A YouTuber has sparked outrage after traveling across Japan “for free,” hopping on trains without tickets and even fleeing from conductors trying to arrest him.
Recently, there’s been a rash of traveling streamers eliciting outrage from viewers all around the world due to their antics — the most prominent of whom goes by the name ‘Johnny Somali.’
Somali, who currently lives in Japan, has been confronted numerous times by locals and even other foreigners for his behavior, which included shouting “Hiroshima and Nagasaki” at passersby in public places.
As of now, Somali has been arrested two times, with Japanese officials even calling such streamers “nuisances” — but he’s not the only content creator causing chaos in the country.
Kick streamer who went viral for harassing people in Japan was attacked on streampic.twitter.com/KEHG7UUPOe
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) June 12, 2023
Now, another creator is coming under fire for his behavior in Japan, sparking outrage across the net.
YouTuber under fire for controversial challenge video in Japan
YouTuber ‘Fidias’ uploaded a video on October 21, showing himself and a group of friends engaging in a challenge to see who could travel across Japan the fastest “for free.”
In attempting to win the challenge (and a grand prize of $10k), the group engaged in numerous practices that left viewers fuming, including: Skipping out on bus fees, asking strangers for money, sneaking onto trains without paying, pretending to be sick to avoid paying train fees, and even running away from transport staff to get out of a fee.
Commenters were furious with the group’s antics during their “challenge,” leaving angry replies beneath the video asking travelers not to “abuse the kindness” of Japanese locals.
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“As someone who’s lived in Japan for many years, it’s sad to see people like this visit Japan and damage the reputation of foreigners,” one user wrote. “If you can’t pay for public transport, don’t use it.”
“As a foreigner living in Japan, people who come here and do stupid stuff like this bring down the overall image of foreigners,” another said. “There are plenty of people like myself who work hard, pay taxes and generally try to integrate into society here as much as possible.”
“Japan is definitely a tourist friendly country. Please do not abuse their kindness & politeness,” yet another said.
On October 23, Fidias offered an apology to Japan in a comment amidst the ongoing outrage against his video.
“Hello beautiful people,” he wrote. “I apologize to the Japanese people if we made them feel bad, that was not our goal! From now on, I am going to be making more research [about] the cultures we go to and try to prevent this from happening again. I love you all.”
At the time of writing, his video is still available to view on YouTube. A quick look at his content shows that this isn’t his first time undertaking a similar challenge, with the YouTuber also making ‘challenge’ videos traveling across the UK, India, and even America “for free.”