All of these situations happened in a span of 3 years. JAPAN IS GENERALLY A SAFE COUNTRY. These are just isolated cases so I don’t want to generalize as I still feel very safe living here than I did in my own country.
I was standing on the platform going home, a Japanese woman in her 60’s approached me with her son who is probably same age as me. She kept insisting that I give my phone number to her son who looked very ashamed standing in a corner. I kept pretending I didn’t understand and that I don’t understand Japanese. She kept following me around handing me her phone and saying to give my number because it was her son’s birthday. This went on for like 10 minutes but felt like forever. Train came and I was very relieved. This was around 11pm after coming home from a friends party.
A South Asian man kept staring at me on the train the whole time. I was very disturbed but tried to ignore it. Once the guy standing in front of me (I was seated) left, he immediately stood right in front of me and started talking to me.
“Where are you from?”
I didn’t look or respond.
“どこの出身ですか”
I didn’t respond.
He kept trying to talk to me but I answered, no English no Japanese.
He looked at me straight in the eye and said,
“I know where you live.”
The moment he said that, I got goosebumps everywhere. To say I was terrified was an understatement since I lived alone at that time and my apartment had only a few tenants left. I didn’t respond. We got to my station, he looked at me and said it’s my station and kept standing there waiting for me to stand up but I was frozen in fear, eventually he stepped out of the train but I stayed. I thought he was bluffing but when I saw that he really KNEW my station, I freaked out. He wasn’t lying! I looked out the window and I saw him still staring at me on the platform as the train was leaving. I waited 2 hours before going home. Thankfully, never saw him again. This was late, around 9pm.
I was with an old female roommate dining at Saizeriya. An old Japanese man probably in his 60’s kept staring at us the whole time. It was uncomfortable. We thought nothing of it at first but realized he wasn’t eating, not drinking but just staring at us for like 2 hours, we were hoping he would leave first but he didn’t. I pretended to go to to the toilet but paid our meal while my friend stayed. The old man was still locking eyes. I immediately came back, told my friend let’s go. We stood up as fast as we could and as soon as we did, he immediately stood up and tried to follow us. He was almost near us at the door when the staff yelled at him that he hadn’t paid yet (there were only us left I think so the staff was well aware, thank God!) and we were so relieved. My friend and I were scared to death and took several trains hoping he wouldn’t follow us home. This was around 9:30-10pm.
A Japanese guy probably in his 30’s. We were in a packed Chiyoda line and everyone was faces against each other. I notice this guy, every time I moved, he was always right behind me. Wtf? I kept moving throughout the time and eventually was in a different car, I turn around and guess who was a few steps behind me? The guy again followed me across, in a packed train to a different car! I ran out as soon as I could when I got off the next station. I was late for work but whatever.
A man who looked African,( he was so tall like maybe 7ft!!!) was on his phone talking very loudly in the middle of a narrow road where I lived. I passed by him riding my bicycle on my way to the supermarket and didn’t think much of it. When I was returning, he was standing by the road and from a distance kept saying “hello! Hello!” I didn’t respond and he suddenly started chasing me and running really fast. What the hell??? It was also in a dark area with no street lights and was around 8pm. I pedaled as fast as I could and I saw him stop in the end. Never saw him again and very relieved. The first few weeks, I avoided that street like a plague.
I am petite, I would say I look decent but I always dress modestly and conservatively so I don’t think it’s an issue. I haven’t experienced anything bad as of late but the “I know where you live” guy still haunts my dreams to this day. I don’t live there anymore thankfully and am married now so it helps. Be safe please!
Edit: Honestly, whatever their intentions were or cultural differences, they were still wrong. The train man could have stopped as soon as he saw how uncomfortable I was instead of pushing it and kept on talking when he could see, I just wasn’t interested to talk. He had to mention he knew where I lived or what my station was to get a reaction from me? A very bad reaction.
The black man, I don’t know what exactly he would want from me. He could have easily gone to a 7/11 which was a few blocks away and the street he was on was a few minutes walk from the nearest station with shops, a koban and everything he needed. Instead he decided to stand in the dark, waiting for me from a distance and when I didn’t respond to his hello, he couldn’t just let it go like a normal human being, instead he chased me and even tried to grab my bicycle! So whatever culture they have, that was NOT acceptable.
by CallieinJapan