Around a year ago I got approached by 3 japanese guys right outside Akihabara station. They seemed to be in their mid 20s, and were unusually friendly towards me.
Through a mixture of my rudimentary japanese and google translate, they struck up a typical conversation; where I was from, what I do for a living, how I ended up in Japan, etc. The conversation led to anime, which led to samurai, which of course led to buddhism.
Up to this point I had chalked their friendliness up to them being curious about me being a foreigner, but the topic of religion raises some red flags. The flags got even redder when one of the guys pulled up his phone to show me a picture of a man in a business suit, claiming him to be "a very important individual". He then showed a video of a bunch of people praying while surrounding him.
They then invited me to come to a temple "nearby" to pray with them. At that point I threw every possible excuse my not even N5 japanese could communicate to get the hell out of there.
-I… have to catch a train…
+You can spend the night with us.
-No, no… I already bought the ticket.
+We have a car… we can drive you to the temple and back to the station in no time!
I must say one does not get into a stranger's car. One DOES. NOT. get into the car of a stranger recruiting you into a cult.
Either way, this back and forth went on for around 10 minutes, up until one of the guys realized I wouldn't bite. He hastily said goodbye and cut off his friend who was still trying to argue.
I'm posting this mainly out of morbid curiosity. I have no doubt in my mind they were part of a cult, but I'm aching to know WHICH cult specifically they were a part of. I suspect they were Kenshoukai members, but the fact they showed me a very specific leader casts some doubt in that assumption. Has anyone had any similar run-ins?
by Lost_Improvement6401