HOW I WASTED $400 ON A JAPANESE ONLINE DATING SITE
Online dating sites in Japan always seemed to have such a dodgy vibe to them. Sexy pictures plastered everywhere and huge amounts of ‘do me now!’ girls. Not to mention the extremely high prices involved. Online dating in Japan just reeked of fakeness. Recently, with the release of more social-network style dating apps such as Tinder and Pairs, things seemed to be more regulated and less fake. Users are having to upload a picture (not an avatar) and use their real names. Things are looking a lot brighter for online dating in Japan. However, there are a still a shitload of dodgy Japanese online dating sites and apps floating around. Just waiting to catch as many naive guys as possible. Even if these sites are blatantly dodgy, there are some people that still give in and sign up. Some people meaning ME. A story from a few years back, but here’s my absolutely tragic Japanese online dating story.
JAPANESE ONLINE DATING SITE NEWBIE
When I first came to Japan, I didn’t know anyone. I lived a fair distance away from the bigger cities, and well, my penis was doing the thinking and not my brain. Unluckily, I had studied Japanese before arriving so I was confident and stupid enough to sign up for a Japanese online dating site. When I got in, my eyes nearly exploded. There was a countless number of beautiful girls who were supposedly looking for ‘a good time’. Yeah Right! Before actually putting any credit into my account, I did a little research on online dating and came across a Japanese word ‘Sakura’ (Not cherry blossom). ‘Sakura’ means ‘fake’ and in the world of Japanese online dating, it means a fake girl. Most likely hired by the dating site. These fake girls would just spam, mail in mass and send very seductive messages to any guy stupid enough to take the bait and spend a shitload of credits.
THE TELLTALE SIGNS OF A FAKE FEMALE USER (SAKURA)
A sakura user usually: ・Won't properly answer a question in detail ・Will suddenly go off on a tangent and change subjects abruptly ・Is extremely polite and sucks up to you a lot ・Will Endlessly try to seduce you I knew there would be fake girls on dating sites. It wasn’t anything shockingly new. So, I made sure to take a few notes and got on to charging up my account. The fake girls were quick to act and I was immediately bombarded with a flood of ‘I am alone at the station looking for a bang’ messages which I easily ignored. I exchanged messages with a few girls here and there. But what really got me on the roll was two girls who lived apparently nearby and everything on the ‘Non-sakura’ checklist checked out. There was give and take with asking questions and I had proper conversations (sometimes a few adult jokes here and there) with them. There was no sign for me to question their realness. Things went well at first, but when it came to “let’s meet up”, shit hit the fan.
HOW I GOT SWINDLED BY FAKE FEMALE USERS
While sending messages back and forth to one girl, I couldn’t help but notice my credit amount disappearing quickly. It was at a point that I had to speed things up a bit and quickly organize a face to face meeting. Usually, if you set up a date you guess that it shouldn’t take more than a few texts right? It wasn’t as easy as I had planned. From the moment I brought it up in our conversation, her replies became very ambiguous and short. The content of a message that would have normally been in one single message was broken down into 3 or 4 different replies one after the other. On top of that, I would get bombarded with constant pointless questions. Therefore making the conversation longer and longer and making it hard to organize a place and time. I ran out of credit fast… Without even thinking I quickly ran to the convenience store to buy a charge card and rushed to organize the date. Things started to drag out more and more. When I finally got more assertive the bomb dropped. She stopped messaging back. FUCK! I felt like I had a truck full of rocks and shit dumped on my head. BUT I still had one more girl I was messaging. At that point, I had already chucked a shitload of money into the online dating site. So naturally (but stupidly) I felt that I had to get something positive out of the whole experience. The second girl was my last resort so learning from my first mistake I tried to cut the process down dramatically. I invited the second girl out QUICK. To my surprise, I got an OK on the spot! 3 PM at the nearest station! I was totally relieved.
ADDING SALT TO MY WOUNDS
The next day I arrived at the station early and was in high spirits. But when 3 PM came I could only see a bunch of old people walking. I got a little worried quick. 3:10, still old people. 3:15, even more, old people. I got back on the site on my phone and started messaging the girl. She told me she was there but couldn’t find me so I gave her more detailed information about what I was wearing. She still couldn’t find me. I sent her details of exactly where I was standing. She couldn’t find me. I had sent so many messages that once again my credit was depleted. I dashed to the convenience store to charge up my account hoping it was for the last time. 3:40PM. She stopped messaging me back. I couldn't believe it. The bitch was a ‘sakura’ and I had been tricked a SECOND TIME in the space of a few days. I'll give it to her, she was successful in squeezing every last single credit out of me. But as a young guy, it really made me stop trusting the people on planet earth for a while...
THE MORAL OF MY JAPANESE ONLINE DATING TRAGEDY
Just from a few days of using the online dating site, I was around $400 poorer. ‘Sakura’ or fake girls were smart and I was just fucking dumb. At the time it was a real blow to any motivation I had to try dating in Japan. It also left me eating cup noodles for dinner until payday due to lack of funds in my bank account. In the end, I know it was totally my own fault and I could only blame myself for not being smarter. I learned a very important lesson and from that day I swore to myself that I would indefinitely stay away from online dating sites. IF I ever thought about using one again, I would just go to a soapland brothel (100% cheaper than the money I had spent on credit for the online dating site. This was just my personal experience and others might have had a better experience (fuck you lol). I have heard stories from friends that have actually met decent people from Japanese online dating sites. One ended up with a fuck buddy, one went on two dates (nothing more), and one actually got a girlfriend. However, I thought I would share this story to save any other bros like me from making the same mistake. I would tell you what online dating site I used but it has long disappeared. So I can only just sincerely warn you to not give in. Don't resort to online dating sites in Japan unless they have a reputable reputation. Or you are mentally and financially very stable! As for me, I am finished with the whole online dating scene and I hope you bros are a lot sharper than I was!
