Tokyo police have arrested an Australian woman for allegedly attempting to board a shinkansen with a fake rail pass.
Karen Sattler, a 35-year-old English language instructor living in Tokyo, is suspected of trying to board the train after showing railway staff a forged Japan Rail Pass — issued only for foreign travelers — at JR Shinagawa Station at around 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
The cost-effective ticket is popular among tourists for long-distance travel. But the staff noticed a difference in color and reported the incident to the police, according to the Takanawa Police Station in Tokyo.
Sattler has admitted that she fabricated the pass, which is likely a color copy of an original ticket, the police said.
The Japan Rail Pass is a special ticket issued to short-term foreign visitors. The ticket offers travelers unlimited use of almost all Japan Railway trains, including the costly bullet trains, for a period of seven, 14 or 21 days.
The passes, usually purchased abroad, are now available at certain outlets in Japan on a trial basis through March 31, 2018.