Japan tourist scam: Aussie grabbed by Buddhist cult at Tokyo station as YouTuber warns others
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How the Aussie tourist’s curiosity almost got the better of him after he was conned into joining a cult – before two women took him to the middle of nowhere
- Australian tourist Andrew wrote about his encounter with a Buddhist sect in Japan
- Approached at the Tokyo train station, he was lured to the residence headquarters
- The sect claimed their kind of Buddhism would “bring world peace”
- Youtuber Christopher Broad urged tourists to take the cult threat seriously
An Australian tourist being sold “world peace and happiness” by two mysterious Japanese women has told how he narrowly escaped their cult after they approached him at a Tokyo train station and lured him to an office in the “middle of nowhere.”
The Australian, who is only referred to as ‘Andrew’, described his eerie encounter to YouTuber Christopher Broad, who runs the channel ‘Abroad in Japan’.
In a letter to Mr Broad, Andrew explained how he was enjoying a typical day as a tourist in Tokyo in 2017 when he was approached by the woman.
Andrew was passing a busy train station when the women, both in their 30s, grabbed him.
They presented him with a handful of pamphlets describing how the kind of Buddhism they followed would “bring world peace and happiness.”
Andrew was approached by two women at Tokyo Station (above) who claimed that their branch of Buddhism would “bring world peace.” He was then lured to their headquarters
According to Japan’s Bureau of Statistics, 67.2 percent of Japanese people identified as Buddhist in 2020, and numerous branches have been established over the decades.
One of these chapters was ‘Aum Shinrikyo’, the sect behind the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attacks that killed 14 people and injured thousands.
Despite that attack, Japan is one of the safest countries in the world and has one of the lowest rates of theft and murder anywhere.
It is not known what branch of Buddhism the two women approached Andrew, but according to the Aussie, they were persistent.
Andrew declined their offer several times before his curiosity got the better of him and he accepted their invitation to learn more about the Buddhist group.
The two women then took him to an office building in a quiet residential area in the middle of nowhere in Tokyo.
Once inside the building, Andrew said he was given prayer beads and a book of prayers in Japanese and forced to meditate and chant for more than 40 minutes in front of a gilded shrine.
The two women stood nearby, watching him closely.
“Imagine, you’re just on your day out on vacation in Tokyo. Before you know it you’ll be standing in a room chanting and holding prayer beads for 40 minutes,” Broad said in the video.
After the prayers, Andrew was then taken to an initiation ceremony where he was forced to sign documents certifying his membership in the club.
The two women who lured him into the office then received some kind of award, apparently promoted.
“The sect, it seems, was some kind of pyramid scheme,” Andrew wrote in his letter.
“They were very persistent that I ‘bring my friends’ next time I come.”
After leaving the office, Andrew quickly cut off all communication with the group, gave them a fake address and blocked the two women on Facebook.
After telling Andrew’s story, Mr Broad urged other tourists to exercise caution abroad and stay alert.
“This is not something to be skeptical about, this is something that is happening. I’ve heard this story dozens of times from different viewers and listeners,” he said.
Christopher Broad (above), the Youtuber who read Andrew’s story said, ‘This is not something to be skeptical about, this is something that happens’