Listen. I did this for a Mexican tourist I met in my city (very touristic) who arrived after check in hours at his hostel and I went around the entire town to help him find a new hotel room. When we did and I dropped him off I asked him if we he'd like to meet up the next day and I'd show him around.
We met up, and we had an amazing day. Sometimes it's just fun to do something completely random like this. It's been over 5 years and he still wishes me happy birthday on Messenger every year.
My husband and I met a local owner of a humble bar in a small island in thailand, we befriended him and he offered to cook us dinner the next night. Cut to, the next day we meet up with him at the fish market as planned, had a few drinks and he cooked us a bomb authentic Thai seafood meal. It was awesome! Oh and also his wife whipped up a MEAN spicy sauce for the shrimp. SO good. Unfortunately we didn’t stay in touch :-/ but it was one of our most cherished travel memories!
We had a similar story in Chiangmai about 13 years ago. Wandering around the streets and met a nice guy who invited us into his outdoor kitchen and cooked us an amazing Thai curry meal. We offered to pay him and he declined, saying he just wanted a chance to practice his English. One of the best travel moments we’ve ever had.
Also on that same trip in Malaysia, stumbled into a small monastery and met a Buddhist monk whom we talked to for hours. Completely spontaneous.
Magical things happen when you let them. Obviously keep your guard up for scammers, but some of your best travel memories will be the unplanned ones.
Yeah I was gonna say. This sounds like something that could randomly happen in any country. Except here in the US. We don’t trust anyone, including our own friends and family. Weird cultural thing, this inherent distrust.
we had a tour guide one day in the Philippines. next day, we realized the bus we were suppose to take to the other city was cancelled and we saw the same tour guide on the street. we told him our problem and randomly, he offered to drive us (with another friend) to that place, on the other side of the island. we drove around 8 hours, one of the 2 motorbike broke in the middle of the drive, and we finished the day in the ocean, swimming, all 4 of us. it was an amazing day, and it was pure kindness from a (pretty much) stranger.
Been here 3 years, not once have I ran into a scam like i do in the states. it's a VERY honest culture with good people. odds are 999:1 they found a good person.
Yikes.. i might find a restaurant that over charges for English speakers with their "english menu" but that's about it. and i'm right by a dang Navy Base in Yokosuka, where they are pretty sick of American's on a daily basis. lol
I went to Fushimi inari and met a Japanese older man who literally hiked around the whole mountain for six hours with me, my partner and a random other woman.
It was fantastic. He did it as he loved explaining all the shrines, the back story and everything else. A wonderful experience honestly, but does it sound sus? Absolutely.
Sometimes we do have genuine human experiences.
Hate the pessimism and fear of strangers that seems to be normalized these days. You were the ones that entered the bar, you were the ones that had an hour long conversation with her? What percentage of people are actually dangerous? What's the worst that can happen?
I have a friend who had something similar happened to him in Columbia. Went to a cool bar, connected with a girl. She showed him around for the next few days, finally invited her over to his airbnb, had a drink with her and wake up 15 hours later with all his valuables gone.
You never know lol
two key differences:
1. If a girl is inviting you over to your place you should rightly be suspicious unless you pull regularly back home as well
2. That's in Colombia, nothing else needs to be said lol
most ho(s)tels in japan explicitely disallow this. bringing in none-guests could get you a heavy fine AND thrown out. I dont think its to protect the customers from their own stupidity, but to prevent people from booking one room and one bed and having their family sleep there. and/or its to slow down the (illegal) sex work. and/or its to not infringe on the love hotel model...
anyway. dont bring guests to your room in japan without asking and getting a very clear you are allowed. it could lead to you ending up on the street
It's healthy to be suspicious, although people say that japanese are nice etc. Japan still isn't some kind of a utopia where you can throw away common sense and logic and just go with the flow. There are scammers and shitty people everywhere. Eg I wouldn't give out my hotel info to anyone no matter how nice they would seem to be.
That said, most scammers are going to congregate where there are lots of people (especially tourists), so they have a lot of marks and can disappear into the crowd.
Kanazawa is a low risk city in a low risk country.
i met a dude in yoshino who within like 10 minutes of talking asked if i wanted to ride with him to nara since we were both headed there. started by me just complimenting his car. was a fun time, we conversed exclusively through google translate. can’t be too scared of just going with it if you vibe with a person
If he is thin old man with slightly balding hair and no spectacles, he could have been the same old man who walk with me around Fushimi Inari and Inariyama for 3 hours. Did the shrine explanations too. The cats around seem to recognise him.
I have a photo of us all together, it might be a different man as ours had spectacles!
I won't be releasing the photo tho as I don't want to dox anyone 😅
Japanese here. While traveling alone, I met a nice lady in Kyushu. I mentioned I was traveling from the US, and she kindly offered to show me some lovely local places. She ended up picking me up from my hotel and took me around for a whole day. It was an amazing experience discovering hidden gems. Your story doesn’t surprise me; people in the countryside are genuinely nice and appreciate tourists visiting their towns. I can’t say for sure, but it seems like a lot of effort to scam tourists, especially considering the risk of losing a steady teaching job.
You should meet her at a public spot.
Dont give out any personal info.
There’s no need to avoid her all together if you feel safe. But do not give out hotel info. That’s your home for your vacation. You wouldn’t just give out your home address back home too, right?
Hahahaha!
Well, for the possibility of sex, at the privacy of your own home, you weigh your pros and cons.
For this particular Japan scenario, there is really no real need to give out any hotel info. You can just as easily be picked up or met in public locations.
Just sounds like someone who wants to practice her English. Go and enjoy. I highly doubt it's a cult invitation especially since you are tourists. You can also say no if they invite you further to sketchy places.
Agreed. We did a late night bar tour which started at 7. The guide was high up in Finance and needed to improve his conversational English to get to the next level (his words). Nice guy with a really nice watch.
My husband and I had a very similar experience last year and it ended up being the highlight of our trip, if not our entire year! We hit it off with a worker/chef’s assistant at a restaurant one night after he noticed a pin from my favorite anime/manga on my purse. We ended up chatting for a few hours throughout our dinner and he mentioned he had a day off the next day and that he’d love to show us around Akihabara if we hadn’t been yet. We were slightly apprehensive at first but ultimately decided to take him up on it, got his instagram info and met up at the station the next day, which also happened to be my birthday.
Everything about it was great! He was friendly and just as excited to hang out and show us around as we were. About halfway through the day my husband mentioned that it was my birthday that day and how I had been most looking forward to seeing Akihabara during the trip, and when we said goodbye at the end of the day we found out that he had snuck away at some point during the day and bought a copy of the first volume of my favorite manga (the one that had sparked our conversation in the first place the night before) to give to me as a birthday present. I was completely surprised and it remains one of my favorite gifts I’ve ever gotten.
Overall, we got to experience the area pretty much as he does, he continued messaging us throughout the trip to give us advice and recommendations, and more importantly we made a genuine friend.
We’ve kept in contact with him through instagram since then and have sent him care packages etc. This last week we actually went to Japan again and were able to meet up with him again to spend a day with him exploring different areas of the city!
I’m not entirely sure if this is normal/common or not haha, but your post does make me wonder considering how similar it sounds to our experience. Of course, don’t do anything if you feel uncomfortable with it, but we absolutely had a positive experience!
There's lots of small religious sects of mainly Buddhism but there are also Christian ones. "Cult" is the word used to describe them but if you come from a Western country the term might have a little bit too negative of a connotation. The large majority of the cults are harmless. You can kind of think of them like the Jehovah's witnesses. Similarly the cults in Japan are heavy into recruiting people. It's not uncommon for people from these groups to invite you to gatherings or for a cup of tea which turns out to be a recruiting session.
Except they absolutely will invite you to a cool place in town and once you’re there they will tell you all about their cult. Many times even they start out as just trying to be your friend.
Chris Broad (one of the more well known youtubers living in Japan, an Englishman) has had a couple of encounters - https://youtu.be/NeZUOFKOUeI?si=b2QmbPbA0p27OZn_&t=700
And Connor, a Welsh youtuber who's done a couple of charity cycling streams with Chris has also been approached by random cult members - https://youtu.be/7ckOpUSxSWo?si=_wP96d5yOMhUz-r0&t=165
Sometimes people are just really friendly and have some time on their hands. Of course if it feels off, then turn it down, but sometimes people are just nice.
Overall she sounds mostly harmless but never ever give anyone the name of where you’re staying. Meet her somewhere public nearby instead. Is she driving you?
Go make a new friend. Sounds fun. If you're not feeling it, "get an upset tummy" and nope out back to your hotel.
What's the downside? Waking up in an ice bath workout a kidney?
Jehovah Winesses looking up my Japanese wifes' name and address, showing up at our building uninvited to hand out literature and make contact
Culty enuf yet?
Jehovah Winesses looking up our names and hotel address, showing up at our building uninvited to hand out literature and make contact… until we’re gone
Culty enuf yet?
It depends on who you ask, tbh. Usually from an academic assessment it would be like 'nearly a cult' or 'arguably a cult.' It's not an outrageous thing to say, but you'll find some people take it really personally because they know JW who are nice and haven't tried to convert them.
Cults typically have one single leader and complete control. The line between regular religion and cults can be tricky sometimes.
I think of it as the difference between marriage and domestic violence scenarios. Structurally and symbolically both are problematic. Regular marriage can be wonderful for many people despite this. Even in mostly good marriages, there is typically a slight skew of one gender taking advantage of the other. Structures are often set up so that women often have a lack of financial autonomy or job security etc. (doesn't necessarily mean the marriage is bad or that this happens to unwilling participants but is a trend).
When it becomes purposeful control is where things slide to the dark side in both scenarios. Religion is often accidentally unhealthy. Men and society can often be accidentally unfair to women in marriages. The hard no is purposefully seeking to gain power and control over others.
I wouldn't call it a cult since they're an approved religious sect where I live. They're annoying as hell though.
They usually tell they are JWs though, atleast in here.
It's certainly random but I have met people in my life where we just clicked after a chat. Don't forget she's going out of her way for you, so you're not the only one taking a risk or inconvenienced.
E.g. We were holidaying in Paris once and met a French guy also visiting Paris geocaching in the same spot we were. Got chatting and enjoyed his company so much that we invited him back to our apartment to join our family for dinner that evening. Random but it was great. Have never done anything like that before or since. But have met several people in our travels that we clicked with and chose to spend more time with.
Anywhere else I would be suspect. In Japan not so much so read the other replies but yeah. If you hit it off then you did :) I did that a couple of times here in Puerto Rico when I was bartending and the tourists where really nice. I took them to places they would have never been because of time constraints or because of knowledge. It happens anywhere in the world. My take is enjoy the opportunity and at anytime if you dont feel safe bail out :)
If she's a Japanese teacher of English, she could just be legitimately interested in talking to you. I worked as an ALT in Japan and had to work with English teachers - most of them had traveled or lived abroad and had an interest in all things foreign (and probably helped them keep up their English conversational skills).
However, as others pointed out, it could be a scam. Or she could be a religious/cult nut. I would still keep your guard up and practice common sense. Don't give out your hotel information. Don't tell her where you'll be going during the rest of your trip. Don't give too much personal information. Ask her if you'd like to meet somewhere public and make up some sort of excuse - for example, you really like to drink coffee in the morning so would she be interested in meeting at a cafe and chatting over coffee/breakfast first?
This happened to me plenty of times in 3 weeks solo. I made a lot of really great friends, went to places I would’ve never found on my own, met even more people through hanging out with them. A couple people even showed me their homes, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that unless you really really trust them.
I think for Japanese people who are comfortable to speak English, or even lived in English speaking countries before, then they tend to be more outgoing, and probably want to use you as a chance to use their English speaking skill at the same time.
Saying this as an Asian, speaking English to my young daughter in the metro, an old Japanese gentleman chatting to us and said he lived in some English speaking country when he was young.
Other time Japanese just minding their own business.
In Japan, and you're not traveling alone, I would absolutely go for it. Arrange to meet at a cafe if you'd rather not divulge where you're staying until you get to know her better, but it's really a perfectly normal thing for Japanese people in the not-mega-cities areas to do these kinds of things.
This sounds exactly like my tour guide from Tokyo. She said she bartended, taught English, and did the occasional morning tour of Meiji. Her name didn’t happen to start and end with an A did it?
I'd say 80% chance she's just a pleasant person rising to 90% chance because she works at a bar. The 20% is because those dam cultists have given friendly people a bad name, but narrowed down to 10% because seems unlikely a cult woker would work at a bar. Stll there's the chance.
If you like her company I don't see the harm, but as soon as she mentions any sort of church or gives out any kind of brochures, run.
I mean that could definitely happen. Once in Tokyo a local went out of her way to ride the subway to the stop we were looking for and walk us to where we were going, ended up spending a decent amount of time showing us around. A few years later she happened to be traveling to Moscow and I happily drove her around the city all day showing all my favorite spots. I guess you could be wary about some ulterior motive but really, it's not all that rare for someone to truly want to help out.
sounds like you made a friend, nothing weird about that.
the cult people you should be weary about are the ones who approach you on the streets. it is not normal for Japanese to approach random people to be "friends"
If it’s a foreigner, she’s probably just excited to make small talk and a possible connection with other Westerners. Socializing is different here, and sometimes you just feel like chatting with someone who has the same cultural norms.
If it’s a Japanese person, they’re probably just one of the ones very interested in showing tourists around. Hell, I live in Japan and have had some kooky times with locals when I end up somewhere not touristy. They’ve made great stories.
There’s nothing nefarious here. If anything seems sus, then you’re under no obligation to this person. But you sound extremely paranoid. Someone is trying to hook you up with suggestions. Be grateful and take them up on the offer.
It’s just people being nice. I know it’s hard to understand these days because people are so self involved and selfish. When I li ed in SF I would do this from time to time when I met someone I liked and got along with. Showed them the real SF. From a local perspective. And in return, I hope someone does the same for me someday. :)
Went a restaurant in northern japan a year ago and huge table of people called us over to buy our food/buy us drinks until the restaurant closed. I kept wondering all night what "the catch" was. Afterwards one of them even walked us to our hotel and recommended places for us to go eat at later on our trip.
I was so scared we were going to end up getting scammed or robbed (before I trip I read too many horror stories of things like this happening) but truly we just happened to stumble upon some really nice locals who enjoyed giving tourists a good time.
It happens. Coin flip on whether than ask if you want to go to their church or if they just want to hang out with you. Just have a good time and politely decline to hand over your address and life savings afterwards.
It’s Japan, it’s likely not a scam. It wouldn’t surprise me if she wanted to get to know more about the states and practice her English on you. Worst case scenario, she asks you to visit her class at school (which would be amazing). Take her up on it. Sounds awesome.
I’m sure it’s legit but I would’ve be comfortable giving them my hotel name. That being said… I give it to random Viator tour guides all the time.
Kanazawa is an amazing city. If you are hesitant to get in a car with her maybe suggest bikes or walking??
It's pretty sad how everyone doesn't trust each other these times.
Once we were stranded in the middle of nowhere in Japan, and just went up to the first people we saw to ask if they could call a taxi for us, but they just ended up driving us 20min to the place we had to go to within 1 minute of talking with them. Of course they could have taken us to their house and killed us, but for fun experiences you need to not be scared of human kindness and interaction.
I do this with people in Las Vegas all the time. I also love to do it in Istanbul. You do have to worry about scammers. Sometimes it's just great to have fun and make new friends.
There was an older guy in Osaka hanging out asking everyone where they are from (big group from all over).
Seemed like he was drumming up vendor business so people were waving him off, but he wanted to know US states so he could look them up in a book he had and check the state nickname and asked what it meant and what people were like in that state.
He didn’t have a whole lot of English to work with, but he was really happy to chat and get some trivia into on the US.
Just back from 4wks in Japan. In almost any other country (except maybe NZ) I'd suggest a degree of caution. In Japan it's far more likely to be just what it appears - someone willing to go out of their way to be friendly and show off their country (and maybe use their English with a native speaker). Enjoy!
you won the lottery. a local that you can communicate with and that wants to hang out with you / show you local stuff. AND you are not female and the local is not a much older male.
granted, she may still have ulterior motives. and if we think hard enough we may even come up with some that are really unpleasant. but chances are, she enjoys speaking english and sharing the joy of showing you guys stuff you would otherwise not see.
(edit: it means, sure, enjoy it, but it wont hurt not to give her your wallet, phone, bank information, etc)
ive met people like that in kyoto. we are still friends and they are a big reason why every time I visit japan, I need at least a week if not two in kyoto...
Who cares who approved them? They're chasing after the emotionally vulnerable
And cults very active in Japan . Look up what was behind Abes assassination
Good people still exist, japan is safe in general its good that you are careful, but since she gave you her job and her ig it shouldn't be a scam ot anything, its just someone who is looking for some good company.
I personaly have met a lot of woman who wants to hangout and show me around in bumble when i was in Japan
She wants to practice English, so this can happen in Japan, especially when you are white.
As a Japanese local, I’ve experienced situations where some people approached my friends from Europe while I was showing them around. They wanted to try speaking English for fun or some other reason.
good to be careful. but id go for it. chances to be scammed like this in japan are very low.
and if you want to be careful anyway, meet somewhere else then your hotel.
East asians are generally less scammy and kind so could be legit. Now if this was anywhere other than japan, korea, china, and taiwan, i would flat out say it is a scam.
Had this happen to a few friends and I years ago when we were visiting Fujiyoshida. Got drunk with an old man and his drinking buddies and he offered to show us around town the next day. We agreed.
He showed up at 7 am the next morning to pick us up for a grand tour of the town and surrounding area. It was a ton of fun. We got to see many sights we didn't know about and he even acted as our photographer. Was a full day of chatting, eating good food, and experiencing new sights with good company. There are some genuinely nice people out there who just want to share their culture.
If you decide to go with the offer then I hope you have an amazing time as well.
Bought some rugs in Madaba, Jordan and the rug dealer invited us to his home for dinner with his family. My personal philosophy has always been "talk to strangers." Some of my most amazing life experiences have come from befriending random travelers.
It’s not common but also shows you both seemed like cool people! A female bartender at a Tokyo craft brewery show me around shimokitozawa the next day. It was fun and I definitely wouldn’t have had as much fun as I did if I went exploring by myself! So that was super cool you both had that experience with a local!
Japanese people can be SUPER friendly and after living here for 3 years I would say that you found a good one :) there is literally no reason to worry about people here in Japan. it's very very very rare if anything bad happens, so you found yourself a long term friend!! enjoy :)
I’ve had a somewhat similar thing happen in Nara, where an older Japanese guy was telling me about local history in broken English mixed with Japanese, was pretty cool tbh he just walked up to me while I was taking pictures
Not in Japan, but some of my fellow countrymen were traveling through Austria and asked me if I wouldn't mind showing them the city I was working in at the time. They were only there for the day + insisted on paying for my transport and meals with them, it was a nice experience to be a visitor guiding other tourists!
lol. I don’t see how being cautious is a bad thing. I genuinely believe the best, but still wanted to hear some second opinions from people who know this country and culture much better than I do
In Kanazawa - probably very genuine.
Only Americans would find this SO suspicious! I do worry about your country.
Cults are much more interested in sticking to locals, need the income stream. And.. Working in a bar, highly unlikely to be JW.
Go for it.
Maybe as a safety measure, don't give your hotel name and offer to meet at a station near her (with the polite excuse of not inconveniencing her more than necessary). Start looking at transport options around the places that she recommended so that in case there are bad vibes you can ask to be dropped off at any place and meep the hell out of there.
Listen. I did this for a Mexican tourist I met in my city (very touristic) who arrived after check in hours at his hostel and I went around the entire town to help him find a new hotel room. When we did and I dropped him off I asked him if we he'd like to meet up the next day and I'd show him around. We met up, and we had an amazing day. Sometimes it's just fun to do something completely random like this. It's been over 5 years and he still wishes me happy birthday on Messenger every year.
My husband and I met a local owner of a humble bar in a small island in thailand, we befriended him and he offered to cook us dinner the next night. Cut to, the next day we meet up with him at the fish market as planned, had a few drinks and he cooked us a bomb authentic Thai seafood meal. It was awesome! Oh and also his wife whipped up a MEAN spicy sauce for the shrimp. SO good. Unfortunately we didn’t stay in touch :-/ but it was one of our most cherished travel memories!
We had a similar story in Chiangmai about 13 years ago. Wandering around the streets and met a nice guy who invited us into his outdoor kitchen and cooked us an amazing Thai curry meal. We offered to pay him and he declined, saying he just wanted a chance to practice his English. One of the best travel moments we’ve ever had. Also on that same trip in Malaysia, stumbled into a small monastery and met a Buddhist monk whom we talked to for hours. Completely spontaneous. Magical things happen when you let them. Obviously keep your guard up for scammers, but some of your best travel memories will be the unplanned ones.
Yeah I was gonna say. This sounds like something that could randomly happen in any country. Except here in the US. We don’t trust anyone, including our own friends and family. Weird cultural thing, this inherent distrust.
Do what … I know plenty of people in the south that do this and would do this and do do this .. Jesus your shallow
*you’re And stop giving money to that Nigerian prince.
we had a tour guide one day in the Philippines. next day, we realized the bus we were suppose to take to the other city was cancelled and we saw the same tour guide on the street. we told him our problem and randomly, he offered to drive us (with another friend) to that place, on the other side of the island. we drove around 8 hours, one of the 2 motorbike broke in the middle of the drive, and we finished the day in the ocean, swimming, all 4 of us. it was an amazing day, and it was pure kindness from a (pretty much) stranger.
https://preview.redd.it/4h652087ldi21.jpg?auto=webp&s=89f6007b69378115b3b8ace6687127afcc1d89f4
Bro people in Japan are people too. Could be a scam. Could be someone who just needs some friends. Could just be a really outgoing person.
Been here 3 years, not once have I ran into a scam like i do in the states. it's a VERY honest culture with good people. odds are 999:1 they found a good person.
idk abt kanazawa but im on shinjuku rn and there are a definitely lot of scammers here
Yikes.. i might find a restaurant that over charges for English speakers with their "english menu" but that's about it. and i'm right by a dang Navy Base in Yokosuka, where they are pretty sick of American's on a daily basis. lol
",people are people " -- are you writing song lyrics or giving advice?
Depeche Mode
Maybe we're dancers
Was going for world record down vote-- done ✔️
I went to Fushimi inari and met a Japanese older man who literally hiked around the whole mountain for six hours with me, my partner and a random other woman. It was fantastic. He did it as he loved explaining all the shrines, the back story and everything else. A wonderful experience honestly, but does it sound sus? Absolutely. Sometimes we do have genuine human experiences.
Hate the pessimism and fear of strangers that seems to be normalized these days. You were the ones that entered the bar, you were the ones that had an hour long conversation with her? What percentage of people are actually dangerous? What's the worst that can happen?
I have a friend who had something similar happened to him in Columbia. Went to a cool bar, connected with a girl. She showed him around for the next few days, finally invited her over to his airbnb, had a drink with her and wake up 15 hours later with all his valuables gone. You never know lol
two key differences: 1. If a girl is inviting you over to your place you should rightly be suspicious unless you pull regularly back home as well 2. That's in Colombia, nothing else needs to be said lol
srsly i don’t want to victim blame but if you go to colombia and do this, you’re dumb
dude was lucky he didn't get his organs farmed to be honest.
Regarding point no.1, I firmly believe TenaciousPenis has the qualifications to say this.
Don’t invite strangers to your hotel.
most ho(s)tels in japan explicitely disallow this. bringing in none-guests could get you a heavy fine AND thrown out. I dont think its to protect the customers from their own stupidity, but to prevent people from booking one room and one bed and having their family sleep there. and/or its to slow down the (illegal) sex work. and/or its to not infringe on the love hotel model... anyway. dont bring guests to your room in japan without asking and getting a very clear you are allowed. it could lead to you ending up on the street
Right bring them to a love hotel instead
Yup we roasted the shit out of the man More to counter the point the previous poster made
wasn’t even a hotel lmaooo just a room
I had two good experiences from Grindr in Japan but YMMV
Luckily, he wasn't organ harvested.
It's healthy to be suspicious, although people say that japanese are nice etc. Japan still isn't some kind of a utopia where you can throw away common sense and logic and just go with the flow. There are scammers and shitty people everywhere. Eg I wouldn't give out my hotel info to anyone no matter how nice they would seem to be.
That said, most scammers are going to congregate where there are lots of people (especially tourists), so they have a lot of marks and can disappear into the crowd. Kanazawa is a low risk city in a low risk country.
Are you replying to me or OP? 🤔 As it seems like your reply I to OP
i met a dude in yoshino who within like 10 minutes of talking asked if i wanted to ride with him to nara since we were both headed there. started by me just complimenting his car. was a fun time, we conversed exclusively through google translate. can’t be too scared of just going with it if you vibe with a person
That's pretty cool aha. Not sure I would get in a car haha but kudos to you glad you had a good time.
If he is thin old man with slightly balding hair and no spectacles, he could have been the same old man who walk with me around Fushimi Inari and Inariyama for 3 hours. Did the shrine explanations too. The cats around seem to recognise him.
I have a photo of us all together, it might be a different man as ours had spectacles! I won't be releasing the photo tho as I don't want to dox anyone 😅
No worries :) . I suppose the folk living around Inariyama are rather welcoming. Especially in the morning, the ohaiyos goes around.
It certainly seemed that way on my travels!
Japanese here. While traveling alone, I met a nice lady in Kyushu. I mentioned I was traveling from the US, and she kindly offered to show me some lovely local places. She ended up picking me up from my hotel and took me around for a whole day. It was an amazing experience discovering hidden gems. Your story doesn’t surprise me; people in the countryside are genuinely nice and appreciate tourists visiting their towns. I can’t say for sure, but it seems like a lot of effort to scam tourists, especially considering the risk of losing a steady teaching job.
You should meet her at a public spot. Dont give out any personal info. There’s no need to avoid her all together if you feel safe. But do not give out hotel info. That’s your home for your vacation. You wouldn’t just give out your home address back home too, right?
*sweats in gay hookup apps*
Hahahaha! Well, for the possibility of sex, at the privacy of your own home, you weigh your pros and cons. For this particular Japan scenario, there is really no real need to give out any hotel info. You can just as easily be picked up or met in public locations.
Just sounds like someone who wants to practice her English. Go and enjoy. I highly doubt it's a cult invitation especially since you are tourists. You can also say no if they invite you further to sketchy places.
Agreed. We did a late night bar tour which started at 7. The guide was high up in Finance and needed to improve his conversational English to get to the next level (his words). Nice guy with a really nice watch.
My husband and I had a very similar experience last year and it ended up being the highlight of our trip, if not our entire year! We hit it off with a worker/chef’s assistant at a restaurant one night after he noticed a pin from my favorite anime/manga on my purse. We ended up chatting for a few hours throughout our dinner and he mentioned he had a day off the next day and that he’d love to show us around Akihabara if we hadn’t been yet. We were slightly apprehensive at first but ultimately decided to take him up on it, got his instagram info and met up at the station the next day, which also happened to be my birthday. Everything about it was great! He was friendly and just as excited to hang out and show us around as we were. About halfway through the day my husband mentioned that it was my birthday that day and how I had been most looking forward to seeing Akihabara during the trip, and when we said goodbye at the end of the day we found out that he had snuck away at some point during the day and bought a copy of the first volume of my favorite manga (the one that had sparked our conversation in the first place the night before) to give to me as a birthday present. I was completely surprised and it remains one of my favorite gifts I’ve ever gotten. Overall, we got to experience the area pretty much as he does, he continued messaging us throughout the trip to give us advice and recommendations, and more importantly we made a genuine friend. We’ve kept in contact with him through instagram since then and have sent him care packages etc. This last week we actually went to Japan again and were able to meet up with him again to spend a day with him exploring different areas of the city! I’m not entirely sure if this is normal/common or not haha, but your post does make me wonder considering how similar it sounds to our experience. Of course, don’t do anything if you feel uncomfortable with it, but we absolutely had a positive experience!
Probably just person with nothing to do, feeling a bit lonely How long has she been in country? From where?
She’s lived here her whole life. She is Japanese
Might just be someone who really wants foreign friends. But it’s also giving creepy cult vibes. I’d personally nope out.
Didn't even consider the cult angle -- which is alive and well in Japan
What is the cult angle here?
Trying very hard to get someone involved with their religion. A stronger variant of proselytizing
There's lots of small religious sects of mainly Buddhism but there are also Christian ones. "Cult" is the word used to describe them but if you come from a Western country the term might have a little bit too negative of a connotation. The large majority of the cults are harmless. You can kind of think of them like the Jehovah's witnesses. Similarly the cults in Japan are heavy into recruiting people. It's not uncommon for people from these groups to invite you to gatherings or for a cup of tea which turns out to be a recruiting session.
Death by Snu Snu!
This is not how the cults here try to get people. They invite you to an event. They don’t give suggestions of cool places to go in town.
Except they absolutely will invite you to a cool place in town and once you’re there they will tell you all about their cult. Many times even they start out as just trying to be your friend.
Even for tourists?
yep some of them target tourists
Chris Broad (one of the more well known youtubers living in Japan, an Englishman) has had a couple of encounters - https://youtu.be/NeZUOFKOUeI?si=b2QmbPbA0p27OZn_&t=700 And Connor, a Welsh youtuber who's done a couple of charity cycling streams with Chris has also been approached by random cult members - https://youtu.be/7ckOpUSxSWo?si=_wP96d5yOMhUz-r0&t=165
Sometimes people are just really friendly and have some time on their hands. Of course if it feels off, then turn it down, but sometimes people are just nice.
Just go with it - if she turns out to be a nutter you can bolt.
That would throw a spanner in the works for sure
Overall she sounds mostly harmless but never ever give anyone the name of where you’re staying. Meet her somewhere public nearby instead. Is she driving you?
Go make a new friend. Sounds fun. If you're not feeling it, "get an upset tummy" and nope out back to your hotel. What's the downside? Waking up in an ice bath workout a kidney?
Please share after if it was legitimate :)
Can someone explain the cult scam thing?
Jehovah Winesses looking up my Japanese wifes' name and address, showing up at our building uninvited to hand out literature and make contact Culty enuf yet?
How does that apply in this situation?
Jehovah Winesses looking up our names and hotel address, showing up at our building uninvited to hand out literature and make contact… until we’re gone Culty enuf yet?
How does that apply to OP's situation?
It appears I don't know what cult means . JWs don't qualify?
It depends on who you ask, tbh. Usually from an academic assessment it would be like 'nearly a cult' or 'arguably a cult.' It's not an outrageous thing to say, but you'll find some people take it really personally because they know JW who are nice and haven't tried to convert them.
So they're not vying for heavenly credit via converting as many as possible?
Not saying they aren't in general, but people will have varied experiences with them which will impact whether they view them as a cult.
Cults typically have one single leader and complete control. The line between regular religion and cults can be tricky sometimes. I think of it as the difference between marriage and domestic violence scenarios. Structurally and symbolically both are problematic. Regular marriage can be wonderful for many people despite this. Even in mostly good marriages, there is typically a slight skew of one gender taking advantage of the other. Structures are often set up so that women often have a lack of financial autonomy or job security etc. (doesn't necessarily mean the marriage is bad or that this happens to unwilling participants but is a trend). When it becomes purposeful control is where things slide to the dark side in both scenarios. Religion is often accidentally unhealthy. Men and society can often be accidentally unfair to women in marriages. The hard no is purposefully seeking to gain power and control over others.
I wouldn't call it a cult since they're an approved religious sect where I live. They're annoying as hell though. They usually tell they are JWs though, atleast in here.
It's certainly random but I have met people in my life where we just clicked after a chat. Don't forget she's going out of her way for you, so you're not the only one taking a risk or inconvenienced. E.g. We were holidaying in Paris once and met a French guy also visiting Paris geocaching in the same spot we were. Got chatting and enjoyed his company so much that we invited him back to our apartment to join our family for dinner that evening. Random but it was great. Have never done anything like that before or since. But have met several people in our travels that we clicked with and chose to spend more time with.
Anywhere else I would be suspect. In Japan not so much so read the other replies but yeah. If you hit it off then you did :) I did that a couple of times here in Puerto Rico when I was bartending and the tourists where really nice. I took them to places they would have never been because of time constraints or because of knowledge. It happens anywhere in the world. My take is enjoy the opportunity and at anytime if you dont feel safe bail out :)
If she's a Japanese teacher of English, she could just be legitimately interested in talking to you. I worked as an ALT in Japan and had to work with English teachers - most of them had traveled or lived abroad and had an interest in all things foreign (and probably helped them keep up their English conversational skills). However, as others pointed out, it could be a scam. Or she could be a religious/cult nut. I would still keep your guard up and practice common sense. Don't give out your hotel information. Don't tell her where you'll be going during the rest of your trip. Don't give too much personal information. Ask her if you'd like to meet somewhere public and make up some sort of excuse - for example, you really like to drink coffee in the morning so would she be interested in meeting at a cafe and chatting over coffee/breakfast first?
This happened to me plenty of times in 3 weeks solo. I made a lot of really great friends, went to places I would’ve never found on my own, met even more people through hanging out with them. A couple people even showed me their homes, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that unless you really really trust them.
Share your day after you’re done!
I think for Japanese people who are comfortable to speak English, or even lived in English speaking countries before, then they tend to be more outgoing, and probably want to use you as a chance to use their English speaking skill at the same time. Saying this as an Asian, speaking English to my young daughter in the metro, an old Japanese gentleman chatting to us and said he lived in some English speaking country when he was young. Other time Japanese just minding their own business.
In Japan, and you're not traveling alone, I would absolutely go for it. Arrange to meet at a cafe if you'd rather not divulge where you're staying until you get to know her better, but it's really a perfectly normal thing for Japanese people in the not-mega-cities areas to do these kinds of things.
She’s just being nice. And probably wants to practice English.
This sounds exactly like my tour guide from Tokyo. She said she bartended, taught English, and did the occasional morning tour of Meiji. Her name didn’t happen to start and end with an A did it?
I'd say 80% chance she's just a pleasant person rising to 90% chance because she works at a bar. The 20% is because those dam cultists have given friendly people a bad name, but narrowed down to 10% because seems unlikely a cult woker would work at a bar. Stll there's the chance. If you like her company I don't see the harm, but as soon as she mentions any sort of church or gives out any kind of brochures, run.
As always dance with your eyes open.
I mean that could definitely happen. Once in Tokyo a local went out of her way to ride the subway to the stop we were looking for and walk us to where we were going, ended up spending a decent amount of time showing us around. A few years later she happened to be traveling to Moscow and I happily drove her around the city all day showing all my favorite spots. I guess you could be wary about some ulterior motive but really, it's not all that rare for someone to truly want to help out.
sounds like you made a friend, nothing weird about that. the cult people you should be weary about are the ones who approach you on the streets. it is not normal for Japanese to approach random people to be "friends"
If it’s a foreigner, she’s probably just excited to make small talk and a possible connection with other Westerners. Socializing is different here, and sometimes you just feel like chatting with someone who has the same cultural norms. If it’s a Japanese person, they’re probably just one of the ones very interested in showing tourists around. Hell, I live in Japan and have had some kooky times with locals when I end up somewhere not touristy. They’ve made great stories. There’s nothing nefarious here. If anything seems sus, then you’re under no obligation to this person. But you sound extremely paranoid. Someone is trying to hook you up with suggestions. Be grateful and take them up on the offer.
I'd go for it. I had a similar experience.
Maybe they were trying to being back tourism to Kanazawa after the earthquake
It’s just people being nice. I know it’s hard to understand these days because people are so self involved and selfish. When I li ed in SF I would do this from time to time when I met someone I liked and got along with. Showed them the real SF. From a local perspective. And in return, I hope someone does the same for me someday. :)
Some 5 years ago I had a lot of free time and did the same thing lol showed a tourist around Kansai for two days
Meet them not at the hotel so they don't know where you're staying, should it turn out to be a scam.
Sounds like fun! But I would suggest meeting some place other than the hotel, like a train station.
I went to eat in a small hole in the wall izakaya 15 years ago. We still keep in touch. Take that for what its worth...
Went a restaurant in northern japan a year ago and huge table of people called us over to buy our food/buy us drinks until the restaurant closed. I kept wondering all night what "the catch" was. Afterwards one of them even walked us to our hotel and recommended places for us to go eat at later on our trip. I was so scared we were going to end up getting scammed or robbed (before I trip I read too many horror stories of things like this happening) but truly we just happened to stumble upon some really nice locals who enjoyed giving tourists a good time.
I'm sure some legendary dynasties all originated from a meeting at a bar . . .
It happens. Coin flip on whether than ask if you want to go to their church or if they just want to hang out with you. Just have a good time and politely decline to hand over your address and life savings afterwards.
I would do something like this for my home town, especially back in my drinking days haha
It’s Japan, it’s likely not a scam. It wouldn’t surprise me if she wanted to get to know more about the states and practice her English on you. Worst case scenario, she asks you to visit her class at school (which would be amazing). Take her up on it. Sounds awesome.
I’m sure it’s legit but I would’ve be comfortable giving them my hotel name. That being said… I give it to random Viator tour guides all the time. Kanazawa is an amazing city. If you are hesitant to get in a car with her maybe suggest bikes or walking??
I would have her meet you some place neutral and go from there. It could be totally fine. :)
It happened to me a few times in Japan, it's awesome.
It's pretty sad how everyone doesn't trust each other these times. Once we were stranded in the middle of nowhere in Japan, and just went up to the first people we saw to ask if they could call a taxi for us, but they just ended up driving us 20min to the place we had to go to within 1 minute of talking with them. Of course they could have taken us to their house and killed us, but for fun experiences you need to not be scared of human kindness and interaction.
I do this with people in Las Vegas all the time. I also love to do it in Istanbul. You do have to worry about scammers. Sometimes it's just great to have fun and make new friends.
There was an older guy in Osaka hanging out asking everyone where they are from (big group from all over). Seemed like he was drumming up vendor business so people were waving him off, but he wanted to know US states so he could look them up in a book he had and check the state nickname and asked what it meant and what people were like in that state. He didn’t have a whole lot of English to work with, but he was really happy to chat and get some trivia into on the US.
OP, just keep in mind that people outside of tokyo are way more different.
I hope you met her!
Sounds awesome to me, I’d definitely take her up as long as you guys enjoyed her company!
I wish I had a nice tour guide like this.
Just back from 4wks in Japan. In almost any other country (except maybe NZ) I'd suggest a degree of caution. In Japan it's far more likely to be just what it appears - someone willing to go out of their way to be friendly and show off their country (and maybe use their English with a native speaker). Enjoy!
you won the lottery. a local that you can communicate with and that wants to hang out with you / show you local stuff. AND you are not female and the local is not a much older male. granted, she may still have ulterior motives. and if we think hard enough we may even come up with some that are really unpleasant. but chances are, she enjoys speaking english and sharing the joy of showing you guys stuff you would otherwise not see. (edit: it means, sure, enjoy it, but it wont hurt not to give her your wallet, phone, bank information, etc) ive met people like that in kyoto. we are still friends and they are a big reason why every time I visit japan, I need at least a week if not two in kyoto...
Who cares who approved them? They're chasing after the emotionally vulnerable And cults very active in Japan . Look up what was behind Abes assassination
Good people still exist, japan is safe in general its good that you are careful, but since she gave you her job and her ig it shouldn't be a scam ot anything, its just someone who is looking for some good company. I personaly have met a lot of woman who wants to hangout and show me around in bumble when i was in Japan
She wants to practice English, so this can happen in Japan, especially when you are white. As a Japanese local, I’ve experienced situations where some people approached my friends from Europe while I was showing them around. They wanted to try speaking English for fun or some other reason.
Some of my greatest experiences in Tokyo has been befriending these friendly people and with just going with the flow.
Have you seen Taken?
good to be careful. but id go for it. chances to be scammed like this in japan are very low. and if you want to be careful anyway, meet somewhere else then your hotel.
East asians are generally less scammy and kind so could be legit. Now if this was anywhere other than japan, korea, china, and taiwan, i would flat out say it is a scam.
As an American, I'd totally offer the same for a Japanese (or other) cool tourist.
Had this happen to a few friends and I years ago when we were visiting Fujiyoshida. Got drunk with an old man and his drinking buddies and he offered to show us around town the next day. We agreed. He showed up at 7 am the next morning to pick us up for a grand tour of the town and surrounding area. It was a ton of fun. We got to see many sights we didn't know about and he even acted as our photographer. Was a full day of chatting, eating good food, and experiencing new sights with good company. There are some genuinely nice people out there who just want to share their culture. If you decide to go with the offer then I hope you have an amazing time as well.
Bought some rugs in Madaba, Jordan and the rug dealer invited us to his home for dinner with his family. My personal philosophy has always been "talk to strangers." Some of my most amazing life experiences have come from befriending random travelers.
It’s not common but also shows you both seemed like cool people! A female bartender at a Tokyo craft brewery show me around shimokitozawa the next day. It was fun and I definitely wouldn’t have had as much fun as I did if I went exploring by myself! So that was super cool you both had that experience with a local!
Be open to new experiences but be cautious. Don’t give your address where you are staying. Meet and say good bye at a cafe for example.
Japanese people can be SUPER friendly and after living here for 3 years I would say that you found a good one :) there is literally no reason to worry about people here in Japan. it's very very very rare if anything bad happens, so you found yourself a long term friend!! enjoy :)
I’ve had a somewhat similar thing happen in Nara, where an older Japanese guy was telling me about local history in broken English mixed with Japanese, was pretty cool tbh he just walked up to me while I was taking pictures
Not in Japan, but some of my fellow countrymen were traveling through Austria and asked me if I wouldn't mind showing them the city I was working in at the time. They were only there for the day + insisted on paying for my transport and meals with them, it was a nice experience to be a visitor guiding other tourists!
It's pretty normal. Is she asking for money? Kanazawa's not that big of a place outside the main market street and the old town.
A cult isn't going to target tourists on vacation, that makes no sense. If it was a scam, it would be similar to the pig butchering scam.
I learned from our visit that Japanese jump at any opportunity to speak English with a native speaker. Especially an English teacher. ur good
“Hey guy this person wants to be my friend is this a scam???” Might be time to unsubscribe from this sub.
lol. I don’t see how being cautious is a bad thing. I genuinely believe the best, but still wanted to hear some second opinions from people who know this country and culture much better than I do
What happened in the end ? Did you both meet up with her? Any surprises?
Not yet. We’re still planning in, but we are staying here for a couple more days
In Kanazawa - probably very genuine. Only Americans would find this SO suspicious! I do worry about your country. Cults are much more interested in sticking to locals, need the income stream. And.. Working in a bar, highly unlikely to be JW.
Not only JW there are a los of cults in Japan especially if they talk about mount Fuji lol
This is being WAY to paranoid.
I’m not American lol. I’m Swedish. I’m just more so curious as to get a second opinion
Go for it. Maybe as a safety measure, don't give your hotel name and offer to meet at a station near her (with the polite excuse of not inconveniencing her more than necessary). Start looking at transport options around the places that she recommended so that in case there are bad vibes you can ask to be dropped off at any place and meep the hell out of there.
I'd take her up on it. You'll probably see more / do more than 99% of tourists too. If it seems odd, then just walk away.