Bitter November

One day in the beginning of autumn, on Facebook, a friend of mine shared a news article about a renowned Hollywood star, Keanu Reeves, was spotted by a fan in Teshima Island in Kagawa Prefecture. Also, he talked about his brief visit to Naoshima Island during the interview for his latest film, ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum’. Later, I was informed that he also visited Inujima Island, and he was accompanied by his rumored girlfriend, Alexandra Grant, who is a famous artist. We were delighted to hear of the celebrity’s private visit to our beloved sightseeing location.


Of course, I had known the name of the actor Keanu Reeves, but I had never really watched his movies by then. I hadn’t even watched ‘The Matrix’ or ‘Speed’ properly. But because he spoke well of my prefecture, I became his fan and began watching his movies. I also started checking his fan pages and groups on Facebook, and liking the tweets about him on Twitter. I also shared the links of the articles about his visit to Naoshima Island, where I haunt to as an interpreting guide.


Then, a guy who named himself Keanu Reeves started following me on Twitter. I felt very curious and followed him back. That was the beginning of a tragicomedy.


He started sending me direct messages.


“Hello there, I find it really odd writing to you because I don't usually chat with fans but after reading your comments on my fan page, I decided to have a cool conversation with you.”


Though I didn’t believe it was really Keanu Reeves himself, I began replying to him just to have fun.


“Hello. Thank you for your message. I hear Keanu has a bit of Chinese blood. That’s probably why he can mingle with Japanese people quite naturally.”


“Wow. How come you know about it?”

He thought I knew little about Keanu. I decided to check how he would respond to the questions I wanted to ask Keanu himself.

“Wikipedia says so. Do you speak Japanese?”


“Yeah I do speak Japanese.”

He sounded quite confident. I continued to be curious.

“How did you learn Japanese?”


“Yeah it was a little bit difficult cause i passed through a lot of things.”

I knew he was trying to sound like Keanu.

“Are you married?”

He started asking me personal questions. I was honest.

“Yes, I am. How about you?”

I pretended not knowing anything about him.

“Not even married but I’d like to have a family. I’m getting older”

I remembered Keanu actually wanted to. I told him what I would say to Keanu.

“I think you can raise a family anytime only if you really mean it.”

“That’s true. But I think my past is a little bit convincing.”

I thought it was getting quite serious. I know he was trying to make me feel sorry for him. I knew that Keanu had lost both of his daughter and his girlfriend.

“I am very sorry for the losses. If you allow me to express my thoughts as a Buddhist, I believe their souls reside with Buddha in peace. I’m praying for them as well when I chant my sutra so that they will protect you as your guardians. Today I visited the Buddhist temple in my city Zentsuji. Bhaisajyaguru, the Buddha of Healing is there. I prayed for your happiness to the Buddha.”

I found myself talking to him as if I were talking to Keanu himself.

“Is Alexandra Grant your girlfriend?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

He was blatant enough to deny the rumor about their relationship.

“I think Keanu is getting married to her. You are something.”

I was becoming cynical.

“Do you have kids?”

He continued asking me personal questions.

“Yes, I do. I have two sons.”

“What does your husband do?”

“He’s a dental technician.”

“What do you do for a living?”

“I usually teach English. I’m a translator, interpreter and fortune-teller. I’m also an interpreting guide, so I can guide you when you visit Japan.”

I wish I could guide Keanu.

“That’s good to know.”

“I’ve been struggling with clinical depression.”

I told him about my unstable mental condition.

“Would you help me to overcome my depression?”

I just tried asking him as if I were reaching out for a straw.

“It’s my pleasure to say yes.”

He was being kind.

“What do you want from me?”

I was suspicious about his intention.

“Nothing but every aspect of you.”

He was polite and kind until he suddenly changed his attitude.

He suddenly started asking me to get him an iTunes card. I said no and he told me he was just testing my faith. Then he quit taking to me.

While we were engaged in chatting, there was another guy who named himself Keanu Reeves starting to talk to me on Facebook. This was because I started checking the fan page of Keanu Reeves on Facebook and commenting to the articles there. The imposter found me there and started sending me messages through Messenger. He asked my Whatapp number and I send him my number. We started talking with Whatapp.

He was talking to me in the similar way as the first person I was talking with.

“Send me your picture.”

He made me send my selfie. I sent it to him.

“You are beautiful.”

I knew he was just flattering me.

“Send me yours.”

I ask him send me his picture.

I was quite surprised when he actually sent me his own picture. He was wearing long black hair and black beard. I thought he looked like Keanu a little bit, but it was obvious he was not Keanu. I wondered if there were any people that are deceived by him.

His messages gradually got romantic and lyrical as time went by, and he started to send me poems. They were copied and pasted as if they were used every time when he was trying to deceive other women.

And one day, he started asking me to get him a Steam Card.

I decided to scam the scammer. I told him I would get him one if he had a video call with me. He was hesitant to do so, saying that he is prohibited from having video calls with his fans because of contract deals. But he told me he would have a video call with me when his manager was not around him.

Suddenly he actually tried to have a video call with me, but I couldn't pick it up because it was midnight in Japan when he did so.

On Thanksgiving Day, he told me he would send me gifts. He sent me the pictures of goods such as shoes and bags and let me choose what I wanted. He told me to send him my ID, so I sent him the picture of my driver's license.


Then, just a few hours later, he told me he also enclosed a large amount money along with the gifts. I had actually known about this plot already, as a result of my research about scamming.

Soon after he told me so, someone who claimed to be an officer of Malaysian customs called me through Whatapp, which was so weird. He told me the package was seized because it had money in it. He would probably have required me to send him money to enable the package to be sent to me. But I knew such a package didn't exist from the beginning. Both of them were scammers. I reported and blocked their numbers at Whatapp.

There was another person who named himself Keanu on Facebook. At first, he wanted me to open a bank account of his in Japan. I told him I couldn't. He even gave me a video call. He used his lighting behind him effectively so that he could hide the difference of looks from Keanu. He also wore his black hair and beard long.

After some conversation which was similar with the other persons who named themselves Keanu, he told me he would give me some kind of special permit. I knew he would require me to pay him money for that. I called him a scammer and he stopped talking to me, saying that he would block me. I thought he was very arrogant.

I wonder how many scammers who name themselves Keanu Reeves are out there. Because Keanu himself doesn't have any official accounts with SNS, such scammers are rampant. I suppose Keanu Reeves might be aware of such a situation and is concerned.

I'm posting the pictures of the imposters here.

I hope this post of mine will warn people about malicious imposters of Keanu Reeves.

I wish I could meet Keanu. One day, I'd like to talk to Keanu himself about my experience and laugh about it together.