Job Discussion Forums

[Angelfish]

What's the Japanese law with regards to stalkers? I've had a look on here and on Google, but all I get is either men talking about female stalkers or news stories about Japan supposedly being stricter on stalkers.

I work for a Big 4 eikaiwa in Hokkaido and recently there's been this guy coming into our school constantly wanting to talk to me, wanting to know when I finish work, when I have free time, how much my lessons are. I can't teach this guy because he blatently isn't actually interested in learning English and his level is so low that he'd have to start with one of the JETs, the guy can barely string together two words in English.

He's seems to have learnt my name from somewhere, I'm guessing our webpage, and keeps coming in and asking where I am if I'm not there or in class. This guy is in his late 50s and could do with a good scrub.

One of the JETs at our school told him that he can't just keep coming in to talk to me because he's not a customer and I have to work, so hopefully he's got the message, but if not...

Any thoughts?

[Scruffy]

Have you seen him outside of work? Does he know where you live? What an awful situation. Aside from suggesting that you photograph him and give the photo to the police, I can't help. But hopefully someone around here can.

[User N. Ame]

Your school officials & supervisors know about this, right? If not, tell them pronto. This guy has zero business being repeatedly inside your school if he's not a customer. If you have a generally bad feeling about the situation, you have nothing to lose by talking to your local police koban. If you can't speak Japanese, have a Japanese speaker go with you.

This is not as uncommon as you may think. The best strategy is a clear, firm pre-emptive strike. Get your complaints clearly on the record with your school (school may not do anything because they may see this guy as a potential client) and police. Do it now. Don't wait for this to escalate. Because by sounds of it, it will escalate. Nip it in the bud. He may well be following you home and/or watching you from afar, and you don't even know it. Not saying this to make you unduly paranoid. Saying this based on experiences of some of my female foreigner friends in Japan. You don't want this to get to the point where this guy is showing up to your door with gifts.

Good luck.

[gaijinalways]

Unless you want some gifts , on second thought, I'd follow UNA's advice, this can get out of hand very quickly.

[Angelfish]

Well, whatever the Japanese teacher said to this guy must have been pretty direct, because I've not seen him since. Great.

I did learn, though, that tazers are legal in this country.

[cvmurrieta]

Sorry to give a bump to an old thread, but I feel today I have been stalked (or at the very least followed home by someone)

Let me give a little background info: Every three or four months a Brit comes into the kencho to talk about 1.) how he was swindled out of money by this real estate developer; 2.) how he can't see his kids because his Japanese ex-wife won't let him. Unfortunately my division is not equipped to deal with his issues so we politely suggest where he can turn to for help. He counters that he is constantly getting the run-around from everybody. I know he views me as part of the problem because I have to relay this info to him in English.

Now to the incident: I was at my neighborhood 7/11 getting my breakfast when out of the corner of my right-eye I spot him. I walk as fast as I can to the register and head out. I walk home to the dormitory where I live. I cross into the entrance, and the door locks behind me. As I was getting on the elevator, I spot him maybe about 75 meters away. I proceeded to talk about the incident with the security guards here, my CIR PA, and the Japanese PA. The police came over and asked me questions. Evidently this guy has quite a rep in Sendai as he has also constantly pestered them about the two issues I mentioned. They told me they can't do anything right now but that I should keep my cell phone handy in case anything happens.

This is the second time I have seen him in the neighborhood. The last time I saw him prior to today was eight months ago. At that time he was talking to someone else at an international festival. I just found it creepy that he would follow me. My girlfriend found an entry of his on communityofsweden, and I found something disturbing he had written on Fathers Rights in Japan: Will Arrange Revenge (Justice) on Japan.

I have stayed in the dormitory since this morning and have not ventured out.

And here I was feeling ecstatic about staying Japan after Interac told me they would offer me a job this fall.

[Apsara]

I wasn't there, so I don't know exactly what happened, but I don't think this qualifies as a case of stalking just yet- can you say without a shadow of a doubt that he was following you? I also don't think that so far he has done anything to warrant you staying inside half the day.

When I had a Nova student stalking me, he followed me more than a dozen times- from the school to the train station, to the bars the teachers went to, and once even as far as Narita. He would take a different route to me to the station from the school or bar and then leap out at me when I got to the ticket gates.

Keep an eye on the situation, but I don't really think you have a reason to start considering leaving Japan yet.