U.S. Embassy Warns of Drink-Spiking in Tokyo Hot Spot

TOKYO, April 8 -- In the heart of this populous and famously safe city, there's a once-raunchy, now-sleek neighborhood where American men have drunk and debauched since the end of World War II.

It is called Roppongi. After the war, U.S. servicemen funded a boom in its brothels and hostess bars. They still patronize its strip clubs and restaurants. Until the recent collapse of U.S. investment firms, a far richer American breed -- bond traders and investment bankers -- had poured out of nearby offices to join the boozy, pleasure-seeking throng.

This spring, the risks of tippling and titillation in Roppongi have risen sharply, according to the U.S. Embassy, whose housing compound is located in the neighborhood.

American men are being surreptitiously drugged as they drink, especially when they drink by themselves in strip clubs, embassy officials said. While they are unconscious, the perpetrators -- including scantily clad women with whom they might be socializing -- take their credit cards and run up large bills.

In some cases, the American fun-seeker awakens in an alley with a nasty headache and with no idea of what happened during the evening -- until he receives his credit-card statement. In none of the reported cases, embassy officials said, has anyone been beaten up.

In a security notice that generated headlines across Asia, the U.S. Embassy said in March that reports of drink-spiking in Roppongi have increased significantly. It provided no numbers but advised embassy personnel and all of the estimated 40,000 Americans living in Tokyo to steer clear of the neighborhood's bars and clubs.

Two drugs have been used in the incidents, according to the embassy. They are Rohypnol, known as "roofie," and gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, sometimes known as "grievous bodily harm." Both drugs can cause deep sedation and partial amnesia and have often been linked to charges of date rape.

One unhappy -- and suddenly poorer -- young man told this story to U.S. Embassy officials:

He went to a bar in Roppongi, had a few drinks, and the next thing he remembered was waking up fully clothed in his bed. The tops of his shoes were badly scuffed, suggesting that he had been dragged from the bar and down several streets to his apartment. His credit-card statement showed $6,000 in unauthorized charges. Nothing was stolen from his apartment.

Until the U.S. Embassy issued the warning, Tokyo police said, they had not received any complaints about drink-spiking in Roppongi.

"It is difficult to determine whether one is dazed from alcohol or spiked drinks," said Masahito Fujita, vice head of Azabu police district, which includes Roppongi.

But since the warning, Fujita said, several complaints have come in, from Japanese and non-Japanese bar patrons. He said police have found at least one forged credit-card receipt that was apparently signed while the card's owner claimed to have been unconscious.