An unsettling experience for a female traveler who recently visited Tokyo is prompting her to warn others, particularly fellow women, to be more cautious during their travels.
Natali Khomenko has long dreamed of visiting Japan, and for her 32nd birthday, she decided to fulfill this dream with her spouse by planning a trip to Tokyo during the spring season. Nevertheless, because her husband needed to focus on his job responsibilities, Khomenko chose to make the journey solo.
“It was a gift for me to visit Japan,” she said.
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The Ukrainian creative producer residing in Thailand reached Tokyo on March 29 and settled into their hotel room approximately at 10 p.m. The following day, they departed from the hotel near 10 a.m. to explore the city.
Following a long day, Khomenko returned to her hotel around 7:30 p.m.
She mentioned feeling exhausted and lay down on her bed with her phone because she intended to reserve a train ticket from Tokyo.
This was the instant when she detected a “strange odor.”
“It smelled terrible. It was akin to a deceased creature but had a sickly sweet aroma,” she recounted.
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I noticed the odor was originating from beneath the bed. Without giving it much thought, I simply leaned over to take a look underneath. As I bent down, I caught sight of him. His eyes were visible.
Khomenko stated that beneath the bed was a man estimated to be in his 20s or 30s, positioned face down.
“His arms were slightly curved, and one of his legs was also somewhat bent. He remained completely still. Only the scent guided me to where he was,” she explained.
Reacting instantly, she let out a scream as she watched the immodest man – clad entirely in black – emerge from his concealment under the bed. After standing up, he looked directly at her.
He silently stared at me for three seconds as I screamed,” she recounted. “Then he began to scream too. I believed he might strangle me, assault me, or end my life during those moments. I felt, ‘This is it. This is it.’
Throughout the terrifying incident, Khomenko was completely immobilized by fear.
“She stated that she couldn’t move at all,” she recounted. “All I did was scream while standing as rigid as possible.”
Next, the intruder spun around and bolted furiously towards the exit, making his way out through the hotel room doorway. Afterward, Khomenko rushed to the telephone and tried calling the front desk.
“I began to call the reception, but I couldn’t manage it as I was in a state of panic and didn’t know which number to dial,” she said.
Khomenko’s cries were so intense that guests in the adjacent room could hear them. Thankfully, these visitors promptly intervened by alerting the hotel personnel, who subsequently contacted law enforcement. Upon their arrival at the location and after inspecting the premises, investigators discovered an intruder’s portable charger along with a USB cord hidden beneath the mattress.
It’s simply what I think—he really intended to stay overnight,” she explained. “Perhaps he planned to record me, which is why he brought the power bank. The camera drains a lot of battery from his phone, so he needed something to charge it. Clearly, he came ready for that.
When Khomenko approached the hotel staff to ask how someone had gained entry into her room, they were unable to provide an explanation.
Following her conversation with the police, she examined her baggage to check if the intruder had taken anything. Fortunately, nothing was missing.
Frightened by the entire experience, she promptly left the hotel, and her spouse quickly made arrangements for her at a different one. However, this change did little to improve matters.
“She mentioned that she didn’t get any sleep at the new hotels,” he stated. “She was stunned. She couldn’t fall asleep. She ended up conversing with her family members until 4 a.m.”
What was even more aggravating, the hotel informed her they had no surveillance cameras, making it considerably harder to apprehend and identify the intruder. Although the hotel refused her request for $1,600 to cover her costs following the incident, they did compensate her for the last three nights of her intended stay.
Following this, Khomenko reached out to the Ukrainian embassy and additionally shared his message online.
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to speak up about the incident. That post has since gained widespread attention.
“She remembered it as being extremely frightening. It felt like a complete infringement. Every experience I had, including my birthday, was destroyed.”
One of the reasons Khomenko wished to share her story was to raise awareness and stop similar incidents from occurring for solo-female travelers.
“She said her aim was to raise awareness,” adding that many solo travelers contacted her expressing gratitude for sharing the story since they never imagined something like this could occur, particularly in Japan.
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