Scammed in Japan
Japan is certainly a much safer place on a whole then the US. I tend to be very trusting when getting change when I pay for something with large bills, or when I am quoted a price. Something I could not have said living in Chicago. However, scams do exist here, and on occasion you may meet the odd bad egg.
During Rachel’s visit we had our first (known) experience of being scammed in Japan. It was an odd night following our trip to the Seki sword and knife festival, and the Mino lantern festival. We arrived to gifu station to find that all of the trains from Nagoya had been stopped due to a “collision with a person”. It was looking like it could be a very long wait or a very long walk home. Neither of which appealed to us. So we decided to grab a cab with another couple we know lived near Nishi Gifu. This couple was Japanese man, and a fluent half japanese/french woman, we, three white american foreigners.
The taxi stand was full of taxis, none of which could get a fare with the trains not running. We piled into a cab and rode it as far as Nishi Gifu Station where our friends had parked their bikes. From nishi gifu we decided to take the short jump home in the cab, figuring that it would not be more than a couple of bucks. But the cab driver had other ideas…. Basically, he started to take us for a bit of a ride. He passed up on obvious turn off, which was arguably the best, but perhaps not. Then he passed the second option. Where I spoke up, informing the driver that we had passed our destination. The driver was a bit surprised to say the least.
We think he most likely thought our Japanese friends were our translators and guides, and that without them we were ripe for the picking. Upon finding that we were not, he fumbled and then quickly informed us that he was shutting off the meter. Over all the trip home took much longer than it should have, and probably a couple hundred yen more than we should have had to pay. I would like to say that we had taught him a lesson not to scam future foreigners, but I would guess this is not true. I just hope we don’t run into him again.