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 those out to get your money. Like most countries, seedy areas are usually easy to spot and can usually be avoided. However, Japans scams 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 for years.

You can run into problems with the yakuza if you start filming in red light areas they control – and you will likely 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 real jail time. If you have a run-in with the police or are identified by an informant you may be given a police urine drug test. If you fail, you will be forced to sign a confession and will almost certainly go to jail for years. Even if you took the drugs a week ago in your own country. Drugs in your system is still possession – and you are almost certain going to go to jail for years.