Asking the Way in Tokyo

Now, we have smartphones. When I lose my way, my smartphone tells me which direction to go in.

But a few decades ago, no one had a smartphone. When I lost my way, I used to ask other people for directions.

In 2001, I had lived in Tokyo for a year. I was still a stranger in Tokyo. I lost my way many times. I asked many people for directions. But strange things happened.

When I tried to communicate with someone on the street, the person became nervous and ran away from me. They didn’t even reply. I tried to ask more politely, but it didn’t work. At first, I thought people in Tokyo were busy or people in cities were cold. But it didn’t take long to find out why they acted like that.

At that time, if a stranger tried to communicate with you on a street, in most cases, it was a scam. A confidence trick. The Japanese term is “catch sales.” The scammers caught their targets on streets and committed fraud. The scammers wore nice clothes and talked very politely. But they tried to sell expensive goods. They tried to make unfair contracts. In some cases, they tried to invite you to antisocial cults. Actually, once, I talked with and followed one of those scammers and had a scary experience.

So, at that time, in Tokyo, if a stranger said hello to you on a street, running away from the person was the correct response.

But still, I needed to ask the way from people on the street. Then, I finally found out the best way to ask the way in Tokyo.

I realized I should not get too close to a person. I should ask them in a loud voice with few words, like a childishly rude person: “Where is the station?”

Most of the people in Tokyo were nice and understood the situation. So, they replied like a childishly rude person too: “Go straight, and then turn right at the end.”

Politeness is not always the best way.

Because of those scams, people who really needed to talk to others on the street, like me, had a lot of trouble. I hate scams.

These days, in Japan, many people experience international romance scams on social media. People who are attractive but unnatural send messages to me every day. Somehow, in many cases, they insist they are soldiers. Is a soldier an internationally attractive job? But real soldiers might have a lot of problems. If a real soldier sends a message to a stranger, the stranger will suspect it might be a scam.

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Picture by Nikai-no-Mado