How Chris Got Scammed in Kyoto | @AbroadinJapan #157
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00:00 Chris’ Parents First Trip to Japan
08:59 Getting Scammed in Kyoto
15:01 Caught Cashless in a Café
18:46 Semi-Private Booths To Be Added To Shinkansen
29:47 Matcha vs Yakult
33:47 Are Bear Attacks Getting More Frequent?
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20 Comments
we got scamed on our first trip. This happen in shinjuku, there was a guy preaching peace walked up to us asking for donation. If this was in our home town it would obviously be a scam, but because we still don't know the japan culture we were not so sure. So we paid the 2000yen to this man and he gave us some trinkets in return.
It was not apparent to us that this was a scam, until a local Japanese salary man yelled out to us "SCAMMER!" and thats when we knew. Lucky it as only 2000 yen
Matchq powder is literally everywhere, from groceries to 100 yen shops to apecialty shops. Just pick it out and stash it in your bag, it's very industrialy packaged (except for the overpriced super fancy handmade ones).
I think Chris conveniently forgot the love hotel situation when he didn't have cash and the card got declined 😅 It wasn't a café/restaurant at least
I'm from high wycombe. Not a nice area
Chris could have charged the driver or the company to the potential damage to the laptop too!
I’ve been there with the taxi scam. Just never in Japan!
PSA for travelers: GO app is a taxi hailing app in Japan that has transparent pricing ranges. Better availability and better rates than UBER almost always
Contact your card company and dispute the charge. Easy refund due to card holder protections
That same kind of I guess scam happened to be once when I was in Izu for a little holiday away from teaching when I was in Ibaraki. I'd made my way down to Shimoda to walk around the town and see the history of the Black Ships when they had turned up. I found this pizza place that had outdoor seating which was nice since it was summer. They had a menu which at first I didn't see had little labels over the numbers for the price of the dishes. I thought "Hey this is cheap for a pizza", chose what I wanted and then the cashier proceeded to rip the label off and charge me what was actually underneath which was much more expensive. I just paid it because I didn't want to be the "bad foreigner" but yeah hate it when that happens, sorry you got scammed Chris.
We had a similar experience going up to the snow monkeys. We too saw the shop selling/ renting the slip on spikes, we too thought 'nah' and later regretted it. a few times I saw someone slip and then fall in the exact same spot while trying to be ultra careful. The monkeys were worth it especially when one did a bombie/ cannonball into the bath.
As for bears I saw warning signs on the paths around Mt Mitake which is less than two hours from Tokyo station. Seeing those signs were still not as scary as the big bull roo who camped outside the entrance to my work in Canberra or seeing snakes in the wild.
Yakult 1000 really does help the digestive tract – at least it did for me. I take a daily probiotic in the States but I forgot it when I went on my first trip to Japan last year.
I would hit up the FamilyMart every chance I got to grab one of these, which kept me regular my whole trip!
You were lucky it was just a mammoth wasp. In Italy we have massive hornets as well. They nest underground and if you are having a stroll on the coastal woods and by mistake you step on a nest you will have a very very very bad time. They can sting multiple times and they are extremely painful. they can cause anaphylactic reactions as well.
So glad I was able to go to Kiyomizu-dera over 20 years ago when it was peaceful. Seeing pictures and videos of Kyoto now makes me very glad I don't need to go back
17:40 yes! I was at 8-bit Café in Shinjuku, and we had already ordered two drinks and the curry before we saw the sign that said cash only. We were getting towards the end of our trip and had been trying to spend all of our cash before we left, but we realized we didn’t have enough to pay for what we had already ordered. luckily, I had learned some Japanese for our trip, so I was able to explain to the door lady that I was just going to go across the street to the 7-Eleven to pull some cash in the ATM. I left my husband there as collateral lol. She was very understanding and pleasant about it. But yes, I have accidentally not had enough cash in the café!
35:22 – This reminds me of an old joke. A man was planning a hike in the mountains, and was told by a forest ranger to be careful of bears. Wear little bells, to make noise, and carry pepper spray. The man asked the ranger, if there are signs he should look for, to know if bears had been around recently. The ranger told him to keep an eye out for bear scat. The man asked how he could identify bear scat. The ranger sad "Easy! It will smell like pepper and have little bells inside it."
Killatron was screwed in robot wars. FACT
Ha! Upper decker!
Just here living for Mr Donaldsons final thoughts at the end of each episode…. Not saying they’re my favourite bit (but they’re always my favourite bit!!😅)
@GoNorthJapan Quinlan would be a great hiking companion, he knows how to keep you away from bears and have a great time!
16k yen for a cab ride with a covered fare meter is HORRID, especially for a shor fair in Kyoto. I paid less than that to get from Hotel Chinzan-sō all the way to Haneda airport, and that was easily the longest cab ride I have ever taken!
You said that we could annoy Joey into participating in the cyclotron. So does that mean we can annoy you into potentially shooting the documentary again? ❤😂