Traveling in Japan is one of the safest, most fun experiences I have had. I love visiting and traveling in Japan and have nothing but wonderful experiences. But like any place, there are seedy folks out to get your money. Seedy areas in Japan are usually easy to spot and can easily be avoided. However, scams in Japan are kind of interesting and worth knowing about so when your warning radar does go off, you can more readily identify them.

Ever go into a bar and walk out with a bill for $27,000? You might in Japan’s more famous red light districts. Bottakuri is the practice of scam pricing where you may only have 2 or 3 drinks and find out you spent hundreds, or thousands, of dollars. The first drink might be $10, but they won’t tell you the second and onwards is $100 each. Even worse, there is a good chance that you might get drugged and wake up with thousands of dollars in charges on your card. This has happened enough that the US embassy has issued warnings about the practice in Kabukicho for years.

Are you an aspiring influencer? You can also run into problems with the yakuza if you start filming in red light areas they control – and you will find yourself extorted for money and may even find yourself surrounded by police on the take.

Drug possession is also a very quick way to land yourself in serious hot water. Japan has a zero-tolerance policy – there is no distinction for personal use. Possession is immediate arrest. If you have a run-in with the police or are identified by an informant that you used drugs – police may force you to have a urine or blood test. If you fail a drug test, that counts as possession. Even if you took the drugs a week ago in your own country.

You will be forced to sign a confession and run the serious risk of years of jail time. Even with the most lenient sentences where you sign a confession, you’ll likely spend a minimum 21 days in jail and then be deported with a 10 year to life re-entry ban. There is no fooling around. Your embassy can do little to help you. Marijuana jail time can reach 7 years and harder drugs up to 10.