Warning from the State Dept of the USA/Roppongi bars and clubs in Tokyo.......

[Muku]

Date: March 17, 2009

This is to inform the American community that the U.S. Embassy has recommended that the embassy community avoid frequenting Roppongi bars and clubs in Tokyo due to a significant increase in reported drink-spiking incidents. American citizens may choose to avoid frequenting drinking establishments in this area as well.

The number of reports of U.S. citizens being drugged in bars has increased significantly in recent weeks. Typically, the victim unknowingly drinks a beverage that has been secretly mixed with a drug that renders the victim unconscious for several hours, during which time large sums of money are charged to the victim痴 credit card or the card is stolen outright. Victims sometimes regain consciousness in the bar or club, while at other times the victim awakens on the street.

Because this type of crime is already widespread in Roppongi bars and is on the rise, the U.S. Embassy has recommended that members of the embassy community avoid frequenting drinking establishments in this area. American citizens may consider this recommendation as it applies to their own behavior. If you, nevertheless, choose to participate in Roppongi night life, we urge you to remain extra vigilant of your surroundings and maintain a high level of situational awareness. Establishments in the area of Roppongi Intersection (Roppongi Dori and Gaienhigashi-dori) have had the highest level of reported incidents.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1148.html

[commando]

And this applies to folks in Okinawa how? Or are you just covering all State Department alerts from now on?

[hankypanky]

I think he is saying this is a state department memo that applies to ALL americans visiting tokyo, regardless if they are living in japan or visiting from oki. DUH!

[commando]

Let's go back to childhood, kids...never take candy from strangers! (Yes, that applies to drinks, too):rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWDyc-iUTI0

[Muku]

And this applies to folks in Okinawa how? Or are you just covering all State Department alerts from now on?

Are you able to read the forum title?

Mainland Japan Japan General Discussion:rolleyes:

Since you are a Canuck what difference would it make to you anyway?:scratchchin:

[commando]

Since you are a Canuck what difference would it make to you anyway?:scratchchin:

Yeah, we from the Commonwealth have ways to take care of things!:D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JzZ0mOKLF4

[Sex Wax]

Wow, I saw this same article today on Black Tokyo: Information on Japan from an Afro perspective!

http://www.blacktokyo.com/

[commando]

Black Tokyo, huh? Reminds me of a few strolls through Roppongi...

"Yes sah! Please come my club! Big titties!!! Gahls. Many bootifool gahls!!! I promise you BEST hand job! Guaranteed! Otherwise I will do it myself!!! Oh, we have complimentary drink for you sah!"

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1061/25856975baffd9dbeb.jpg

[P_chan]

Yeah those guys are pretty annoying. Almost as bad as the guys who try to get you to go to their store in harajuku with promises of "ecko shirts":D:D:D

Hey the duty free shop! I love that place? What was the name of it again? Don something or other?

[gtlm2000]

I don't drink at Roppongi area, and it's too expensive.
I most drink at Izakaya in other place in Tokyo as like Ikebukuro and Shibuya.

[uriel]

And this applies to folks in Okinawa how? Or are you just covering all State Department alerts from now on?

maybe because we left the 19th century a while ago and have access to these big metal tubes with these weird things sticking out the sides called planes that take many people from here to tokyo in a matter of hours? god forbid someone should post up a warning from the US gov't to Americans abroad that have been known to actually fly off this island on occasion...

[Crazysix]

maybe because we left the 19th century a while ago and have access to these big metal tubes with these weird things sticking out the sides called planes that take many people from here to tokyo in a matter of hours? god forbid someone should post up a warning from the US gov't to Americans abroad that have been known to actually fly off this island on occasion...

actually this is nothing new.......... this travel advisory is just plain common sense:rolleyes:

[commando]

maybe because we left the 19th century a while ago and have access to these big metal tubes with these weird things sticking out the sides called planes that take many people from here to tokyo in a matter of hours? god forbid someone should post up a warning from the US gov't to Americans abroad that have been known to actually fly off this island on occasion...
My bad. Muku realized that info would have been very hard to come across anywhere else.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-warden20090317-01.html
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61390
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/us-embassy-warns-americans-to-avoid-roppongi-bars-due-to-drink-spiking-increase

[Oxmix]

I learned many years ago in Juarez Mexico, that you never order a mixed drink or accept a bottle of beer that has been opened.

The people were lucky that they only lost their money and didn't wake up without their kidneys.

Regards

Ox

[commando]

Just about anyone who's been in Japan for more than three days is already wise to that old trick...

From Muk's first quote:

Because this type of crime is already widespread in Roppongi bars...

So, for all you "fresh off the boat" sailors in Yokosuka with shore leave (not sure why you'd be reading JU, but whatever), remember your liberty buddy, and what your momma told you!

[Crazysix]

and what your momma told you!

screw everything you can but dont make any grandbabies:scratchchin::scratchchin:

[OtisPMerriweather]

Another serious warning, although this one may not have had the intended effect...

This is to inform the American community that the U.S. Embassy has recommended that the embassy community avoid frequenting Roppongi bars and clubs in Tokyo due to a significant decrease in the amount of quality poontang Embassy officials have been able to secure in recent weeks. American citizens may choose to avoid frequenting drinking establishments in this area as well.

The number of reports of U.S. military personnel being laid in bars has increased significantly in recent weeks. Typically, the "victim", an American male, unknowingly meets a young woman that is secretly a freak, who then takes that individual to an alley, parking lot, or hotel room and proceeds to fellate and otherwise sexually stimulate him. This may render the "victim" unconscious for several hours, prior to which time large sums of bodily fluid are exchanged and sometimes swallowed outright. Victims sometimes regain consciousness in the bar or club, while at other times the victim awakens on the street.


Just doing my part to look out for the young devildogs....

[commando]

Not sure if y'all are aware, but there's a creature that preys on the innocent in that neck of the woods...

http://ms.media1.converdge.com/uploads/e0/b4/59/42/e4/93/45/85/38/28/71/77/4c/28/83/e0b45942e4934585382871774c288344@t13.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CFU0sqvxZc

[Spadesy]

Another serious warning, although this one may not have had the intended effect...



Just doing my part to look out for the young devildogs....

There needs to be more of said "getting laid in bars" in Okinawa. :w00t:

[dk]

I don't drink at Roppongi area, and it's too expensive.
I most drink at Izakaya in other place in Tokyo as like Ikebukuro and Shibuya.
The women are hotter in Shibuya anyway. :thumbup:

[dk]

Not sure if y'all are aware, but there's a creature that preys on the innocent in that neck of the woods...

http://ms.media1.converdge.com/uploads/e0/b4/59/42/e4/93/45/85/38/28/71/77/4c/28/83/e0b45942e4934585382871774c288344@t13.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CFU0sqvxZc
Rob rules. I remember him well from ******gaijin.com

[mikersoft]

My bad. Muku realized that info would have been very hard to come across anywhere else.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-warden20090317-01.html
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61390
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/us-embassy-warns-americans-to-avoid-roppongi-bars-due-to-drink-spiking-increase

How is this different from any other news story a forum member posts here?

People always post news stories that they feel might be relevant and/or interesting to other member of the JU forum.... and nearly every one of them is available elsewhere.

http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10895

Just sayin'.... :scratchchin:

-Mike

[jrademacher]

laid in oki (although funny and a great idea in gen discuss oki forum), once again title of this area of forum is... RTFM "...MAIN ISLAND" seriously is anyone home???

[commando]

I think he is saying this is a state department memo that applies to ALL americans visiting tokyo, regardless if they are living in japan or visiting from oki. DUH!

...the source of this problem is with an attitude of invincibility on the part of Americans that is a leftover of the Allied Occupation of Japan... (http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2009/03/28/coma-bars-targeting-caucasians-in-roppongi/)

[Spadesy]

...the source of this problem is with an attitude of invincibility on the part of Americans that is a leftover of the Allied Occupation of Japan... (http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2009/03/28/coma-bars-targeting-caucasians-in-roppongi/)

I noticed this kind of targeting everywhere in Asia, particuarly southeast Asia, but this article does a good job of pointing out that the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, etc. aren't the only places where this kind of activity occurs.

My advice (and it took me a lot of time and lost money to learn this), is to stay away from places like this, where the aim of certain bars or districts is to hit on girls...because, even if you're looking for a one-night stand, chances are that girl wants your money.

Or, just stay away from bars and districts where foreigners congregate...the odds of finding a nice girl that just wants to meet with a guy is low.

Or, just stay away from bars and districts altogether if you are looking for a girlfriend. If you pick up a girl from a bar, chances are you found a girl who likes to go to bars and meet different guys. You aren't special to them.

[commando]

The English certainly know how to spin a tale!

http://timesonline.typepad.com/urban_dirt/2009/03/you-live-by-the.html

http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Laughing/hahaha-024.gif

But the American Embassy's decision to highlight these dangers does seem somewhat late in the day. Here (for entertainment only) is what Urban Dirt (doesn't really) think may have happened:

1) Mid-level pen-pusher (MLPP) at the US Embassy invited to leaving party of departing Broker Titan (BT) at Lehman/GS/MS/JPM/UBS. He is pitifully grateful to be included in the dying Wall Street bonanza, though nobody is quite sure why he is there. Discomfort concealed with booze and bonhomie.

2) Party moves from restaurant to bar to bar to bar. MLPP now plastered and feisty. BT suggests a "cleansing ale" and final fling at one of Roppongi's finest lap-dancing bars. MLPP agrees with more volume than the rest of the group and with comfortably more confidence than his salary merits. MLPP only dimly heeds warnings from the titans not to engage Ukrainian twins in an hour-long "tag team" private dance.

3) Without any clear chronology of the rest of the evening. MLPP wakes up fully clothed, violently hungover and alongside his wife of 14 years back on the US embassy compound. The kids are hollering for pancakes, the dog needs a walk and Mrs MLPP urgently needs an explanation for the call she received the night before from Visa International asking for authorisation for a Y350,000 payment to a "sushi restaurant" called "Solid Gold XXX".

4) MLPP adopts an expression of pained dismay and asserts that he must have been drugged and ripped-off in a credit card scam. In order to allay Mrs MLPP's scepticism, MLPP feigns vein-popping fury at the outrage he has suffered, cautions darkly against a similar fate befalling other unwitting US citizens and says he will take it to the Ambassador himself. This does not happen, but instead MLPP manages to get the embassy to draft a Security Notice warning of rising instances of the event described in the excuse to his wife.

5) MLPP cannot clearly remember the name of the club where the outrage befell him, so he provides the embassy people with the business cards of the 11 "Gentleman's Clubs" he was handed as he meandered around Roppongi Crossing. The contents of MLPP's pocket becomes the Embassy's official list of "Establishments where US Citizens have reported problems."