Man extended his Japan trip for two weeks. He tried surviving off $500, then his card declined because of an unpaid bill
Jonathan Moss (@jonmosslol) is on vacation in Japan and decided to extend his trip by two weeks. But while shopping for skincare, he realized that he had made a grave mistake.
“I’m in Shibuya, Japan, and I messed up gravely,” Moss told Instagram. He was supposed to go home on October 21, but decided to make the most of his stay. So, he decided to extend his trip for two more weeks.
“However, I forgot something very, very massively. I thought I was going to be able to survive off of the $500 inside my account. And then, something hit,” Moss explained. Unlike this man, whose travel cards were frozen by a “routine check” from American Express, Moss had over a thousand dollars deducted from his account because he hadn’t paid his car insurance.
“Everything that I planned to do is out of the window. I planned on living inside a hostel, gone. I planned on eating from 7-Eleven, gone.” Moss stated. He continued, “I planned on doing pretty much cheap things to extend my time and make it so that I could have a great trip.” However, these plans have gone out the window because his bank account is now in the negative.
Moss explained that he found out about his predicament while shopping for skincare. He was ready to check out when the cashier told him his card was declined. He thought it was impossible, thinking that he still had $500 in his account.
Is he officially stranded in Japan?
“No, I did not. What I got is six months of car insurance,” Moss claimed. Essentially, it wasn’t just one missed car payment. Rather, he had at least six months of missed payments billed all at once. Moss wasn’t about to give up, so he reached out to his car insurance company to discuss a payment plan.
Moss suggested switching his six months of payments to a once-a-month payment, and the insurance company allegedly agreed. But he also asked, “Okay, so I’m gonna get a refund for like, five months?” The company declined. Moss tried to negotiate and explain his situation, telling the company he was stuck in Japan because the deduction had been taken from his bank account.
“Yeah, it is what it is,” the representative allegedly told him before hanging up. Moss said he would cope with his situation by fasting. “Other than wanting food, housing, and warmth, guess what? In Japan, I don’t want it at all. I wanna go the path of a Buddhist. I am going to fast.”
Social media had mixed reactions
His video went viral on social media and garnered mixed reactions. Some social media users managed to poke fun at his situation. One commenter wrote, “Sounds like a survival challenge.” Another wrote, “Guess you could call this a Shibuya incedebt,” a reference to Jujutsu Kaisen.
Others were sympathetic, and one Instagram user asked Moss if he was still in Tokyo and offered him a place to crash. Meanwhile, someone else told Moss to drop his Cash App so they could get him back home. But not everyone was positive about the situation, and some criticized Moss’ decisions.
One commenter said, “Why did you go on a trip to Japan with such a slim financial buffer anyway?” He responded to a similar question, accusing him of only going to Japan with $500. Moss explained that he went to the country with more than a thousand in his budget. However, when he decided to extend his stay, he had only $500 left and assumed it was enough. He could always bunk at the airport, like this man who had secretly been living at JFK Airport while homeless.
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