I cannot believe I got taken for a ride by a Tokyo taxi driver.
I’m in Tokyo after a conference and have some meetings and lectures scheduled. I’ve been to Tokyo numerous times, I think about 15, and feel comfortable getting around by metro, walking and taxi as needed. I am scheduled to meet a colleague for dinner at a restaurant at 7:00 PM and have a clear plan on how to get there with a good idea of how long it takes to get there.

From my hotel I walk to the metro station and get on the right train for the restaurant. Unfortunately I misjudged how packed the streets were and it took me a lot longer to walk to the metro station than I thought. So I was running a little late. I arrived at the station near the restaurant at 7:05. I was assured that it was a 5 minute walk to the restaurant, but I was stressed about being late and did not feel I had time to find landmarks to find my way to the hotel. So I hopped in a cab next to the Akihabara metro station. I had a map in Japanese and English with the name and address of the restaurant on it. I showed it to the taxi driver and he said yes – hai in Japanese. I asked in Japanese if he understood and he assured me yes.

I estimate that one minute walking is at most 5 blocks and when the taxi driver went past 5 blocks I’m worried. I get on the phone to call my colleague. I tell him I am in a taxi and think the guy has no idea where we are going. I have the taxi driver stop and give him the phone. He listens for a few moments, hangs up and hands me the phone. He again says he understands and turns around.

It takes 30 minutes driving to get where I am supposed to go. My colleague meets me and the taxi driver and I’m complaining that I should not have to pay for a 30 minute fare. The directions were clear. My colleague and taxi driver argue. This is all occurring through the window because the taxi driver will not unlock the doors!!! I’m stuck in the taxi and getting real mad. I pay the extortionate fare which is over 2070 Yen when it should have been 700.

I get a receipt, which has the taxi id on it and finally I’m released from taxi purgatory. My colleague says the taxi driver was confused despite the map in Japanese and that he cannot change the fare; it is all electronic. Basically I was taken for a ride and arrived 35 minutes late for a dinner that at most I should have been 10 minutes late. The taxi driver never even apologized which makes me even more sure he rolled me intentionally.

I acknowledge that my role in this fiasco is that I should have just called the people at the restaurant to get walking directions and I had thought of that. But I also thought their answer might have been just take a taxi because they knew the map I had; they gave it to me. The bottom line I handed the guy a map and got screwed. By the way, it is not the fare that is most annoying but the time lost and being embarrassed in front of my friends.