Yesterday in Tokyo me (29F) and my partner (38M) went out to a bar to watch baseball and have a beer. Out of nowhere a man came up to our table and started calling us “european motherfuckers” and so on and clenched his fists telling my partner that he wants to beat him up. I quickly told the staff which caused him to attack me and he had to be removed. He didn’t seem drunk and the staff had never seen him before. This is our second day in Japan and now I’m worried, is this a common occurrence and should we avoid certain places to avoid trouble?
Edit: I think the thread got locked because I can’t reply to people directly. So here are some more details.
Someone asked how he or we knew where each other are from. I’m German, my partner is British and I got a noticeable German accent when I speak so we guess he just went off off that. I think he walked past near by us a couple times while we where there. Same goes for why we think he was american. He spoke in a North American accent but tbf he could have been from somewhere else.
Did he look military: Maybe, he had a very large tattoo on his arm that was a P with an x on the bottom. I think that is a military symbol? But I don’t understand what that has to do with this.
Some poeple say just chill: I was super confused by this encounter and as a women I’m very rarely physically attacked. I travel a LOT and never had anyone let alone Americans be rude to me. Most other tourists are always friendly. This was soooo out of the ordinary that I thought maybe we missed something that happened here recently and we stepped onto someone’s toes. That’s all. Seems like there is nothing though.
20 comments
Attacked by an American or Japanese?
Edit: I did read the title and, as others have said, something seems missing from this story. Downvote away.
Gonna assume you were just unlucky, that sounds very extreme. I’ve been to Japan 6 different times and the only time anything even remotely similar happened to us was a group of Australian guys who jokingly shoved one of my friends while he was taking a photo of a koi pond at the park. It was a light shove and they walked away laughing at his reaction. We have no idea what that was about.
I’ve got an image of the alien guy obi-wan kills in a new hope in the moss eisley cantina
No, you were just unlucky. Definitely not a common occurrence. I wouldn’t worry about it.
Wow how awful, just love being American! /s
I doubt it’s a trend though, just bad luck 🙁
While I also have my share of meeting Americans in Japan who are simply aggressive without any good reason, this is not a common occurrence anywhere. Therefore, avoiding certain places because some dudes are ill is not necessary.
One more thing: every assault should be reported to police and they deal with it. However, as a foreigner reporting anything to the police automatically puts you on the list of suspects, so it is always better not to deal with police, but ask someone local to do it.
An American that doesn’t like that Europeans are in Japan? That seems so odd. I think it was just a bad coincidence.
Chinese propaganda
Should of showed them who’s boss. Throw a cheese burger at them
Was this person military-looking?
Regardless, holy shit. That sucks & I’m sorry.
Feels like something is missing in this story.
it’s obvious no? So, you think all Americans go out just to find some Europeans to fight? Comeon.
Are you sure that wasn’t a Canadian?
Yes, this is a common occurrence. Best be on your guard 🙄
As an American who will be there in July not only will I not be looking for altercations with Europeans I hope to encounter more Europeans than Americans.
Most Americans that are in Japan are there for leisure or work.. not to get into bar fights.
As usual Americans..
This wouldn’t even be a common occurrence IN AMERICA, let alone Japan. Relax, OP…
No, it’s not a normal situation, but sooner or later you are bound to find a lunatic either at home or abroad.
The only remotely similar thing that I witness was an American ederly man screaming at a girl at the Ginkaku-ji gift shop if he was speaking Italian or what? It seems he spoke English to the attendant and the poor lady could not understand him. In this case a young lady, his daughter, quickly removed him from the shop while he kept complaining…
It really feels like some information is missing from this story. Like, how did he know you were Europeans? How did you know he was American? Did something happen before this?
Random attacks by Americans, or anyone else for that matter, are not very common. Although there are idiots/assholes in every country. Maybe you just got unlucky?