So I was walking with my friends in the park and a japanese guy starts talking to me in English and I responded in Japanese and we just started talking and he asked me where I was from what I was doing here and seemed like he was interested in talking to foreign people but he was walking with a woman who was like 20 years older than him and they both said that they’re vegan friends and that he talked to me because I looked interesting.
They followed me around for 10 minutes asking bullshit questions about myself
They found me again afterwards and screamed my name with enthusiasm and were waving
Idk, not something normal people would do
I don’t know how to say it nicely but they had “crazy eyes” and the vibes felt weird.
I unfortunately exchanged lines with him and he’s asking if i have plans next week.
Should I just block him?
What kind of scam could this be? Or could it actually be someone trying to be my friend? (I am a 25 year old euro male)
Has anyone had a similar experience?
36 comments
cult central
Just block
Anybody who randomly approaches you in a park is suspicious and weird. Even if it’s not a scam, I would definitely block them.
Most Japanese people would rather chew off their own arms than engage in conversation with a foreigner. Of the ones who don’t, the majority have an agenda. Whether that is to sell you something or to get you to join their cool cult, it ain’t good. As a numbers game, risk pissing off the one nice person who just wanted to have a chat, and ignore all people who come to chat with you on the street out of the blue. Unless you want to get chased around the streets by the Fuji nutters or get drugged and have your credit card maxed out in a bar somewhere. All of these stories start with a chance encounter, a totally unproblematic conversation, a friendly face, and then comes the plot twist in the third act.
Cult.
Probably wants to harvest your kidneys for a yakitori restaurant. /s
Can you imagine a normal/sane person of any other race walking up to you randomly and talking to you because you look interesting and then wanting to exchange contact info? No, you can’t imagine that? That’s because that’s not how normal people tend to conduct themselves. It took me years of living in Japan before I realized that some weird behavior is just weird behavior, regardless of culture. I still occasionally get weirdos who randomly come up to me and just immediately ask (wether in Japanese or English) “what is your job?” My response now is always something to the extent of “who are you and why are you asking me my line of work?” That’s not a normal thing to just approach a stranger and ask them.
>Is this a cult?
Yes. If you have to ask that question the answer is yes, it’s a cult.
Cult or not, how would you deal with this situation in your own country? Crazy eyes? Weird vibe? You don’t want any of that. Listen to your gut and block him.
They look crazy, say weird stuff and you still gave them your line?
It’s ok to say no, just say no.
How old were the both of them? I’ve definitely had older people approach me just cuz they were curious and interested in testing their English chops (granted I lived in a city in Tohoku with a smaller non-japanese population by far than Tokyo).
However, based on vibes alone I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a cult. The worst one where I lived was the Nichiren sect. They loved ignoring the “no chirashi” sign on my mailbox >:( and plenty of older people will proselytize for cults too. Just be as cautious around strangers as you would anywhere else!
-free english lessons
-cult
-no japanese friends because of being weird, so trying their luck with gaijins
Update: he invited me to some super weird art exhibit in omotesandou
https://preview.redd.it/62s6fiy216ya1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=cf64f99fb2caef72299a02d12a29e6d24cf3643c
I think the answer is almost yes. Next time he contact you, he will ask you to meet some people, and the last thing you know you have been surrounded by weird group of people. Run.
Unless you are out in the inaka, random person chatting with you is usually not someone you should be engaging with. Of course there are exceptions but usually it’s either a cult, a scam or beggars from my experience. Especially if they are trying to chat with you in English.
I’ve been approached a plenty of times by people, one including my now wife, asking if I could speak Japanese, got to talking, before we left we added each other on LINE, been married 4 years now, strangely it’s only been the women that want to add me on LINE and here I am trying to make guy friends, the conversation always starts with questions about my tattoos because I got a full sleeve
Shooreh Pippi 📿
>I unfortunately exchanged lines with them
you deserve everything that happens from here on out lol
I don’t know if it’s a cult or not, but even for a Japanese, such behavior is simply creepy and not something a sane person will ever do, so yes, just like everyone else says, you should block him.
Even if he just wanted to be friends, it’s really kind of rude to just come up to you and call you ‘interesting’ by the color of your skin.
He probably doesn’t even realize how weird he’s being, and with such lack of sensitivity, that is really not the kind of people you should casually engage with in a metropolis city in Tokyo.
He only wanted to talk to you about your cars extended warranty
They often disguise it as a group for English practice too, if they give off weird vibes and also bring up an English practice circle then you’ve tripped all the red flags.
If they were not walking a dog, then they were 108% guaranteed to be death cultists.
Dogs can sense their esoteric stench.
Do not give them *any* information about yourself that could be used for abominable purposes.
Bid them good day, and be about your business.
They might’ve been crazy but not sure if it’s a cult. Like why would they recruit foreigners, when they could even be tourists?
Lol. Why you people give these wacko’s the time of day. In any other country you (I imagine) would have bailed, and certainly not given them your contact information; Are you that desperate to interact with Japanese people?
Just tell them to fuck off.
If it doesn’t feel right……
Yep! First week in Tokyo back in 2019, me and my mate got approached in a very similar manner by a lovely old woman at Shinjuku Station.
She wanted us to come to a recruitment meeting, and we managed to find out the name of the group. It was some Fuji-worshipping, anti-China nonsense cult who believe their leader can see the future.
As far as I know, most of them are basically harmless. But then again, I didn’t go to the meeting.
Yes, seems like it! People have approached me like that, their motive is either romantic interest, or language exchange, or recruiting in a cult. I normally just say I’m not interested in a polite manner. If they’re being aggressive, I just tell them that they’re making me uncomfortable, but this time, more loudly so that other people can also hear that I do not know them and they’re approaching me. I’d suggest you to block him and avoid meeting him, only if you believe in being friends with people you know.
Approached in English = they want something from you.
We all know the unfortunate stereotype.
got approached by strange people -> cult/scam
got invited to a drink randomly -> cult/scam
this woman is really into me and wants to take me to her friend’s house -> cult/scam
There’s a movie in Netflix that I would like to recommend you. It’s called: Cold Fish
People can be weird. I was stopped, while riding my motorbike, by another bike, because he wanted to ask questions about my bike (it’s a rare bike in Japan)
Unless they were asking you to join anything I wouldn’t worry about it.
But yes, it could still be culty In the end.
I enjoy striking up conversations. I’m American. It’s a habit I brought with me to Japan. It rarely pans out into an actual conversation. I probably need to learn Japanese. 🤔
Just tell them to fuck off and don’t feel bad about it. You aren’t required to give anyone your time. (something you should have learned back in Europe)
Whatever you do, don’t follow some tout to a bar to drink away the stressful situation.
It’s someone in [Happy Science](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Science)
They want you to come to one of their meetings so you can listen to their leader, [Ryuho Okawa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryuho_Okawa) be possessed by the ghost of Mother Teresa or some other past person and give prophecies about the future. Usually involving being invaded by China and we should give money to them now to prepare the way.
For some reason they are popping up all over Japan and all do the same thing. Some times they say they want to pray for you, otherwise just follow you around. Ultimately same goal, come to our meeting and talk about our spiritual leader.
Edit: Just noticed that Ryuho Okawa died so I guess the next leader will be getting possessed by him
We usually don’t talk to random people in public. If you are talked by someone in public, it must be cult.
Should I just block him?
yes
People, no matter the nationality/culture, don’t normally walk directly up to complete strangers to engage in conversation without an agenda. It’s not the same as some stranger making idle chit chat with you while you share the same bench in a park or wait in line at Starbucks. Block their number.