No place to hide in SA

I recently read about night movers and johatsu, a practice in Japan where around 100 000 people disappear in Japan each year. Night movers come and take all your possessions, then help you to vanish without a trace.

- SONJA BROWN

So, imagine me trying to pull a johatsu in South Africa. You know - vanish without a trace, slip away like mist, become an “evaporated person”. Sounds mysterious and noble in Japan. But here? Ai tog, it would be chaos.

First problem: the night movers. In Tokyo they arrive in quiet, unmarked vans, moving your belongings with ninja-like precision. In South Africa? Forget it.

The moving truck would rattle up with “Bra Johannes & Sons Removals” painted in red across the side, vuvuzelas blaring for directions and the driver shouting: “My broer, where’s the gate remote? Yoh, this place stinks, neh!” There goes my stealth.