YouTuber Fidias Panayiotou sparks investigation in Japan for ‘dodging train fares and stealing food’

• The 27-year-old Cypriot spent an entire train journey locked in the toilet
• In a now-deleted video, he also faked being a hotel guest for ‘free’ breakfast 
• A regional train operator is ‘aware of the case and investigating facts around it’

A Japanese rail company is investigating a group of four popular YouTubers who allegedly travelled long distances by train without paying during a visit to the country. 

One of them, known online as Fidias, 27, uploaded a video to over 2 million subscribers last weekend titled ‘I Travelled Across Japan For Free’ involving him evading ticket officers and blagging free food.

The Cypriot YouTuber, whose full name is Fidias Panayiotou, has since seemingly deleted the video after issuing an apology.

In one clip, Panayiotou spent an entire train journey locked in the toilet of a bullet train, only to be met by a ticket officer waiting at his destination.

However, feigning illness, he escaped the staff member and ran away to do the same trick again.

Cypriot YouTuber Fidias Panayiotou uploaded a video titled ‘I Travelled Across Japan For Free’ last weekend involving him and three others evading ticket officers

The 27-year-old also blagged a free buffet breakfast by pretending to be a hotel guest

Regional train operator JR Kyushu said it was ‘aware of the case and investigating facts around it,’ before potentially informing police

At another point in the video, the YouTuber went into a Kyoto hotel, checked which room numbers existed and got a free buffet breakfast after purporting to be a guest.

He told viewers: ‘I just have access to a five-star Japanese buffet. And we’re leaving the hotel without getting caught and without any problem.’ 

Regional train operator JR Kyushu said it was ‘aware of the case and investigating facts around it,’ before potentially informing police. 

On Tuesday Panayiotou posted an apology under the video which began: ‘Hello beautiful people.’

He was joined by three others in the video, which took the form of a race across the country.

‘I apologise to the Japanese people if we made them feel bad that was not out goal,’ his apology continued, ‘from now on I am going to be make more research to the cultures we go to and try to prevent this from happening again.’ 

However, that comment, with the video, appear to have since been deleted, despite many of his followers lauding him for his audacity.

But others online have been scathing, especially given the contents of the apology. 

One X – formerly Twitter – user asked: ‘Does it require “research” to understand this is unacceptable in Japan? In what country’s culture is this okay?’

The incident comes a month after the arrest of a US live-streamer known as Johnny Somali for filming himself breaking into a building site in Osaka.

The 23-year-old whose real name is Ismael Ramsey Khalid was subsequently charged with trespassing. 

Japanese officials are currently trying to grip an ‘overtourism’ problem which has brought with it this sort of bad behaviour from visitors, as well as overcrowding at popular destinations.

The government has responded by drawing up measures to increase train fares and promote travelling to more rural, lesser-known areas.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently said: ‘In some areas and during certain periods, bad manners associated with inbound tourism has had an impact on the lives of local residents.’

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