A 38-year-old man was busted on July 7 after engaging in an illegal, high-speed midnight “tour” in his Nissan GT-R sports car that crashed in Tokyo’s Shibuya District, injuring three German tourists and a taxi driver.

The man, a company employee from Kawasaki, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of negligent driving causing injury and violating the Road Transportation Law for providing an unauthorised paid ride.

He has reportedly admitted to the negligent driving charge but denied receiving payment, telling police, “I did not receive money for the ride.”

According to police, the incident occurred around 12:30 a.m. on May 17, when the man approached three German women in their 20s in the Jinnan district and asked, “I’m doing a driving tour around the Shibuya scramble crossing, would you like a ride?”

He then allegedly accepted 5,000 yen ($31) in cash and ushered them into his car.

While driving on a local road, he crashed into a taxi that was turning at an intersection.

Analysis of security camera footage suggests the GT-R entered the intersection at approximately 120 kph.

The three tourists and the taxi driver sustained minor injuries, including bruises and sprains.

“I was interested in the cool car and was taking photos of it from the sidewalk when he approached me,” one of the tourists told police.

The arrest highlights what authorities call the growing and dangerous trend of illegal “shirotaku” services specifically using high-performance sports cars targeting tourists in Shibuya.

The term shirotaku, or “white taxi,” refers to the white license plates of the non-commercial vehicles used for these illicit paid rides.

-The Asahi Shimbun