You don't have to fear getting mugged in the streets, but you can still get ripped off.

One example are the notoriously expensive bars in Roppongi, at night there will be touts in the streets trying to convince tourists to join them for a night of drinking. They'll then go to the bar that hired those touts where, after a night of drinking, the tourists will be presented with a bill that's the equivalent of getting robbed.

That was my experience in Japan and Thailand.

The line for "acceptable robbery" was "no physical violence" + "someone consensually gives me their money."

Which is still possible (and easily doable if that mark is drunk), but is substantially different from American (and European?) style physical robbery.

Just curious, how much are we talking here? Sometimes out here the bar tab can get up to 300-400 for 2, especially if you order bottle service, since the law states they can only sell per drink and not full bottles.

Thousands (USD) for a drink or two, tens of thousands for a bottle or two. It's a very well known scam in some parts of Tokyo, and similar forms exist in many parts of the world.

Long and short, don't let someone on the street talk you into going into a bar or tea shop or whatever, and especially don't follow them to a second location.

wow sweet jesus, they get away with that?