A YouTuber that is well-known has issued an apology after a video of theirs titled I Travelled Across Japan For Free caused upset among local people.
Fidias Panayiotou's video, featuring his attempts to shirk a train fare and a hotel breakfast, has gained almost half a million views.
Cries for his arrest have been seen on social media and the rail authorities are evaluating whether to take any other steps.
In Japan, displaying good manners is highly valued, and any type of trickery seen as disrespectful is not looked upon favourably.
"Greetings lovely folks, I want to apologize to the Japanese if our video caused them any distress, that was not our intention!" said the Cypriot YouTuber on Tuesday, after his video gained immense popularity over the weekend.
On his YouTube page boasting 2.4 million subscribers, Mr Panayiotou defines himself as a "professional mistake maker."
He was accompanied by three other individuals in the Japan video, part of a $10,000 (£8,216) competition.
At a certain juncture in the video, he hides in a lavatory of a bullet train and pretends to be sick when met with by a conductor. Subsequently, he flees to board another train and does the same trick.
Mr Panayiotou also implores a stranger for bus fare, yet he is still 80 yen (approximately £0.44; $0.53) shy. Subsequently, the driver confines him on the bus and transports him to a police station, where he is held for five hours before eventually being released.
"He later playacted as a guest in a hotel, just so he could grab a free breakfast," he expresses to the camera. "And, thank goodness, we got away without anyone discovering us or anything going wrong!"
The origin of the video is unknown, and it is uncertain if Mr Panayiotou and his associates are still located in Japan.
Numerous social media users called on Mr Panayiotou to delete his video as a demonstration that his apology was genuine. By noon on Tuesday, the video had been taken down from his YouTube channel.
"Another foreign YouTuber creating a nuisance has appeared. Aside from Fidias they should all be apprehended," one social media user proclaimed.
"Biting the hand that feeds you is an extremely deplorable thing to do, and I'm revolted by people like you who benefit from the generosity of the Japanese," a different person commented.
Someone else said: "This is wrong. This is nothing more than taking people's money and being impolite."
In August, Ismael Ramsey Khalid - who is widely known as "Johnny Somali" - was arrested following an incident wherein he was suspected of trespassing on a construction site and persistently screaming "Fukushima", which is an allusion to the nuclear power plant disaster that transpired in 2011 as a result of a tsunami.
In 2017, US YouTuber Logan Paul embroiled himself in huge controversy when he posted a video, which was later removed, that showcased an individual that seemed to be deceased by suicide in a Japanese forest. The video was seen by millions.
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