Hi all, very strange encounter today, I was in the 3 coin in nishiki market today and a random school girl (maybe 14-16) came up to me and asked to take a picture with me. I was genuinely shocked and looked at her like ??? Me ??? And she was so happy and eager, I obliged and she took the picture of us and then she went on her way and I went on my way. I have no idea what to make of this, this has never happened to me before, I definitely do not look like any celebrities (to be mistaken for any) and I feel like I look like a very basic tourist doing very touristy things. What could this girl have wanted to take a selfie with me for?
by Migessa
24 comments
She just wanted a photo. Nothing sinister. Nothing more to it.
I had a similar encounter in Hakata Station years ago… random woman walked up to me outta the blue, dragged me into a photo booth for selfies and… that was it. I thought it was weird, so I asked for her LINE & she gave me it. Sent her a message later along the lines of “thanks, that was random but fun.” Never a reply, never seen again. (I was only in Fukuoka for a short time, so it’s not like I’d bump into her.)
Does anyone know if this is some sorta niche hobby here? Or perhaps she did this to tell others she had a boyfriend / S.O. and here’s the proof? 🤔
Maybe homework for English class to show she interacted with a tourist from abroad.
Perhaps you just looked more approachable than other people in some way to her. My (30 f) husband (32 m) have been to Japan twice and I’ve noticed that children are much more receptive to him than me. Obviously kids that are playing around with their friends and maybe “daring” each other to say hello or something. In kinosaki onsen a group of probably elementary age school boys walked by and after some encouragement from the group one little boy approached my husband and confidently asked him what time it was in English, my husband gave the answer, the boy said thank you and all the children cackled. Everyone’s having a good time. I wave at the boy as he walks away and he looked absolutely terrified.
My wife and I were at Kiyomizu-dera Temple and the same thing happened. A 14-16 year old boy on a school trip came up and asked if he could take a photo with us. Teacher was there and watching. He asked us the usual questions and then said thank you and went off with his friends. We think he wanted to try out his English.
Taking pictures with people just seems to be a thing. Usually at sole type of event but it can happen randomly. Maybe you had some cool hat or something. Haha
You wanna hear the truth about this scam, kid? Well, strap in, ’cause this one’s a real doozy. It all starts innocently enough, see? Just a school girl, wide-eyed and innocent, snapping a photo with a tourist. Seems harmless, right? But that’s where it begins. That photo? It’s the bait, the first step in a long con.
Now, this tourist, he ain’t just any tourist. He’s a mark, ripe for the picking. The girl, she’s the bait, the honey trap. She lures him in with that smile, and before he knows it, she’s got him wrapped around her little finger.
But it doesn’t stop there. Oh no, that’d be too easy. See, the girl’s got connections. She’s part of a network, a well-oiled machine of grifters and thieves. And they’ve got their sights set on something big.
The Mona Lisa.
Yeah, you heard me right. The damn Mona Lisa. They ain’t content with petty theft, oh no. They’re aiming for the big leagues. And that tourist? He’s just the first piece of the puzzle.
Next thing you know, the girl’s cozying up to security guards, slipping past them like a ghost in the night. She’s smooth, I’ll give her that. But me? I’m smoother. I see through her act from day one.
So I tail her, watch her every move. And sure enough, she leads me straight to their hideout, where they’ve got the Mona Lisa stashed away like it’s some cheap knockoff.
But they ain’t counting on one thing: me. The world-weary detective who’s seen it all. I bust in, guns blazing, and before they know what hit ’em, they’re all behind bars.
And the Mona Lisa? Back where she belongs, safe and sound. Another day, another scam foiled.
When I was at Heian Shrine some school kids interviewed me.
There is a new app called BeReal that the kids are using where you take unfiltered photos when prompted randomly. My guess is that it was related to that.
probably for school. i had similar experience but instead of single person a group of students approached me and asked in broken English to take picture together. difference was, their teacher was close and observing them
I recently visited Kyoto and some school kids came up to my [Japanese] wife and started trying to use Chinese words with her. My wife lived in the US for 22 years, so she probably gives off a not-from-here vibe, and they must have assumed she was Chinese. It was quite comical to see them taken aback when she started speaking Japanese to them. There are a lot of tourists in Kyoto and it seems sometimes school kids will try to interact with them. I wouldn’t think any more deeply into it than that.
I dated a girl who was an english teacher in South Korea. People would ask her for pictures all the time, so she asked her assistant why. They told her that not Koreans don’t see many white people, and they are fascinated with the different colored eyes and hair.
It seems obvious to westerners, but eye and hair color in many Asian countries are very similar, and westerners are viewed as more exotic.
people in asia like to take photographs with white foreigners. used to happen to me all the time in china
Perfectly normal. Don’t worry
I am Japanese and experienced the totally same thing when I was traveling in Bali. An Indonesian girl in hijab asked me in English to take my picture with her in the souvenir shop of HardRock Cafe. I had no idea about what was going on! All I can say is that it was absolutely not her English homework like earlier comments mention lol.
Same thing happened to my family. We loved the interaction. It started with one kid, then her friends saw us talking, and suddenly we were signing autographs in their books and showing them where we live on Google maps. Their teacher came over and was so excited to learn that we were from where Ichiro played baseball and about 20 minutes later we were saying goodbyes and they were giving us treats as a thank you. It was one of the highlights of our trip.
It’s likely a school project. They have to speak English to a tourist and get a photo with them as proof. It’s happened to me in Kyoto and also Osaka
My 6’ tall black friend was once chased down for a photo by a man in a giant Pikachu costume in Tokyo
If the kids are from a smaller town, it’s possible that they don’t see foreigners very often at all. It’s easy to forget that outside of the tourist areas and Tokyo, Japan is almost entirely ethnically Japanese by race. According to statistics, Japan is 97.9% ethnically Japanese. [Source](https://www.indexmundi.com/japan/demographics_profile.html)
I visited a midsized (85k people) non tourist town where my friend from university lives. Kids were rubber necking to stare at me on the walk from the train station. I’ve also stayed at his house when he used to live in the Osaka suburbs. The looks I got when I was walking out of his neighborhood, lol. Congratulations, you’re “gaijin famous!” Lol (foreigner famous)
Not to say this is a huge problem in Japan. But there is a type of blackmail that happens where they get photos of you and then claim something happened and try and get money from you. Again, I don’t think this is what happened but just be smart.
This has been commonplace for decades (though less so now). Maybe she was on a trip from a very rural area and hadn’t seen many foreigners in real life. I’ve been approached in similar ways, and sometimes “interviewed” many times.
I think it’s just cool to see a foreigner. Something like 97-99% of the population is Japanese, so seeing anyone else of a different nationality is pretty rare.
If I had to think of an equivalent for where I live (USA), I guess it would be like if a Japanese tourist came here wearing a pretty yukata. Something like that would be attention-grabbing here even though it’s completely commonplace in Japan. A few people here would probably ask that person for a picture.
I know it’s not a perfect comparison, since one is about nationality and one is about clothes, but since the US is more multicultural, it’s hard for me to think of another comparison that would make sense.
She probably just showed the picture to her friends and family and said, “look who I met today!!!” 🙂
I’ve had that happen many times in many countries… kind of funny
Happens a lot in Nara. 4 out of 5 times I went there, students started talking to me and even took photos with me, for various reasons.