wearing or else suggest she dressed conservatively...
@@mouneydonuru2769 It was super scary, and I was out drinking at the time the assault happened, so it took me a good while to get back. The policemen that were there were at the time were really pressed, my friend said they yelled at her because she couldn't understand them properly. They were not nice, especially if you've just gone through that ordeal.
There is a similar scam in the Pigalle district in Paris: you get tricked into a bar with free drinks and then beautiful girls start drinking next to you, what they don't tell you is that they are drinking on your tab very expensive bottles of Champagne. When it's time to pay you're suddenly surrounded by not so friendly people that will not let you go until you're out of money...
When I first moved to Japan, we were visiting a tourist area and one lady from a small group in the area came up and was asking if she could pray with and for me and my children. She had pamphlets and kept wanting to hold our hands for prayer (I saw them do this with other foreigners there who prayed with them holding hands and with closed eyes). I'm super skeptical having grown up in a big city where scams happen all the time, so I said "no thank you" and she insisted and even my kids were saying, "come on mom she just wants to pray". I ended up walking away saying thank you and that she could pray for me from a distance if she wanted to but I did not want to stay there and hold a stranger's hand while she prayed God knows what in a foreign language. Scam or not, IDK for sure, but it felt very suspicious so I insistently declined. Thanks for this video!!
This happened to me in Tokyo. I was lead into a place, handed a drink and the next thing I knew was I woke up feeling extremely groggy and disorientated with a insanely large bill and all my cash missing. It was a horrible experience.
I’m sorry that happened to you! 😞
I had a similar situation in Japan. When my family and I were scratching our heads over which station tickets to buy for our next destination, some random guy swooped in and talked really fast. I assumed he was trying to help us to get the correct tickets after seeing us staring at the station map for a while. What's crazy is that he literally took all our change from the ticket dispenser after we put the money in (around 600-700 yen of change).
"The police wasn't particularly interested in taking this up... "
Probably the reason why Japan is so "safe".
That is exactly why the crime rate in Japan is so low. I got robbed, went to the police to report it and after about 16 hours at the police station (no joke, I think they wanted free English lessons) they told me they wouldn't do anything. So no report, no crime on their stats. You have to wonder how often that happens, and how often people don't even bother reporting crimes in the first place.
Tbf there is next to no violent crime, but yeah especially when it happens to foreigners nobody will do anything. But like compare it to any city in the US and it is incredibly safe. It's kinda silly to say it's not safe at all.
@@derekskelton4187
Maybe, but literally drugging people to get at their money wouldn't be called a "scam" in my country, and police would actually do their job!
So I can't help but wonder how bad crime really is in Japan...
I’m honestly dubious of any country/city that prides itself for being “safe.” Just because it looks nice and citizens can leave their doors unlocked DOES NOT mean a place is actually safe. Also, considering the significant stalking and harassment issues female citizens face on a daily basis, I doubt that Japan is as crime-free as people make it out to be.
Well I'd assume it has something to do with about half the population having one foot in the grave. Old people don't commit a lot of violent crime. One if the reasons the U.S has a bigger issue with violent crime is we're about a decade younger then most other developed nations.