In the past few days, professional pick-up artist Julien Blanc became the source of tremendous ire after footage was shared online of a man identified by net users as him grabbing women on the streets of Tokyo, manhandling a convenience store clerk, and pushing girls’ heads down into his crotch while posing for the camera.

This kind of conduct, it would seem, is not dissimilar to the kind of advice Blanc gives to men during his “training sessions” on how to pick up women, as the recently shared video shows him talking about how easy it is for white men to grab Tokyo girls as they please and advising them to “just yell ‘Pikachu’ or ‘Pokémon’ or ‘Tamagochi’ or something” while doing so.

The recently slammed Real Social Dynamics coach is reportedly due to arrive in Tokyo again soon, something that net users in Japan are decidedly unhappy about, and many have seen fit to join groups dedicated to raising awareness of his unsavory pick-up methods including the #TakeDownJulienBlanc campaign on Twitter and Facebook and signing a petition on change.org.

The footage of Blanc, which you can find below, sees him standing in front of a group of men at what appears to be one of his training sessions, telling them that when in Tokyo “if you are a white male, you can do whatever you want“.

The tips Blanc gives for picking up girls in Japan, along with netizens’ discovery of his activities through social media, have caused much outrage online, and a number of Twitter users are now making efforts to warn women in Japan that the notorious pick-up artist is due to arrive in town sometime in the next two weeks.

▼ Blanc’s tweet announcing his imminent arrival was deleted soon after it was posted, but not before concerned netizens could take snaps of it.

Blanc’s activities in Japan were first noticed by the Twitterverse when his tweet and video were brought to the attention of popular Canadian YouTuber and Fukuoka’s Kawaii Ward Mayor Micaela Braithwaite, who then warned her Twitter followers about him in a series of tweets, voicing her strong objections to Blanc’s behavior and attitude towards women in general.

Michaela also took the time to warn her Japanese-speaking followers about Blanc’s arrival in the country:

“This person making fun of Japan and coming to Japan to sexually harass women should never be forgiven. In order to spread the news, I tweeted the video. Please do not be mistaken. This is not ‘Western culture’. This is just harassment.”

“By the way, the man who put up the video is @RSDJulien. Many foreigners living in Japan have sent this information to immigration, but it might not help at all.”

Twitter user @JennLi123, meanwhile, began the #TakeDownJulienBlanc movement after witnessing footage of Blanc at work, calling for hotels hosting him events to cancel them. Other net users quickly began using the hashtag, and as of today the movement had scored several victories.

First, under pressure from activists, The Como Melbourne – MGallery Collection where Blanc was due to hold a talk, cancelled his event.

Next, after directing phone calls and tweets to other posted locations of Blanc’s training sessions, @JennLi123 was seemingly able to convince the owners of several hotels, including Hilton Garden Inn Austin, Marriot Hotel Seattle and Mercure Hotel in Brisbane to terminate Blanc’s sessions.

@JennLi123 We will not be hosting this event at our hotel. We thank you for your passion and commitment to spreading awareness Jenn. — HGI Austin Downtown (@HGIAustin) November 4, 2014

Getting wind of net users’ displeasure, ticketing service provider Eventbrite also removed Blanc’s events from its website.

@itsmenanice Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. It has since been removed from our platform. — Eventbrite Help (@eventbritehelp) November 4, 2014

Details of Blanc’s supposed visit to Japan have yet to be released, and despite causing much anger and concern amongst foreigners in Japan, the issue has thus far not garnered much attention in Japanese social media or press. @JennLi123 has tweeted her call for help for the issue to gain more traction in Japan as well.

This is a public call: Is there anyone who speaks Japanese who can work with us to #takedownjulienblanc in Japan? — Aggressive Asian (@JennLi123) November 5, 2014

We’ll have more on this story as it happens.

Feature image: YouTube