I am currently on holiday in Japan with my husband and we visited Hiroshima from Osaka today.
As we were leaving the train station at Hiroshima we were stopped by a Japanese woman, possibly in her late 50s/early 60s asking us where we are from, why are we in Japan etc. (***ETA it was later She told us she uses Su’s Force to help people with their health and positive energy.) She asked for us to close our eyes for 20 seconds and good things would happen to us.
We humoured her (with one eye open) and it was a nice moment. Then she wanted us to add her on WhatsApp and tell her if something good happens to us, then we parted ways.
Later we were at Shukkeien Garden having some matcha at the cafe when another Japanese woman, this one in her late 30s/ early 40s, struck up a similar conversation with us, but for a lot longer. We enjoy practicing our Japanese so we humoured her for a while. After maybe 20 minutes she pulled a picture frame from a fabric bag and said she’d like to try something with us for 30 seconds.
We politely declined but took her contact info and moved on. After questioning her in messages she said she also uses Su’s Force, positive energy to influence positive changes with your health and family.
Twice in one day, after being in Japan for 10 days doesn’t seem coincidental, both being in Hiroshima. Has anyone heard of this? Google hasn’t shown any helpful results.
Thanks in advance!
*** Edited to add: I am aware it’s some sort of cult/scam/funny business and am not planning on giving them any money or engaging further – just curious if anyone has heard of “Su’s Force” and wtf it is about.
8 comments
It’s one of the new religion scams, next she’ll invite you to meditation or some such
Sounds scammy to me. Weird that they are using WhatsApp, since Japanese people use Line almost exclusively
I was in hiroshima yesterday last 2 days, no experience of this. But I was in aomori a month back and got pulled into the whole Buddhist cult thing, so yeah weird cults going to cult.
If they invite you to Australia, politely decline
Just your usual cult bs – wouldn’t say Hiroshima is different in that regard than other areas. Just don’t engage with people like that.
What exactly is the scam? Do they ask for donations once they feel they have befriended you?
We experienced this once in Shibuya. I found it very odd.
if you don’t think this was a scam from the first 5 seconds of meeting them i worry that you’ve probably been scammed before