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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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..

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.

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.

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!

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 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.

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"

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)

"The police wasn't particularly interested in taking this up... "
Probably the reason why Japan is so "safe".

Japan has the lowest REPORTED crime rate. That does NOT equal lowest crime rate.

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

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.

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.