By The advisory concerns the district known as Roppongi.
The U.S. Embassy in Japan has urged Americans to avoid going to bars in Tokyo‘s raucous nightlife district of Roppongi due to a surge in reports of drink-spiking incidents there.
The number of reports of Americans being drugged in Roppongi bars has increased significantly, the embassy said in a statement released Tuesday. Victims drink drug-mixed beverages and fall unconscious for several hours. They wake up only to realize their credit cards have been stolen, it said.
Roppongi, home to more than 330 bars and nightclubs, is hugely popular among foreigners.
“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,” the statement said.
The embassy did not give the number of drink-spiking cases. But Masahito Fujita, a police official in Roppongi, said there have been no reports of drink-spiking cases since this year.
If nothing has happened this year, the embassy is awfully late in issuing a warning. While stationed in the Philippines, some areas were off limits to US military personnel and there were embassy advisories for certain parts of the country. Much of Mindanao, the Sulu archipelago, and the island of Samar were a few of the areas. I never visited any of those areas, except for a brief day trip to the Samar coastal town that was the birthplace of my father-in-law. The trip was done by boat and Tatay made sure I got home while it was still daylight.
My in-laws were protective of me whenever I was in Tacloban. They discouraged me and my wife from going out after night fall. Not that was a great deal of night life in Tacloban then or now. Overall, my travels in the PI were very unexciting except for the occasional mad jeepny driver.
I never forget what Tatay said to me shortly after my engagement to his daughter. “I have no trouble with my daughter marrying an American. If you were Japanese, I’d have to kill you.” That quote may be slightly off. I think my father-in-law was joking but I’m not sure entirely.
8:47 am on March 18th, 2009 1
Some friends and I stayed overnight in Manila on our way to Boracay and had trouble finding our way back to the hotel after dinner. A woman at a bus stop escorted us for ten minutes to another bus stop from which we took a jeepney back to our hotel. The streets were dark and felt unsafe, especially with the jagged glass-topped concrete fences all around and the signs reminding patrons to leave their firearms at the door. We much appreciated the kind protectiveness of this middle-aged woman.