English teacher from Australia attempted to use fake JR pass

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a female English teacher from Australia for allegedly attempting to use a forged pass, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Dec. 12).

At around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Karen Sattler, 35, allegedly presented a forged Japan Rail Pass to an attendant at JR Shinagawa Station before boarding a Shinkansen bullet train. Noticing that the color of the paper of the document appeared to be different from that of an original, the attendant alerted police.

According to the Takanawa Police Station, the document presented by Sattler is a color copy of an original. The suspect initially admitted that the document was a forgery, but now she declines to comment.

Japan Rail Pass, which is offered jointly by the six companies within the Japan Railways Group, is available for foreign tourists as an economical means of traveling on the nationwide JR network, including the Shinkansen.