“I thought he would suffocate me or rape me” (exclusive)

• Natali Khomenko Share a Tiktok video claiming she found a man hiding in a hotel room in Tokyo

• “I thought he would suffocate me or rape me or kill me in those few seconds. I was like, 'That's it. That's it.”

• Khomenko said she is speaking out to help prevent more incidents from happening to other female solo travelers

Natali Khomenko has always wanted to travel to Japan. So to celebrate her 32nd birthday, she and her husband plan to travel in the spring. However, at the last moment when her husband was unable to join her due to work, she decided to go alone.

She told people: “Going to Japan is my gift.”

The Ukrainian creative producer flew around her home in Thailand and arrived in Tokyo on March 29, checking into her hotel the next morning at around 10 a.m., where she left the hotel around 10 a.m. with the temples in Tokyo, Ueno Park, Ueno Park, Food Markets and Cafes. She returned to her hotel around 7:30 pm

“I’m so tired,” she said when she returned to the hotel. “I just lie on my bed with my phone. I want to book a train in Tokyo.

Then she noticed the “strange smell”.

“It sucks. It's like a dead animal, but a sweet taste,” she said. “I realized that the smell came from under the bed. There was no bad thought, I just leaned forward and checked under the bed. I leaned forward and I just saw him. I saw the eyes.”

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Khomenko said the man appeared to be in his 20s or 30s, lying on his belly. “His arms are a little bent. One of his legs is a little bent. He is quiet. Only the smell helped me find him.”

She immediately screamed and horrified as the invader crawled out from under the bed in a completely black trenched trencher and stood to stare at her.

“He stared at me quietly for three seconds when I screamed.” “And he started screaming. I thought he would suffocate me or rape me or kill me in those seconds. I was like, 'That's it. That's it.”

Khomenko said she was absolutely paralyzed by fear. “I can't move,” she said. “I'm just screaming and standing stiff.”

A few seconds later, the invader turned around and rushed out of the hotel room door. She tried to call the front desk. “I started dialing receptions, but I can’t because I was in panic mode and I don’t understand which number I should dial.”

The traveler in the next room heard her scream and called the hotel staff and then called the police.

After searching the room, they found the intruder's power bank and the USB cable under the bed, Khomenko said.

“It's just my thoughts, he definitely wants to stay overnight,” she said. “Maybe he wants to record me, that's why he picked up the power bank. Because the camera is picking up a lot of batteries from the phone, that's why he needs to charge. He's ready.”

Khomenko said she asked hotel staff how the man could enter her room. “How did this person enter my room? She had no answer. She was like, 'I don't know. I don't know.”

After talking to the police, Khomenko said she checked her luggage to see if anything was missing.

“He has nothing,” she said.

She checked out of the hotel immediately and her husband booked her to another one. However, the rest of the trip was filled with anxiety. “I didn't sleep in the new hotel at all,” she said. “I was shocked. I couldn't fall asleep. I kept chatting with my relatives until 4 a.m.

The hotel later told her that it had no cameras, making it difficult for police to identify the intruders. She said the hotel rejected her request for $1,600 to recover the expenses after the incident, but did reimburse her for the three nights she planned to stay there.

Khomenko contacted the Ukrainian Embassy and published the incident on Tiktok on April 25, which has been popular since then.

“It's terrible,” she recalled. “It's definitely a violation. All my experiences, my birthday, were ruined.”

She said part of the reason she said was to prevent this from happening to other female solo travelers.

“I want to bring awareness,” she noted. “Many solo travelers told me that they were grateful for sharing with this story because they couldn’t imagine it could happen, especially in Japan.”

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