I was stalked by a woman I never met, in a country I’d never been to, at the time.

EDIT: Hi everyone. This post was made a while ago, and I can now safely say that I’ve lived there for over a year now, and nothing happened. I was on my guard for the first few months, but nothing ever happened. I now live in a different city to her, but I still haven’t run into her. I still use Twitter, and she still follows me. She still occasionally tweets a vague message towards me, but I now just find it funny. I’m less concerned about her now, and I still hope she gets the help she needed. Thanks for your kind comments back in May, and thank you for those since. Also, I understand that there are some users in this post who may be confused as to why I said “Asian guy” in my replies. I just want to clarify that I am Asian, and I am an immigrant. For context, I’m a Chinese man who immigrated to Japan. I was just trying to explain that I’m already an outlier in Japan because I’m foreign, and the fact that I was Asian was irrelevant.<br>___<br>As the title says, what happened to me occurred when I was 23. For the sake of the story, I’ll call my mother’s friend Yumi-chan, and the stalker girl Hiro. The story itself, will be pretty long, but I’ll try to break it up with different categories. I’ll also be changing the names of the cities to protect my identity. <br>____________________<br>**How it all started.**<br><br>So back in 2019, I got admitted to a Japanese university, in city called Fuku. I had always been interested in the Japanese language, and at the time, I knew very little about the culture. I decided to do my best to learn Japanese before I went. I asked my mother for help, as she spoke Japanese fluently. Her mother was Japanese, and she was born in Japan. I convinced her to let me change my phone settings to Japanese, and she agreed under the condition that if I ever got stuck, I had to ask her for help. I agreed, and for the first few months, it was fine. I knew enough Japanese to get by. However, in early January 2019, my mom got into a work accident, and was unable to walk for a little while. She then told me that if I wanted to keep my phone in Japanese, I had to find a way to learn the language. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy task, but I did it anyway. <br><br>I downloaded the app Duolingo, and started with basic Japanese. At first, it was very difficult. I couldn’t read a single kanji character, and my pronunciation was terrible. But I didn’t give up. I practiced everyday, and then I started to watch anime, listen to J-pop, and other Japanese media like that. I also made a Twitter account, and followed Japanese artists that I liked. It was around this time that I started to get followers. I thought it was weird, as I didn’t know anyone in Japan, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t even live in Japan, at the time. <br><br>I got admitted into the university in August, and was finally going to move there in September. I was very nervous, but excited. I knew that I would be leaving my mother, and living alone for the first time. I also knew that I would have no friends, and would have to make new ones. It all happened so fast, and I had no time to think about anything other than packing, and getting my life together. On the day I left, my mom came with me to the airport, and she was very upset. She hugged me, and she cried. I knew she missed me, but she said she was happy that I got into the university I wanted to go to. After that day, I never saw her again. She died suddenly, at the beginning of this year, and I couldn’t go to her funeral. It was a closed casket funeral, and I didn’t find out about it until a month later. I was heartbroken, and I went into a deep depression for many months. I still miss her, but I’m better now. Sometimes I wish she was still alive, but I know that it won’t happen. <br><br>Anyway, back to the story. I remember my first day in Fuku very clearly. I got off the plane at around 2pm, and met up with my father who picked me up. He was born and raised in Japan, but he moved to America when he was 29. He speaks Japanese fluently, but he was born in the Tohoku region, and Tohoku has a very different dialect, so even he had to get used to it. I didn’t mind, as he was still able to communicate, and he seemed to know what he was doing. It was a very weird feeling, as he had a Japanese accent, and he knew what he was doing, but he still had an American passport. I remember him joking about it, and I remember laughing about it too. He helped me carry my bags to his car, and then we drove to the airport hotel that he was staying at. I knew he was staying for 5 days, and until then, I had to put up with him. <br><br>He slept on the couch, and I slept on the bed. I remember both of us were very tired, as we both woke up very early to catch our flights. I remember falling asleep at around 9 that night, but I don’t think he did. He said something to me, but I fell asleep before he finished. He then shook me really hard, and then I woke up. I was startled, but he said it was 6. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I remember it was dark, and cold. The room was also filled with smoke. I asked him what was wrong, and then he told me to get out of the bed. I did, and then I saw it. A light was coming through the window. It was the break of dawn, and in the sky, I saw what looked like a sunrise. The colors were orange, red, and blue. I remember feeling very calm, and I don’t know why. I remember not saying anything, and my father telling me to get my stuff. I was still half asleep, but I knew what I had to do. I got my stuff, and I followed him out of the hotel room. We walked to his car, and then got in. <br><br>___<br>**How it really started.**<br><br>We drove for a while, and then we finally stopped at a train station. My father parked the car, and then we got out. He then told me to follow him, and I did. I still didn’t know where we were, but he seemed to know what he was doing. We walked into the train station, and then we walked to the ticket machine. I watched him buy two one-way tickets to city called Sai. He then gave me one of the tickets. I took it, and then we walked to the platform. From there, we just waited. We waited for the train to come. I was still half asleep, but I was starting to wake up. I remember it being around 7, and the weather was either cold or chilly. I just wore a T-shirt and shorts, so I was shivering. He then told me to put on a jacket, and I did. I felt a bit warmer after that. <br><br>After around 10 minutes of waiting, the train finally arrived. We got on, and the ride took an hour. I remember it being very boring. The only thing I could see out the window was ocean. I asked my father where we were going, and he told me that we were going to his friend Yumi-chan’s house. I asked him why, and he just told me that I needed to meet her. I didn’t question him any further. The train ride was then over, and we finally got to Sai. From there, we walked to Yumi-chan’s house. I remember it being around 9, and the weather was really nice. It was a clear day, with no clouds. The sun was shining, and there was a nice breeze. I felt very calm, and the atmosphere was nice. <br><br>I remember Yumi-chan’s house being a large two-story house. It was white, and it was very beautiful. There was a large garden, and there were many trees. The neighborhood was empty, and it seemed to be a nice neighborhood. I remember my father telling me to wait, and I did. He walked up to the door alone, and he rang the doorbell. He waited for a while, and then Yumi-chan came to the door. I saw her, and I immediately knew it was her. She was a very petite Japanese woman, around 50, with shoulder length black hair. She was wearing a blue dress, and white shoes. She seemed to be in her pajamas. She looked very tired, but she seemed nice. I immediately liked her. She smiled at me, but then she quickly covered her mouth. She seemed embarrassed, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t ask. <br><br>Yumi-chan was very happy to see my father, and she let us in the house. She made tea, and then we sat in the living room. She asked me to sit, and I did. She asked me what I thought of Japan, and I told her it was nice. I told her that I really liked it, and that I would miss it when I left. My father then told me that Yumi-chan was my mother’s best friend from when she was a child, and that they had been friends for