Japan: Although solo travel can certainly empower women with value and power, it’s still entailed with risks, as they have to keep alert to prevent bad experiences such as stalking, harassment, or theft.
In a recent horrifying incident, a solo traveller from Thailand, Natalisi Taksisi, experienced a horrifying encounter in Japan when she walked into her hotel room, only to find a man hiding below her bed. This was the moment when her dream trip was turned into a nightmare.
In the video that soon went viral, Taksisi said she booked a solo trip to Japan, under the impression that the country would be a safe space for women. After spending the day touring Japan, she returned to the hotel she was staying at, which had key card access.
As she lay down on her bed, she started to smell something strange wafting from under it. Out of curiosity but also feeling uneasy, she looked under the bed and came face to face with a horrific sight. “I saw two eyes staring at me,” she recalled in the video.
Watch the video.
The man fled the room once he was detected. Distraught and terrified, Taksisi rushed to inform hotel staff, who alerted the police. She also noted that the hotel had no CCTV camera working at the time.
Authorities found a power bank and USB cable that had been left behind in the room. The affected lady stated she applied for compensation due to emotional distress after the incident, but the hotel told her it would not reimburse her full payment, despite her request.
That same night, Taksisi checked into another hotel, though she had yet to receive an email copy of her police report by the following day.
In her Instagram post, Taksisi wrote: “I found a man under my bed in a hotel room in Japan. This was supposed to be a safe solo trip. What happened changed everything RE: I spent 510$ for APA hotel.”
The video has garnered almost 2 million views, and reactions have poured from social media. “This hotel has to be banned on every booking platform,” commented one user. “Sorry it happened to you. But Apa Hotel is not the kind of hotel for woman traveling alone. Try booking a better place,” said another user.
“This is so traumatizing even for the audience just hearing the story. I hope you’re well now and thanks for telling your story and raising awareness so that other people can avoid it. God bless you,” wrote a third user responding.
Offering advice, another user wrote, “You may want to follow up with the Japanese police. If my hunch is correct, the man could be a former guest and potentially police could investigate via prior check-in records. Unfortunately, Japanese police are generally not proactive and, they will see this as ‘nothing happened’ so you will have to keep following up before they will action.”
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