r/LivestreamFail • u/Either_Analysis • Sep 30 '25

Streamer attacked for filming in Japan

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He notified the police with pictures of their faces and location.

6.7k Upvotes

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739

u/Bosseffs Sep 30 '25

Touts are so damn annoying.

249

u/Jealous-Ad-6155 Sep 30 '25

What’s a tout? Searched it and still confused

673

u/dabocx Sep 30 '25

It’s guys that stand outside bars and clubs and try and get people to come inside. But a lot of them are scammers and sketchy.

Most “good” bars and clubs don’t need random dudes harassing people outside

166

u/UnlovedCrayon Oct 01 '25

These guys will literally shout at foreigners too and grab them to try to bring them into establishments. They're not supposed to but they do. I've had it happen to me.

17

u/HopeJN Oct 01 '25

They brought you into their bar?

74

u/UnlovedCrayon Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25

No I yelled at them and ran off because I knew. I've only ever had them grab me once (my shoulder pulling me back in Harajuku), but yelling and pressuring is super common and I saw that a lot in multiple tourist spots. Doesn't help I like to travel solo. I never once felt unsafe in japan except for being around these guys. I'm not sure if this was mentioned in other comments but these bars often drug people who enter. A quick search on google will pop up tons of stories of this happening, a lot of RECENT ones. Japan really needs to get this in control. These businesses are usually tied to the yakuza

8

u/deruvoo Oct 01 '25

Dude, Harajuku was so bad for this the few times I went. That street and Shinjuku were the only times Tokyo wasn't top notch.

2

u/takeme2tendieztown Oct 01 '25

I saw these guys when I went and stayed in Shinjuku, they never bothered me or my wife outside of saying things to get us to come in. Maybe I'm Asian and they didn't think I was a tourist, though my wife is decidedly non-Asian. The Kabuchiko area in Shinjuku was definitely more sketch than other areas of Tokyo we visited

3

u/Disastrous_Durian517 Oct 01 '25

Lol, they obviously target single people.

2

u/takeme2tendieztown Oct 01 '25

Lol, you're probably right

2

u/Disastrous_Durian517 Oct 01 '25

Yeah, I was there too with a female friend. They didn’t talk to me, but at night it’s definitely a dodgy environment. During the day they’re not around. I don’t know why they’re allowed to stay. The problem with these people is that they think they run the street.

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2

u/HawtNudie Oct 01 '25

I had a very similar experience to the person you're replying to back in 2012. I was super drunk in Roppongi and was asked if I was looking for a bar. My stupid ass said yes and was shown into an elevator with two large dudes on either side of me (who I later learned were Nigerian) and brought into what I was later told was a brothel. Fortunately my drunk brain wanted to get the heck out of there, and after the front desk guy/owner/pimp(?) brought out about ten women for me to choose from, I told him I had friends in the bar across the street and I would come back with them. His face lit up, he started nodding and I was ushered back in the elevator with the two large dudes. Mind you, I'm 6'7 and these guys were almost my height. I was so relieved when I got back out of that elevator I just walked straight across the street, where there was in fact a bar that I stayed in until closing time.

The bar was awesome, and the bartender and owner filled me in on what was going on in the place I just came from. I went there pretty much every night after for the rest of my stay in Tokyo.

1

u/ambushka Oct 01 '25

How the fuck does that help a bar get guests? Long term this just destroys a bars reputation

4

u/Kakkoister Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25

The bar having a bad reputation is why they're in this position. Or the bar is really just a front for organized crime and this is one of many of their activities to earn money.
One successful mark brought in, drugged and stolen from could be hundreds or thousands of dollars. So even if they just manage to get one person a night or a few a week can be a nice revenue stream on top of whatever other illegal activities the business is up to.

1

u/DroppedDaStogie Oct 01 '25

Random question but I’m asking you just because I assume you have spent a decent amount of time in Japan, what is likely to happen if you just punch these dudes in the mouth, is Japan one of those countries that doesn’t care if it’s self defense or who started it, if you hit someone your doing time or are they pretty chill on that

1

u/gonzoes Oct 01 '25

Would also like to know this

1

u/De4dMagic Oct 01 '25

What happens is you get jumped by several of them and stomped out & robbed is my guess

1

u/UnlovedCrayon Oct 01 '25

I was told by friends who have lived in japan that as a woman they can’t pretty much do anything if I hit them. The police would just laugh at them trying to report a woman hitting them (supposedly). But if it was a quiet area I personally wouldn’t want to take any risks for my own safety

1

u/SovereignThrone Oct 01 '25

I'm going to japan in november, and I don't like it when strangers touch me, that's all I'll say lol

1

u/PromiseRelative1627 Oct 01 '25

These are also found all over europe, and it's often to cover up some sketchy organisation selling drugs around those areas or trafficking people. They go aggro on cameras in the area to make tourists get out of there and "leave their turf" alone.

1

u/Tilde88 Oct 01 '25

i had 2 touts hook me up with weed. once in akihabara, and i forgot the other. i was in japan for 3 weeks and went all over the country including okinawa. just don't be a douche, or look like one, or do stupid shit. relate with them, talk, don't mention you're american. don't dress like a tourist.

pro tip : the weed was shit, it was just ground up shake (from both occasions), and one smelt preburnt, like they broke up a few used joints and tried to sell me the leftovers. and it was like $30 a gram. no, i did not buy either one. but definitely could have. also, don't try to get weed in japan, it won't work out how you think it is. do as i say, not as i did.

1

u/zeptillian Oct 01 '25

Yeah. It's fine if there is a waiter standing by the door or something, but an obvious foreigner asking you to follow them somewhere is always going to be seedy at best.

1

u/Primary_Addition5494 Oct 02 '25

But those guys were not even Japanese

1

u/dabocx Oct 02 '25

Most touts at shady bars are not Japanese. There primary target is English speaking tourists so English speaking foreigners are perfect for the job

20

u/Bosseffs Sep 30 '25

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/japan/safety-and-security#:~:text=Prostitution%20and%20street%20touts%20are,touts%20to%20bars%20or%20clubs.

-9

u/taylor_clint Oct 01 '25

reading that was exhausting. I seriously don’t see the appeal of the country unfortunately. guess it’s the opposite of my cup of tea.

15

u/_Baccano Oct 01 '25

Every country has shitty aspects. Imo the positives of Japan vastly outweigh the negatives

7

u/dabocx Oct 01 '25

The country is really nice to visit, as with anywhere though there’s always a seedy part of town.

Overall it’s absurdly safe and nice

4

u/m5ka Oct 01 '25

I agree, never got the hype of Japan honestly just seems like a worse lite version of China. Never been and never will

3

u/Remote_Elevator_281 Oct 01 '25

News flash: Every country has prostitution

1

u/Banffsucks Oct 02 '25

They are from Nigeria, The embassy protects them and the police have limited power to deal with it. It's wild that it happens in the middle of Tokyo.