Im japanese working in shibuya public park. There are so many people from abroad who doesnt speak Japanese. They often says it is hard to find English speaker in Tokyo. It is fun to watch their relieved faces when I talk to them with english. Even my poor english.
Oh I bet you are like a lifesaver for them! Going to another country without speaking the language is always a challenge. And though it´s part of travelling and exciting it is also a relief to find someone who understands you.
I recently travelled to Japan and found it very easy getting around without being able to speak the language. Translation apps on the phone camera helped a lot, but even then, a lot of the locals spoke English very well to communicate, which was very much appreciated. That said, I always felt somewhat guilty that people had to speak a foreign language in their own country, so I always tried to pick up small phrases I could use so as not to seem arrogant or rude (hello, thank you, etc). It's a very beautiful country and the people are so nice.
I bet you travelled mostly in cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka or any other large city. English is decently prevalent. Try going to a more remote town and doing anything.
@@FoxenPiano How many people travel to remote parts of the country? This is like someone saying the public transport is really good and you replying with "I bet you were were in Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto. Try going to a more remote town and getting around". 99% of travellers will be visiting the big cities
@@JiveTrkey 100% agree! I too just visited and had a similar experience as to what you described! A great country to visit - I really appreciated your original comment and response to the silly comment!
Yeah I too was grateful that many people were able to speak English in Tokyo and Osaka. I also felt guilty about not knowing much Japanese, especially in their country. I watched another video by Takashi and a local said he wish foreigners would put effort into using Japanese, no matter how broken
Takashii, asking "the difference between living here with no japanese, and travelling here with no japanese" Is a really, good, intricate question, that many people wouldn't really ask. Nice man!
You can pull it off in the PHilippines as EVERYONE speaks, reads and writes English as the second language. I know dudes who have been there 40 years and barely know Tagalog. In Japan, it's gonna be harder but achievable because the J public are polite.
Yep, though it too. It's great to see people going out there and representing our nation properly🇵🇱. I'm also learning Japanese now as I'm planning to travel to Japan in a year or two. I want to learn as much about the culture as I can before I get there. I love how thoughtful Japanese people are and how interesting their culture is.
“I don’t look like everybody in the country” “There’s not that much to do here that isn’t related to food” “No one speaks English here” Erm where do I start?
@@smallworldlifters I find it interesting the term "based" is used today in English: "What does based mean? Based is a slang term that originally meant to be addicted to crack cocaine (or acting like you were), but was reclaimed by rapper Lil B for being yourself and not caring what others think of you-to carry yourself with swagger" I think it is a term without nuance and over-egging attitude. For example I think the last person interviewed said some useful things but his take on "there's not much to do here that isn't related to food" sounded like a personal opinion and not a factual statement to me... With that said, his other statement about how the Japanese have high standards eg tidy streets and be a safe place to be etc was absolutely accurate and how welcome that is to experience.
@@smallworldlifters agreed those were strong generalizations, could have stated that better, it’s not accurate making statements like that for sure, I felt he was excited to share his experience and maybe that led to such broad statements without thinking
I stayed in Osaka for 3 months as soon as Japan opened its borders back in October. I lived in a guesthouse in the middle of the city and every day went out walking, exploring either the neighborhood or taking the metro to explore others. Over 90 days I walked hundreds of kilometers all around the city, took the metro almost every day, took the train to Kyoto and Nara a few times, ordered something to be delivered in the mail, ordered food, asked for directions, made purchases, and had conversations with people - all without speaking a word of Japanese. I can't think of anything that I would consider inconvenient. Obviously you have to approach it as, this is another country and you don't speak its language, so any issues were entirely my own and not anything that I would hold against the country or its infrastructure for not being suited for my exact needs or anything like that. For example, the fact that it took me a few times to figure out the metro and train systems wasn't because of a language barrier but more so that I'm from a small town and don't have a lot of experience with public transportation. The ticket machines are actually extremely convenient and easy to use and only once was I ever at a total loss - which was quickly resolved by motioning to an attendant for help and saying the station I needed to go to. There were multiple times where locals would stop me and attempt to ask if I was lost or if I needed directions, usually when I was far away from any normal tourist area. Although they didn't speak English I could tell they were expressing concern and trying to offer help and with a few gestures I could communicate that I was okay, just walking around taking pictures. Not speaking the language is absolutely not a reason to not visit somewhere. Don't let it stop you. Obviously the more you can communicate with people, the more information and opportunities will be available to you, but even without any Japanese, I was able to fully enjoy living in Japan for 3 months. The only Japanese I "spoke" was "thank you", "are you okay", and a few variations of "hello".
@@LarsAndersen-ig9yt A lot of Poles live in the UK, we've had a sort of link since WW2 when a lot of Poles escaped the Nazis to the UK. Some even flew in the Battle of Britain alongside British pilots. There's a "Polish war memorial" in London that commemorates their sacrifices during the war
Takashii, since the olympics, Japan has become known for producing world class skateboarders, both men and women. Would you consider doing any interviews with skateboarders in Japan? It would be really great to hear from them about what it is like to be a skateboarder in Japan, how they are perceived, comparisons with the west etc. Thanks!
Daammmnn mic drop from that last guy! Such incredible words, I totally agree, learn about and respect the culture and the people of the land you're visiting, don't try to impose your own ways of life onto others, and don't expect them to adjust to you. Actually, these are wise words for life in general, not just when visiting a different place. Amazing video as always, thank you so much Takashii!
@@atomixfang until one actually lives here then what he said makes more sense....Japan is way way different than anywhere else....bowing to other car drivers giving them right of way or when driver stops allowing you to enter into traffic and both of you mutually exchange the head bow acknowledgment of respect is very enlightening.
I love the guy from Montreal 🔥... and the couple from LA, too, especially when they politely bowed at the end, perhaps a little too deeply, but it showed their good hearts!
His whole message was try to understand rather than judge. I think you guys missed the point. While littering is a shameful thing to do, we all make bad choices sometimes. Being able to admit that shows strength and growth.
I was surprised by that too, but impressed he was so honest. When I met my former husband in Mexico, he too, was a street litterer and I called him out on it. It's about respect for others, the place you want to live and for those that have to pick up after you.
@@LuFarrah I think he's really implying that his own country doesn't care that much so it's seen as normal. So seeing somewhere else that cares is showing him another way, which is admirable
@@SipSippy-jv2ke I highly doubt he is implying that lmfao cause that is simply not true. No one like people who litter or dump, and clearly he said he does it
Going to Japan in june and i studied the basics in japanese language in order to communicate a little bit with local citizens, it is so fun to speak and understand such a nice language 🙂I think japanese people appreciate it when you at least try to talk to them in japanese, like i would appreciate it when foreigners talk to me in german, its such a nice gesture in my point of view 🙂
I studied Japanese for over 4 years before finally going to Japan (I would have gone sooner but because of covid, I had to wait. I basically went as soon as Japan reopened to tourists again), and thanks to that, I could have conversations in Japanese and was able to have some incredible experiences and could meet a lot of people as well. It definitely helps to learn the language if you want to have better experiences there. So if you want to go to Japan, do yourself a favor and learn Japanese. It takes like a week to fully memorize hiragana and katakana, and from there, you can start learning words and grammar.
Well yeah but it takes weeks/months before you can read texts in hiragana and katakana fluently. You're learning a completely different alphabet after all :D
I still kind of struggle trying to read the hiragana and katakana, so I moved on trying to read whole words, and being able to use context clues allows me to figure the characters I forgot how to read. For example, I often forget ね, only when I see a word like ねこ can I remember it. It all depends on the way you learn to be honest.
You don't need to learn Japanese. I go every month and really only know very basics, "hello, goodbye, thank you." Google translate is your friend. Of course learning the language is incredibly helpful, but don't let that stop you.
10:02 this is an incredibly useful tip and its my first time hearing someone mention this is Takashi's videos. A must if you want to visit Japan. Whilst I agree with his takes on adapting to a culture and how Japanese respect others around them, I disagree with littering in your own country because the mindset is different. Don't litter and even though I'm not as nice as Japanese and pick up after people, I absolutely pick up after myself and recycle properly.
@Yo momma recycling is good it's single use plastics that are a scam. Better for there to be no trash than recycled trash. Worse in a landfill or on the street
I think that because there are no trash cans in Japan, people don't litter. The mindset is don't drop whatever you have or are carrying. Share the road and don't clutter it. But when you live in a place with trashcans in public spaces, you assume someone will come along and take out the trash, and it's an easy mental step to think if there are people paid to take out the trash (and your taxes are paying their salaries), then they can also stop to pickup your trash as well (cups, wrappers, cigarette butts, etc).
I travelled in 2018 and found it super easy to get around and even knowing basic phrases helped to talk to locals, but everyone is so accommodating its a nice experience
I am Japanese, but nowadays automatic translation apps are readily available on smartphones, and foreign tourists are unlikely to experience any inconvenience. Of course, if they are staying for a long time or emigrating, foreigners will need to learn Japanese seriously, but it is not easy because many Japanese people struggle to even learn English. Some foreigners believe that wherever they live in Japan, they only speak English and do not need to speak Japanese in order to maintain their pride, identity and identity.
The last guy is soooo right! Being here the past 6 weeks, it has been very eye opening! You definitely feel a sense of respect, not only for other people, but also where you are. I'm not a big litterer back home, but here, you are more conscience of it and by being more conscience of it, you are more respectful about it. Every place I have been to, and I mean every place, there is no trash on the street and everything looks beautiful. You WANT to keep it beautiful and you don't want to litter! Be respectful :)
I mean it’s also that there are more severe outcomes to littering in Japan, to the point where you might actually go to jail over littering lol, this is the same situation as when people say that there are no homeless in Japan, or they are “Better off” in Japan lmao, when in actuality homeless people in Japan are often excluded from society entirely, to the point that they are literally erased from the census, and thus not counted as a citizen because they are homeless. There are entire homeless villages that are kept out of public view in Japan, it’s crazy. Japan ain’t super polite and clean because it’s just “their culture” it’s because there’s tons of enforcement, to keep Japanese people controlled lol. It is what it is ig lol Atleast they are clean and polite (for the most part to eachother anyway, since discrimination isn’t illegal in Japan💀)
I got lost in Tokyo once. I had only ever studied Japanese many years earlier for a short time so I had extremely limited vocabulary. I found that finding someone who spoke English for ME was actually surprisingly hard - everyone I tried to ask for directions did not speak English or spoke so little English that it was not of much help - they TRIED to help, most people in Japan are very helpful and nice, but there was definitely a communication barrier. What ended up being helpful was that because I CAN read and speak Chinese to some degree - I've studied Chinese for over a decade - because some of the signs had characters which were the same as in Chinese, I could read some of the characters on some of the signs, so THAT was helpful. Usually I like to study a language for months before I go to a new country but in this case I was only there for a short time so there was not a lot of reason to invest so much time in learning it just to be there a couple days. I still plan to learn more Japanese EVENTUALLY but at that time, I only knew how to say simple things in Japanese like "my name is ____", "I am from )(insert country)", "thank you", "where is ____" - but I couldn't understand any of the replies so at best I could rather poorly point at a map and ask "where is this?" - and they would say things I didn't understand and point. At the end of the day if you have a smart phone with you and google translate it wouldn't be such a big issue - but I did not at this time since my phone battery had died and I didn't have a way to charge it and was going to miss my flight so I was in a hurry anyway. So, it CAN be challenging to be in Japan without any Japanese language skills, in my experience. You can MANAGE to get by with difficulty with a translation app - if your battery holds out - but it's not going to be that easy even then, and going back and forth with a translation app is both embarrassing and pretty inconvenient and slow. If someone is going to spend any real time there, do yourself a favor: do some hard-core studying before you get there for at least 6 months, 3+ hours a day. You'll be glad you did. Going to CHINA for the first time was a TOTALLY different experience since I had already learned a pretty good amount of Mandarin for years before I ever went there - but Japan was harder.
The guy from Poland, really resonates with me, I have been studying Japanese for my travel for months before. It’s just great to have the basics, everyone is so kind to you. Great video 😊
My company decided to moved me to Tokyo ( with less than a month notice!), and as soon as I arrived here in Tokyo, I knew right away that I absolutely MUST learned the language, otherwise I would not be able to survived !
Always fascinating how so many people find weird that locals don’t speak their language when they travel there, but they find it normal to expect that anybody speak their language when it’s the other way around and travellers come to their country. some of those guys interviewed (imho) fairly said: it’s just respectful and kind to (at least) make the effort to learn some basics, even just in order to don’t make locals feel embarrassed. Very nice video as always, thanks for sharing it :)
I think, especially when it comes to English speakers, they have this belief that EVERYONE is taught or has access to English to learn... and that may be true, but understanding a language and communicating in it aren't the same really.
This guy is an excellent interviewer. He has a natural way of responding to what someone says. It would be nice if some professional interviewers had his ability to listen then respond. I fine a lot of interviewers are not listening. They are waiting to ask their next prepared question. Cool guy. CNN, MSNBC. You can learn from this guy.
I enjoy your interviews. My Japanese was very weak on my first trip, but I found most of the people helpful. I would love to vacation in the countryside next year. That last interview was informative.
たかしいさん！ Thank you so much for all your videos. I am visiting in Japan in May, your videos helped me to prepare a lot! ありがとうございます! Hope I will run into you there!
Love your videos , when I travelled to Japan ( Tokyo ) I only spoke enough Japanese to get by ( how to order food / drinks and greetings ect. ) I found it very easy to travel around and live everyday life , I made it a point to try and only speak Japanese so I could practice while there. Everyone was very supportive and always told me my Japanese was good or getting better if I saw them more than once ( restaurant or arcade staff ) the only difficulty I encountered was some Japanese people would want to practice speaking English to me, which wasn't really a problem I would always help them practice English just difficult for me to switch constantly while trying to strengthen my Japanese. I would say any one , regardless of how much Japanese you know or can understand can easily visit Japan and absolutely should visit Japan! Japan is such a beautiful country and rich in culture and history I can't wait to visit again
Currently living in Okinawa! It's easy to get by in some restaurants because they have a menu at the counter and you can point to the pictures. But as it's a different culture, you also have to learn that as you go along. For example, calling the waiter over or knowing where to sit when waiting to be seated. I thought I knew Japanese culture well, but you will always find something new. That's why japanese is so useful when you get stuck and need help.
I visited Japan for the first time just before the pandemic hit. It was just a week, but I still made a point of learning a few survival phrases beforehand. anything necessary to ask for a way/location, things necessary to order at a restaurant, and a few basic politeness phrases. it's always good to be able to say your thank yous, sorrys and excuse mes. I also was able to read hiragana and katakana, because way back when in uni i still had the motivation to really learn japanese properly, until life got in the way a bit. We only visited Tokyo and Kyoto and as far as the tourism experience go we didn't face any problems whatsoever. Japanese people are terribly patient, polite, and helpful (if they can). People really try to accommodate you as far as it's in their power. That being said, it is a fact that very few people speak English at all and ever fewer people speak it well. And tbh, why should they? If you're a normal Japanese person living in Japan and not planning to leave it, why should you learn another language just for the random tourist you might encounter. So it can and did happen a handful of times that a person we tried to approach for help somehow hastily excused themself to quickly spirit themselves out of sight never to be seen again lol. don't take it personally though. for some people it's a situation that really puts them on the spot in two ways, for one to not being able to help despite wanting to, and feeling like in a back to school test situation, because that's when - if at all - most Japanese people still were in contact with any English. Imagine someone approaching you out of the blue on the street to quiz you about your weakest subject from way back in school. it's the stuff of nightmares, so I could relate to our handful of 'escapees' ;) anyway, bottom line being, as long as you stick to touristy centers, you don't necessarily have to worry if you don't speak any Japanese, but your experience will definitely be a lot smoother and more exciting if you at least know a little bit. As anywhere in the world, to really get an authentic and deep understanding into a culture, learning a language of the land properly is a must. But I promise you, you'll have a ball even if you only come as a tourist. sometimes it's fine just being a tourist.
Just got back from Japan yesterday, so glad I have Japanese friends I stay with when I go over there because they show me all the non tourist places to go to not to mention staying with them.
I love that I will go to Japan really soon and as always, it is as if Takashii-san already knew the questions I have and just goes ahead and ask people in Japan about them Useful and amazing as always man, thank you!!
I was just in Japan for a week for a vacation. I love the hospitality, mannerisms, politeness are top notch! And not to mention, it’s super safe! People are very quiet and conservative. its super difficult not to speak the language, thank god for google translate haha. It’s definitely lonely without knowing the language. We wake up early around 7ish 8am and restaurants open late around 11am. There’s pros n cons everywhere. Now that I’m back to America, I’m so cautious everywhere I go. The robberies, the shooting, the ghettoness etc..urggggg
Yes, breakfast is a bit of a problem. Once I flew to Japan from the east coast of the US and I would wake up at 3-4 am and was hungry and needed coffee. I would advise people flying in from the US to choose a hotel near a McDonald's and some convenience stores with freshly brewed coffee.
Exact same experience here! I'd love to move to Japan but I'd want to be pretty fluent first so I could be better at fitting in (if that is a thing that could ever happen).
I completely agree with you. I visited Japan some years ago and my impression matches yours "word for word": "The hospitality, mannerisms, politeness," of the Japanese. It started immediately when my late-night flight got into the airport and I picked a bus into central Tokyo: Half-asleep and completely bemused about where I was going, nonetheless, the conductor and baggage handler bundled me out at my stop with my luggage all on their own initiative! Thank you to the Japanese for your high standards and may they long last.
And not to mention, I love that they have emergency buttons inside the public bathrooms and hotels. I remembered I accidentally pressed the emergency button instead of the FLUSH button and the security rushed in the bathroom! Omg I was so embarrassed 🫣🫢 🤣
We went to Japan November 2022, even in hotels no one spoke English. The Japanese people were very kind and tried to help us when we had a question. Used google translate.
That last guy is also a famous blogger/youtuber/tiktokker who talks about overcoming shyness and interviewing other people, older people to get life advice. I love yalls content.
I've been to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo, on separate trips and didn't have any issues getting around, finding restaurants, understanding the subway system, how buses work and so on. I was also travelling around in Kyushu (Fukuoka, Kumamoto and more), with my main stay being in Kagoshima and had zero problems. Everything is pretty much self-explanatory. And if you indeed need help, everyone will help you the best they can. I loved every trip to Japan I did in the past.
I'm going early May 2024 with my brother for 15 days. I've started learning as much as I can with basics, but I'm so poor with pronunciation and it's hard to spot. One tip I found online said to record yourself saying the phrases, that way you can listen to how the local says it, replay how you say it and spot where you're going wrong. It's a slow process (and very cringe at first) but I'm hoping it'll help me once there. I cannot wait to see Japan.
Thank you Takashii San for providing us with very informative and interesting content. I agree with the last person you interviewed wholeheartedly and that is to adopt the values and principles of the place you are in and learning some Japanese will definitely help you more than not knowing any at all.
dang, did not know about japan opening late in the morning, that would be the biggest culture shock for morning people that need to get moving early. The google translate piece was enlightening as well.
It’s pretty hard to go to restaurants without English menus. It’s not just that it’s hard for you, it’s also hard for the staff and locals as well. We stuck to the more touristy spots just because it’s easier to experience. I would only go off to the more local spots if I was comfortable with my Japanese.
My husband and I were in Tokyo for 2 weeks in 2016. We don’t speak any Japanese and didn’t have any issues. Google translate works great for translating signs and instructions, ect.
??? I didn’t go to japan to meet people and make friends. I went for a vacation. The question is how difficult is it to travel Japan with no English. I answered it. It’s not difficult at all.
@@guerric we stayed in an air bnb in Tokyo so we had our own little house to ourselves. We only went outside of Tokyo once to Saitama for the train museum and it was fine. Most restaurants have an English menu, have pictures, or the hyper realistic fake food displays you can point to. If not, google translate worked great on menus. We even managed to exchange some cold medicine in a store using only google translate. Japanese people could easily tell we were foreigners and just spoke to us in English 🤷🏼♀️ it wasn’t weird or awkward. Most would just come up to us and offer help if we looked confused. I think people stress about it more than you need to. So go and have a good time. It was the most relaxed I’ve ever felt being in Japan.
The advice to go to a place without english menu's can be a double-edge sword. You might find some really good places, but the restaurants with english menu's do it in the knowledge they'll get tourists in so you'll more likely find someone that speaks english. As much as cultural embrace is a good thing for both sides a lot of places adapt to tourism to make it easier for tourists to enjoy the place rather than having to worry so much. Vacations are not meant to be stressful after all. Language barriers should not cause anyone trouble or be seen as a negative, but both sides have to embrace that communication can be difficult and just remember to be kind and nice to each other, eventually you'll reach an understanding.
My wife and I go almost every year. We just came back from a 2 week trip to Japan. My wife, who is white, can speak Japanese due to her growing up in her Japanese neighbor's home. I am Korean and cannot speak anything except, "where is..." I am just weirdly refusing to learn another language as I also speak Korean and some German. You can definitely get by and have fun in Japan without speaking. However, bc of my wife, we are definitely able to do more things bc of my wife compared to our friends who don't speak. This is helpful for us bc we avoid tourist things like the plague. This last time, we didn't see many foreigners where we were bc we visited obscure places only Japanese people or people who live in Japan would go to. To the last guy's comment about googling, totally agree. I would type words like "sushi" and my wife types it in japanese and she find more options.
Hi Takashi, I'm in Tokyo for the first time in Japan, really love the air quality and vibrant diversified city. Really like the parks and small shops, I'm trying to say more things in Japanese but I agree it's better I learn more to engage with people better. Very conformable place overall. Will definitely visit again!
I spent 6 months in Japan traveling around most of the country in the car I bought and registered. And I did that without Japanese. Of course you pick up a few phrases, but helpful, nice people and Google translate basically saved me. Was an amazing time even though registering the car is a massive pain in the ass
Bless you takashii for being able to maintain professionalism with people. I’m afraid to visit Japan bc I don’t know the language. But your video has taught me that I am at least 50% smarter than the foreigners that visit and that maybe I should reconsider
Your videos are really helpful and informative! Thank you! I am someone who'll visit Japan as a tourist on November and will probably start living there after two years.
Once, in eastern Hokkaido, I was driving with my wife on a rural road with no people and no buildings in sight, literary middle of nowhere, but somehow there was a traffic light. As it went yellow I drove past it but not before it had turned red. Since there was no traffic anywhere I thought it was safe to do so anyway. Suddenly a patrol car appeared behind me (God knows where it was hiding). I pulled over. A police gentleman first came and spoke in Japanese and when he saw that we could not understand him he went back and a lady officer came with very good English command and told me I had driven past the red light. Then she inquired about our travels and what did we already see in the island. She then told me that since I was driving within speed limit she would let me go with a warning. She was very polite and correct. Traveling in Japan with zero Japanese is perfectly doable. With tons of guide books and websites, and perhaps a few friends with prior experience, to advise you on what to see, how to get there and what will it cost, and with google translate I traveled from Ishigaki island in the south to Abashiri in the north (and whatever lay in-between) without any big trouble, even in rural areas. Yes, it will not be easy to make acquaintances or have elaborate conversations, but you will sometimes will find very good English speakers outside big cities. One such accidental meeting with an English speaker is how we ended up in 2018 being the only foreigners to participate in the Hachioji annual Hojo clan samurai parade, with full armor being loaned to us.
I loved hearing from the Polish guy (who already probably speaks Polish and English as a second language and has made efforts to learn "survival Japanese" as well!). His epiphany moment being able to communicate and be understood and understand the train station staff was wonderful to hear! I had a similar epiphany moment when I finally realized a dream to visit Bondi Beach in Sydney Autralalia and swim in the waters of the Pacific after being as school and seeing Ozzy school kids do that after finishing exams. Decades later I was able to do that. So hearing his personal anecdote with relation to Japanese learning was very heartening to hear! Well done! And the importance of learning some Japanese and the correct behavioural mannerisms makes a big big difference! Good luck to him and to realize one's dreams is important at whatever age you are. The lady from Brighton made some level-headed remarks having already experienced living in Japan. Equally the other young lady from London who only had 2 weeks in Japan and wished to make use of every hour (hence her disconsolation at the late opening hours each morning!) had some interesting things to say. The topic of this video was well chosen and seems inspirational for anyone who wants to learn Japanese to visit Japan.
I went to Japan three times when I was in the military, and on two trips we got a day for site seeing. The first time we went to Kyoto, and the second time we were on Hokkaido and I got to travel to Sapporo. I love Japan; it is an amazing mix of historical places and hi-tech. The people are polite and the country is very clean. The food is amazing and I hope to get back for a longer visit someday. That being said, I found it a little tough trying to get around with zero Japanese. In Hokkaido we were trying to catch the train from Sapporo back to where we were working, and none of the signs were in English, and very few people spoke English. Luckily we finally found someone that pointed us to the correct train. I did not really use any public transportation in Kyoto, so I cannot comment on that, but a lot of the restaurants (at least that I went to) had pictures of the food, so that helped when ordering. However, as I said before, Japan is amazing and I would love to go again.
I just came back from Japan for a short trip. I didn’t find it difficult to go around with my basic phrases knowledge (thank you, hello, good evening). When I needed to communicate with a Japanese person, I would whip out my Google translate app, type in my question or statement and show it to them. They would in turn bring out their Line app and translate what they wanted to say into English. It was a lifesaver. Going around on trains was not a problem at all because they do show the English words for the stations. There were, of course, some things I couldn’t/didn’t do like boat rides that only had Japanese guides.
It's always good to learn at least a little bit of the language and culture of the country you're visiting. My first travel to Japan was in 2020. I could speak a little but just the very basics. Locals do appreciate when you try and speak Japanese.
Im sure others have pointed it out, but it seems like no one interviewed had zero Japanese. Haha. But seriously, i think what other people have advised is that if you have literally no Japanese language training at all, its most helpful to type out your words on the phone or on a pad. I think generally Japanese people have a higher likelihood of understanding English by reading, than by listening. And even then, they can scan your words to google translate. Especially helpful if you as the traveller, have no data, and they most likely will.
Thank you for this. I just started following you, because my husband and kids and I want to visit Japan in the future. But my husband grew up in Germany, so he's very big on learning the language before we go, so that we can communicate with people. So, we are actually all learning Japanese before we come visit.
I’m in Japan for the first time with 0 Japanese vocabulary. And I’ve had 0 problems interacting with people ordering food and traveling the transportation systems. I show a lot of respect to all of the people as well. Great fun and super friendly
I’m visiting Japan in January 2024. I have relatives in Japan who I’ll be staying with but I’ll be by myself in Tokyo for approximately 5 days. This video was very helpful preparing me of what to expect as someone who doesn’t speak Japanese. Hopefully google translate will make it a lot easier for me😅 to communicate when/if I need too
Ive been in Japan since almost three months now and I just know a few words in Japanese however what really helped me to understand what Japanese people wanna say is their body language.. Japanese body language is very clear and its incredible how less words you need to understand each other and they are so kind and helpful.
Last October, my husband and I went to Japan for our honeymoon. We noticed that it was really hard to find Japanese people, especially staff in the hospitality industry, to easily communicate with. We were also surprised because English is considered a global business language. Anyway, we loved Japan so much that we went back not even 6 months later. During the time between visits, I studied almost everyday. When I returned, I was able to communicate with Japanese people a bit more!!! 日本語が6ｹ月に勉強しています。
@@channelreiwa795 Thank you! I would say in addition to the basic greetings/etiquette, counters are helpful for ordering food and saying how many seats you need at a table. "Kore"/"Sore" and other points of direction are also helpful when buying something and not knowing the Japanese word for the item. Also the phrase "machigaemashita" (I made a mistake) for when you accidentally do something you didn't mean to do, such as ordering too many of something like my friend accidentally did 😅
@@Pruflas-Watts はい。分かります。I didn't expect any fluency, but again, considering English being a global business language and most of the places I went to were popular tourist spots, I thought they would be more used to communicating with foreigners. 私は違いました!
When we were visiting in Japan, we couldn't speak the language. But we could write in Chinese to, say, ask directions to a hotel. The Japanese person could read and understand our written request and then WALK us to the hotel. There is a lot of overlap between written Chinese and Japanese. So that helped us a lot. I think that we all could benefit from learning and following Japanese culture of respect for our environment, respect towards others, the virtue of cleanliness, and being kind to strangers.
What the 3rd girl said about the hours being late was exactly the only negative thing I experienced when I traveled to Japan last week!! I feel like when you travel you tend to wake up early to have time to experience everything but then you find out a lot of things open at 11am and close at 8pm and you have to re plan your day.
Hello, can you please explain more? Is Tokyo not super lively and never sleeps? I thought bars, clubs and restaurants and things like that don't close until midnight at least?
3 Weeks in Japan from Sendai(and Matsushima and Yamadera) to Tottori(and Iwami) to Nagoya(Gamagori) to Osaka(and Nara) to Kyoto to Tokyo all by myself and zero Japanese and it was AWESOME! I ended up picking up a bit of Japanese along the way. I will go back again it was a dream come true for me!
Very interesting video! I spent 7 weeks in Japan and I was actually impressed with how many people spoke English good enough to have nice conversations.
Have just returned from Japan and would get up very early and leave the hotel for a walk. I would often see litter strewn on the streets. When I left the hotel later in the morning with my travel companions, the streets were miraculously clean.
Exactly why I'm trying to learn Japanese, we are planning to travel to Japan in 10 years from now. Yeah 10 years is far away but I want to be able to communicate well with the locals and really experience the culture. It's a fun challenge to learn a language that has a complete different alphabet... We could say Alphabets cause there's 3 to learn, Kanji, katakana and Hiragana. Not going to be easy but it's worth it. We have a lot to learn from Japanese people and also Japanese have some to learn from foreigners. There's no such thing as perfection, the goal of life is to grow and learn more every day to be better.
Its truly like the last guy said. Japanese people just now what respect means been here now for couple weeks never seen so respectfull people in my life
I recently visited Japan, 1st of all I LOVED EVERY SINGLE MOMENT, second, it's not that hard to be a tourist without knowing any Japanese, the people are extremely polite and helpful, I remember trying to pick the train to Haneda airport, an elderly person approached us and with his really limited English explained to us where to stand in order to pick the proper train, just because he saw us wondering. I'll visit Japan again for sure
I have traveled in Japan years ago in the late ninety's and it was no problem at all. A lot of that depends on your openness to a different culture. Be respectful. I had a wonderful memorable time and only spoke the very minimum to get by...like Thank-you and where is the bathroom, restaurant, what train etc kind of thing. No translation devices or Google translate. Everyone I met was more than helpful.
Kon'nichiwa Takashi, I really enjoyed this video you made about a day ago. Thanks for interviewing these tourists who do not speak Japanese and their experience in the Greater Tokyo Area. Keep up the great work and videos. Dōzo okiwotsukete, yoi isshūkan o osugoshi kudasai. Sayonara
The last guy really nailed it. Think like a local and don’t assume your home’s rules apply to the place you’re visiting. You’re a guest. I’m currently visiting Japan (used to live here) and I’ve encountered so many rude foreign tourists. I wish more people would see this.
Foreign tourists in Tokyo are really annoying, obnoxious - who knows how long Japanese "Omotenashi " to tourists will last before they come to the conclusion that it's not worth it.
I visited China in 2008 and was much too much on high alert to worry about being rude. It was my first time traveling abroad alone (with a group of college kids, but without my parents), so I just tried to learn whatever I could and didn't expect anyone to bend over backwards for me. The best afternoon, actually, was when one of the university sports instructors watched a bunch of us try and play volleyball in the outside courts and he was still able to instruct us without having to use any English at all. I could still ascertain his meaning and excitement when we did well. Got a giant bruise on my hand with the rock hard ball, but that just added to the experience LOL :)
Holy shit, god bless that last guy! I wish more people were like him. It's so sad that basic respect is something so rare nowadays. As an imigrant myself I totally get everything he said.
Right, but it threw me off when he said, "If I was in my own country I would maybe consider littering here." Really? I wouldn't ever even think of littering anywhere, no matter what country I was in. I haven't littered since 1974 and I can remember the exact time and place that I last did. From that moment on, I vowed to never litter anywhere else ever again - and I haven't done it since.
When i visited, i really struggled with money, coins when you got change in a shop. Its quite a lonley place to visit if you're on your own. The train system is superb, get a JR pass if you can.
Thank you for your video. I don't think it's difficult to 'travel' to Japan as a tourist with zero Japanese. I have been living in Japan for a year, I came here with very little Japanese, and I live in Iwate. I'm actively learning and studying Japanese. I think for a trip to Japan, you'd have issues figuring out restaurants sometimes, and you'll probably get ripped off a little bit if you go to izakaya, but fortunately you'll never know it if you know nothing about Japanese. Canada guy makes some good points too, and as he says it might be weird if you're a social outgoing person. If you go to Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo, and the popular tourist destinations, I think it's easy. My first few weeks here were easy... but, easy to travel and do certain things. The company I work for took care of the 'life things' (apartment, utilities, etc.). That's what it comes down to. It's easy to travel to, do some things, and be a tourist. Some things are VERY difficult with zero Japanese, at the same time, but many travelers won't be trying to do those things. Ticket guy, I don't know about him. Train stations always have ticket machines that have an English option. Aussie girl seemed to be on point. Everything does seem to open at 10am here, so London girl brings up an interesting point too (I find it annoying, but it's what it is). LA people, if they seriously thought they'd be able to first ask, then understand the answer to asking a priestess about history - you would really need to live there for years and study to do that, dude. Harujuku and Shibuya. LA people. I'm from northern California, which is very different from the Los Angeles (LA) area, and this couple is essentially the LA stereotype in person, and in picture. Sorry for such a long comment. You chose good interviews, and I have things to say about them. I have things to say about living in Japan.
The "learn as much as I can to make them feel more comfortable" line resonates with me; I'm going in October, and that's my main reason for attempting to learn as much as I can, that one big reason, but a few others: 1. I just want my experience to be as authentic as possible; I don't want people trying to dumb things down for me because they see me as a gaijin; I want to be able to converse and be treated as a normal citizen. I know I am NOT a citizen, but I mean moreso to not be treated any differently. I know my Japanese won't get nearly to that level that quick, but just to get as close as possible. 2. I want to be able to connect with people. I'm very socially anxious here in the US, but I really do want to connect with people. I feel being in Japan would be a "blank slate" of sorts, where my mind would potentially be free of pre-conceived notions of how I normally act. Being able to converse in an entirely different language and culture seems like it would help me get over that roadblock in a way. 3. Relates to #2 above: I have always heard that Japanese people love it when tourists are able to speak even a little bit of Japanese, so I would love to make somebody's day by surprising them a bit if I were able to have a brief conversation with them, even at a very basic level.
I'm looking to sign up with the JET Program in the near future, and whether I get accepted or not, whether I go to Japan through it or other means, I'm doing everything I can to learn about it. From the culture to the language, I'm doing what I can to make a good first impression. With the language, I'm using the Duolingo app, and I'm going to start looking into finding a Japanese tutor website, so that I can practice having a conversation in it, in order to make sure I can say the right thing at the right time.
its crazy everywhere he goes.. hes interviewing people in back alleys and stuff, and its like.. its so clean and polished.. its like, the birds wont even crap on the sidewalk.
I found it super easy on my 3 week holiday to Japan with no Japanese last month. Using google maps, google translate and the camera translation helps a lot, and then just pointing at things. And so many people knew basic english which was super suprising and helpful
Just came over to Japan from Australia, and even though I knew no Japanese I still found the people to be very considerate and helpful. I will definitely be coming back to visit. Even thought of moving over there to live for a bit.
During my first visit to Tokyo, I went on a spur of the moment trip. I arrived and knew just minimal to zero Japanese but after my first day or two I found it extremely easy to navigate and get around. Translation apps and getting familiar with the train line / color / numbers made it super easy. I will say though I got off the train at wrong stations twice, but I learned from that. Eating at some restaurants did seem difficult, but I managed, and loved it! If you are planning on going and know zero japanese, try to learn just a few phrases and you will see it will help greatly. Do not be discouraged!
TOKYO GUIDEBOOK
takashifromjapan.com/tokyocompleteguide
I bought it! Excited to use it in my next trip!
Im japanese working in shibuya public park. There are so many people from abroad who doesnt speak Japanese. They often says it is hard to find English speaker in Tokyo. It is fun to watch their relieved faces when I talk to them with english. Even my poor english.
Your English isn't bad at all. It reads very casually
Your English is great! It's good to know there are Japanese people who are willing to communicate in English.
Oh I bet you are like a lifesaver for them! Going to another country without speaking the language is always a challenge. And though it´s part of travelling and exciting it is also a relief to find someone who understands you.
Your English casual, take it easy.
Talk about having a shitty park job. I worked for japanese special defense force.
I recently travelled to Japan and found it very easy getting around without being able to speak the language. Translation apps on the phone camera helped a lot, but even then, a lot of the locals spoke English very well to communicate, which was very much appreciated. That said, I always felt somewhat guilty that people had to speak a foreign language in their own country, so I always tried to pick up small phrases I could use so as not to seem arrogant or rude (hello, thank you, etc).
It's a very beautiful country and the people are so nice.
I bet you travelled mostly in cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka or any other large city. English is decently prevalent.
Try going to a more remote town and doing anything.
@@FoxenPiano How many people travel to remote parts of the country? This is like someone saying the public transport is really good and you replying with "I bet you were were in Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto. Try going to a more remote town and getting around". 99% of travellers will be visiting the big cities
@@JiveTrkey 100% agree! I too just visited and had a similar experience as to what you described! A great country to visit - I really appreciated your original comment and response to the silly comment!
@@JiveTrkey
LOL At least I'm in some kind of 1% (even if it's not a "Top 1%")
Yeah I too was grateful that many people were able to speak English in Tokyo and Osaka. I also felt guilty about not knowing much Japanese, especially in their country. I watched another video by Takashi and a local said he wish foreigners would put effort into using Japanese, no matter how broken
Takashii, asking "the difference between living here with no japanese, and travelling here with no japanese"
Is a really, good, intricate question, that many people wouldn't really ask. Nice man!
You can pull it off in the PHilippines as EVERYONE speaks, reads and writes English as the second language. I know dudes who have been there 40 years and barely know Tagalog. In Japan, it's gonna be harder but achievable because the J public are polite.
I'm astonished someone admitted to living in a country and did not speak any of the language.
I lived in Japan for one year and never spoke Japanese. It can be done.
Love the polish guy, he has a really cool mindset and vibe. Also, Polish brothers strong! 🇵🇱
Yep, though it too. It's great to see people going out there and representing our nation properly🇵🇱.
I'm also learning Japanese now as I'm planning to travel to Japan in a year or two. I want to learn as much about the culture as I can before I get there. I love how thoughtful Japanese people are and how interesting their culture is.
@@jak-zg1225 watch lots of Godzilla ‼️
I was so happy and proud of him. :D
I´m from poland too.
Polish is based
that last guy had the most based takes. actually super useful, informative, and genuine. the real pros and cons of japan. Thank you Takashii! 🙏
Isn't he a UA-camr too? He looks familiar.
“I don’t look like everybody in the country”
“There’s not that much to do here that isn’t related to food”
“No one speaks English here”
Erm where do I start?
@@smallworldlifters I find it interesting the term "based" is used today in English: "What does based mean? Based is a slang term that originally meant to be addicted to crack cocaine (or acting like you were), but was reclaimed by rapper Lil B for being yourself and not caring what others think of you-to carry yourself with swagger"
I think it is a term without nuance and over-egging attitude. For example I think the last person interviewed said some useful things but his take on "there's not much to do here that isn't related to food" sounded like a personal opinion and not a factual statement to me...
With that said, his other statement about how the Japanese have high standards eg tidy streets and be a safe place to be etc was absolutely accurate and how welcome that is to experience.
@@MeshRoun I think hes from Sprouht just found it.
@@smallworldlifters agreed those were strong generalizations, could have stated that better, it’s not accurate making statements like that for sure, I felt he was excited to share his experience and maybe that led to such broad statements without thinking
I stayed in Osaka for 3 months as soon as Japan opened its borders back in October. I lived in a guesthouse in the middle of the city and every day went out walking, exploring either the neighborhood or taking the metro to explore others.
Over 90 days I walked hundreds of kilometers all around the city, took the metro almost every day, took the train to Kyoto and Nara a few times, ordered something to be delivered in the mail, ordered food, asked for directions, made purchases, and had conversations with people - all without speaking a word of Japanese.
I can't think of anything that I would consider inconvenient. Obviously you have to approach it as, this is another country and you don't speak its language, so any issues were entirely my own and not anything that I would hold against the country or its infrastructure for not being suited for my exact needs or anything like that.
For example, the fact that it took me a few times to figure out the metro and train systems wasn't because of a language barrier but more so that I'm from a small town and don't have a lot of experience with public transportation. The ticket machines are actually extremely convenient and easy to use and only once was I ever at a total loss - which was quickly resolved by motioning to an attendant for help and saying the station I needed to go to.
There were multiple times where locals would stop me and attempt to ask if I was lost or if I needed directions, usually when I was far away from any normal tourist area. Although they didn't speak English I could tell they were expressing concern and trying to offer help and with a few gestures I could communicate that I was okay, just walking around taking pictures.
Not speaking the language is absolutely not a reason to not visit somewhere. Don't let it stop you. Obviously the more you can communicate with people, the more information and opportunities will be available to you, but even without any Japanese, I was able to fully enjoy living in Japan for 3 months.
The only Japanese I "spoke" was "thank you", "are you okay", and a few variations of "hello".
The polish guy definitely gets it. Great take on traveling / communication / respect.
His English is perfect.
The Canadian?
@@JoannaEve second interview, he says he’s from Poland.
@@LarsAndersen-ig9yt A lot of Poles live in the UK, we've had a sort of link since WW2 when a lot of Poles escaped the Nazis to the UK. Some even flew in the Battle of Britain alongside British pilots. There's a "Polish war memorial" in London that commemorates their sacrifices during the war
@@rych7852 Thanks for info.
Takashii, since the olympics, Japan has become known for producing world class skateboarders, both men and women. Would you consider doing any interviews with skateboarders in Japan? It would be really great to hear from them about what it is like to be a skateboarder in Japan, how they are perceived, comparisons with the west etc. Thanks!
Asian female don’t like black men
That would be awesome
Yeah japanese are the best skateboarders rn
The tricks some of these Japanese kids are pulling off at like 7-8 years old is crazy. The Japanese have another level of focus.
Daammmnn mic drop from that last guy! Such incredible words, I totally agree, learn about and respect the culture and the people of the land you're visiting, don't try to impose your own ways of life onto others, and don't expect them to adjust to you. Actually, these are wise words for life in general, not just when visiting a different place. Amazing video as always, thank you so much Takashii!
Asian female don’t like black men
Yeah that’s BS 😂 people don’t do it in the US and many other countries don’t. 😂
Isn't that called common sense? I didn't find anything the last guy said illuminating or life changing.
@@atomixfang I guess you can call it common sense, but many people don't think about it that way, so it's cool to see someone who actually does.
@@atomixfang until one actually lives here then what he said makes more sense....Japan is way way different than anywhere else....bowing to other car drivers giving them right of way or when driver stops allowing you to enter into traffic and both of you mutually exchange the head bow acknowledgment of respect is very enlightening.
I love the guy from Montreal 🔥... and the couple from LA, too, especially when they politely bowed at the end, perhaps a little too deeply, but it showed their good hearts!
The couple bowing at the end is very cool to see since they're so respectful!
I have never heard someone admit they would for sure litter intentionally. Much to unpack.
Right? Imagine having to go to another country to not liter, meaning he has no care for his home
His whole message was try to understand rather than judge. I think you guys missed the point. While littering is a shameful thing to do, we all make bad choices sometimes. Being able to admit that shows strength and growth.
I was surprised by that too, but impressed he was so honest. When I met my former husband in Mexico, he too, was a street litterer and I called him out on it. It's about respect for others, the place you want to live and for those that have to pick up after you.
@@LuFarrah I think he's really implying that his own country doesn't care that much so it's seen as normal. So seeing somewhere else that cares is showing him another way, which is admirable
@@SipSippy-jv2ke I highly doubt he is implying that lmfao cause that is simply not true. No one like people who litter or dump, and clearly he said he does it
Going to Japan in june and i studied the basics in japanese language in order to communicate a little bit with local citizens, it is so fun to speak and understand such a nice language 🙂I think japanese people appreciate it when you at least try to talk to them in japanese, like i would appreciate it when foreigners talk to me in german, its such a nice gesture in my point of view 🙂
Me too! June 19-30! How exciting!
@@Xyber7 I’ll be there June as well 🤣. What are you all using to learn some basics?
@@Domilomi duolingo, watching purely japanese shoes and movies with subtitles, viewing UA-cam videos on how to pronounce things accurately
Yup me as well
@@Xyber7 ok I’ve been doing a little Duolingo but I’ll try the others since I’m not making as much progress as I would like
I studied Japanese for over 4 years before finally going to Japan (I would have gone sooner but because of covid, I had to wait. I basically went as soon as Japan reopened to tourists again), and thanks to that, I could have conversations in Japanese and was able to have some incredible experiences and could meet a lot of people as well. It definitely helps to learn the language if you want to have better experiences there. So if you want to go to Japan, do yourself a favor and learn Japanese. It takes like a week to fully memorize hiragana and katakana, and from there, you can start learning words and grammar.
Well yeah but it takes weeks/months before you can read texts in hiragana and katakana fluently. You're learning a completely different alphabet after all :D
@@HHcz but once you learn hiragana and katakana, you can start reading things, you just need to learn what those things mean 😆
I still kind of struggle trying to read the hiragana and katakana, so I moved on trying to read whole words, and being able to use context clues allows me to figure the characters I forgot how to read. For example, I often forget ね, only when I see a word like ねこ can I remember it. It all depends on the way you learn to be honest.
How do so many people just go to Japan ⁉️ do they know someone there⁉️
You don't need to learn Japanese. I go every month and really only know very basics, "hello, goodbye, thank you."
Google translate is your friend. Of course learning the language is incredibly helpful, but don't let that stop you.
10:02 this is an incredibly useful tip and its my first time hearing someone mention this is Takashi's videos. A must if you want to visit Japan.
Whilst I agree with his takes on adapting to a culture and how Japanese respect others around them, I disagree with littering in your own country because the mindset is different. Don't litter and even though I'm not as nice as Japanese and pick up after people, I absolutely pick up after myself and recycle properly.
recycling is a scam
@Yo momma recycling is good it's single use plastics that are a scam. Better for there to be no trash than recycled trash. Worse in a landfill or on the street
I think that because there are no trash cans in Japan, people don't litter. The mindset is don't drop whatever you have or are carrying. Share the road and don't clutter it. But when you live in a place with trashcans in public spaces, you assume someone will come along and take out the trash, and it's an easy mental step to think if there are people paid to take out the trash (and your taxes are paying their salaries), then they can also stop to pickup your trash as well (cups, wrappers, cigarette butts, etc).
agree with u. "im not gonna litter on the ground bcuz of everyone" means "im an idiot but i wont do that bcuz everyone around aren't"
I travelled in 2018 and found it super easy to get around and even knowing basic phrases helped to talk to locals, but everyone is so accommodating its a nice experience
I am Japanese, but nowadays automatic translation apps are readily available on smartphones, and foreign tourists are unlikely to experience any inconvenience. Of course, if they are staying for a long time or emigrating, foreigners will need to learn Japanese seriously, but it is not easy because many Japanese people struggle to even learn English. Some foreigners believe that wherever they live in Japan, they only speak English and do not need to speak Japanese in order to maintain their pride, identity and identity.
The last guy is soooo right! Being here the past 6 weeks, it has been very eye opening! You definitely feel a sense of respect, not only for other people, but also where you are. I'm not a big litterer back home, but here, you are more conscience of it and by being more conscience of it, you are more respectful about it. Every place I have been to, and I mean every place, there is no trash on the street and everything looks beautiful. You WANT to keep it beautiful and you don't want to litter! Be respectful :)
I mean it’s also that there are more severe outcomes to littering in Japan, to the point where you might actually go to jail over littering lol, this is the same situation as when people say that there are no homeless in Japan, or they are “Better off” in Japan lmao, when in actuality homeless people in Japan are often excluded from society entirely, to the point that they are literally erased from the census, and thus not counted as a citizen because they are homeless. There are entire homeless villages that are kept out of public view in Japan, it’s crazy. Japan ain’t super polite and clean because it’s just “their culture” it’s because there’s tons of enforcement, to keep Japanese people controlled lol. It is what it is ig lol Atleast they are clean and polite (for the most part to eachother anyway, since discrimination isn’t illegal in Japan💀)
There are areas in japan full of litter, actually. But when you see it, it is eye-catching and shocking. Where I live it’s just a groan and annoyance.
I got lost in Tokyo once. I had only ever studied Japanese many years earlier for a short time so I had extremely limited vocabulary. I found that finding someone who spoke English for ME was actually surprisingly hard - everyone I tried to ask for directions did not speak English or spoke so little English that it was not of much help - they TRIED to help, most people in Japan are very helpful and nice, but there was definitely a communication barrier. What ended up being helpful was that because I CAN read and speak Chinese to some degree - I've studied Chinese for over a decade - because some of the signs had characters which were the same as in Chinese, I could read some of the characters on some of the signs, so THAT was helpful. Usually I like to study a language for months before I go to a new country but in this case I was only there for a short time so there was not a lot of reason to invest so much time in learning it just to be there a couple days. I still plan to learn more Japanese EVENTUALLY but at that time, I only knew how to say simple things in Japanese like "my name is ____", "I am from )(insert country)", "thank you", "where is ____" - but I couldn't understand any of the replies so at best I could rather poorly point at a map and ask "where is this?" - and they would say things I didn't understand and point. At the end of the day if you have a smart phone with you and google translate it wouldn't be such a big issue - but I did not at this time since my phone battery had died and I didn't have a way to charge it and was going to miss my flight so I was in a hurry anyway.
So, it CAN be challenging to be in Japan without any Japanese language skills, in my experience. You can MANAGE to get by with difficulty with a translation app - if your battery holds out - but it's not going to be that easy even then, and going back and forth with a translation app is both embarrassing and pretty inconvenient and slow. If someone is going to spend any real time there, do yourself a favor: do some hard-core studying before you get there for at least 6 months, 3+ hours a day. You'll be glad you did. Going to CHINA for the first time was a TOTALLY different experience since I had already learned a pretty good amount of Mandarin for years before I ever went there - but Japan was harder.
How would you say the experience would be like in China for non-mandarin/Cantonese speaking ppl??
This was so cool the people you interviewed were excellent and a great insight in to Japan and traveling around it. More of this please.
The last guy was super helpful and well spoken. Thank you!
It's really nice that you got to interview people from many different places. I'm from Montreal, Canada and I can't wait to visit Japan next year! ^.^
Wow, I felt so moved to see that Polish guy! 私もポランド人です。1年間日本語を学んでします。私にはらいねん日本にいくというゆめがあります❤
日本人です
あなたが、日本語を学ぼうとしてくれるだけでうれしいです
がんばってくださいね
わたしも、えいごがはなせるようにがんばります^_^
the feeling of being understood in japanese is def an unreal moment. its cool.
The guy from Poland, really resonates with me, I have been studying Japanese for my travel for months before. It’s just great to have the basics, everyone is so kind to you. Great video 😊
NICE Video bro!
Awesome THUMBNAIL🤘🏽😂🤘🏽
Haha I still gotta learn it from you
My company decided to moved me to Tokyo ( with less than a month notice!), and as soon as I arrived here in Tokyo, I knew right away that I absolutely MUST learned the language, otherwise I would not be able to survived !
Good luck!. I hope you're doing well.
@@danielantony1882 Thank you. Now I've been living here in Tokyo for almost a decade. Time flies !😊
@@azabujuban-hito-dake Check out some Kansai regions in the future. They're pretty cool.
@@danielantony1882 I did. But I prefer the Chubu region tho. That's why I bought a summer house in the countryside of Nagano's.
Omg what a shock you must've had, how are you now? You survived 😮
Prepping for my first trip to Japan. Thanks for the insight into people’s experience!
Always fascinating how so many people find weird that locals don’t speak their language when they travel there, but they find it normal to expect that anybody speak their language when it’s the other way around and travellers come to their country. some of those guys interviewed (imho) fairly said: it’s just respectful and kind to (at least) make the effort to learn some basics, even just in order to don’t make locals feel embarrassed. Very nice video as always, thanks for sharing it :)
I think, especially when it comes to English speakers, they have this belief that EVERYONE is taught or has access to English to learn... and that may be true, but understanding a language and communicating in it aren't the same really.
@@SASchofield52 Japaneses speak Enugliiishu.
@@SASchofield52 You have a point, and a very agreeable one
ありがとうございます
日本人、「日本語を話すために頑張ってくれている」と、感じるだけで話せなくても大丈夫なのです。あなたを助けることが、日本人もうれしい。
私も英語を学ぶことを頑張ります。❤
Oh come to America immigrants fly here and refuse to speak English at all.
This guy is an excellent interviewer. He has a natural way of responding to what someone says. It would be nice if some professional interviewers had his ability to listen then respond. I fine a lot of interviewers are not listening. They are waiting to ask their next prepared question. Cool guy. CNN, MSNBC. You can learn from this guy.
I enjoy your interviews. My Japanese was very weak on my first trip, but I found most of the people helpful. I would love to vacation in the countryside next year. That last interview was informative.
Oh, you gotta learn more Japanese then. People in the countryside can't even speak English.
たかしいさん！ Thank you so much for all your videos. I am visiting in Japan in May, your videos helped me to prepare a lot! ありがとうございます! Hope I will run into you there!
Love your videos , when I travelled to Japan ( Tokyo ) I only spoke enough Japanese to get by ( how to order food / drinks and greetings ect. ) I found it very easy to travel around and live everyday life , I made it a point to try and only speak Japanese so I could practice while there. Everyone was very supportive and always told me my Japanese was good or getting better if I saw them more than once ( restaurant or arcade staff ) the only difficulty I encountered was some Japanese people would want to practice speaking English to me, which wasn't really a problem I would always help them practice English just difficult for me to switch constantly while trying to strengthen my Japanese. I would say any one , regardless of how much Japanese you know or can understand can easily visit Japan and absolutely should visit Japan! Japan is such a beautiful country and rich in culture and history I can't wait to visit again
Currently living in Okinawa! It's easy to get by in some restaurants because they have a menu at the counter and you can point to the pictures. But as it's a different culture, you also have to learn that as you go along. For example, calling the waiter over or knowing where to sit when waiting to be seated. I thought I knew Japanese culture well, but you will always find something new. That's why japanese is so useful when you get stuck and need help.
The Canadian's views of japan makes me happy to be Canadian- what a insightful set of answers from that interviewee.
I visited Japan for the first time just before the pandemic hit. It was just a week, but I still made a point of learning a few survival phrases beforehand. anything necessary to ask for a way/location, things necessary to order at a restaurant, and a few basic politeness phrases. it's always good to be able to say your thank yous, sorrys and excuse mes. I also was able to read hiragana and katakana, because way back when in uni i still had the motivation to really learn japanese properly, until life got in the way a bit.
We only visited Tokyo and Kyoto and as far as the tourism experience go we didn't face any problems whatsoever. Japanese people are terribly patient, polite, and helpful (if they can). People really try to accommodate you as far as it's in their power.
That being said, it is a fact that very few people speak English at all and ever fewer people speak it well. And tbh, why should they? If you're a normal Japanese person living in Japan and not planning to leave it, why should you learn another language just for the random tourist you might encounter. So it can and did happen a handful of times that a person we tried to approach for help somehow hastily excused themself to quickly spirit themselves out of sight never to be seen again lol.
don't take it personally though. for some people it's a situation that really puts them on the spot in two ways, for one to not being able to help despite wanting to, and feeling like in a back to school test situation, because that's when - if at all - most Japanese people still were in contact with any English. Imagine someone approaching you out of the blue on the street to quiz you about your weakest subject from way back in school. it's the stuff of nightmares, so I could relate to our handful of 'escapees' ;)
anyway, bottom line being, as long as you stick to touristy centers, you don't necessarily have to worry if you don't speak any Japanese, but your experience will definitely be a lot smoother and more exciting if you at least know a little bit. As anywhere in the world, to really get an authentic and deep understanding into a culture, learning a language of the land properly is a must. But I promise you, you'll have a ball even if you only come as a tourist. sometimes it's fine just being a tourist.
I really enjoyed this video, and especially appreciated the last interviewee’s advice. Very informative and useful!
Just got back from Japan yesterday, so glad I have Japanese friends I stay with when I go over there because they show me all the non tourist places to go to not to mention staying with them.
I love that I will go to Japan really soon and as always, it is as if Takashii-san already knew the questions I have and just goes ahead and ask people in Japan about them
Useful and amazing as always man, thank you!!
I was just in Japan for a week for a vacation. I love the hospitality, mannerisms, politeness are top notch! And not to mention, it’s super safe! People are very quiet and conservative. its super difficult not to speak the language, thank god for google translate haha. It’s definitely lonely without knowing the language. We wake up early around 7ish 8am and restaurants open late around 11am. There’s pros n cons everywhere. Now that I’m back to America, I’m so cautious everywhere I go. The robberies, the shooting, the ghettoness etc..urggggg
Yes, breakfast is a bit of a problem. Once I flew to Japan from the east coast of the US and I would wake up at 3-4 am and was hungry and needed coffee. I would advise people flying in from the US to choose a hotel near a McDonald's and some convenience stores with freshly brewed coffee.
Exact same experience here! I'd love to move to Japan but I'd want to be pretty fluent first so I could be better at fitting in (if that is a thing that could ever happen).
I completely agree with you. I visited Japan some years ago and my impression matches yours "word for word": "The hospitality, mannerisms, politeness," of the Japanese. It started immediately when my late-night flight got into the airport and I picked a bus into central Tokyo: Half-asleep and completely bemused about where I was going, nonetheless, the conductor and baggage handler bundled me out at my stop with my luggage all on their own initiative!
Thank you to the Japanese for your high standards and may they long last.
@@goyam2981r have a good hotel. They usually have water heater and comes with a drawer filled with tea and coffee kits
And not to mention, I love that they have emergency buttons inside the public bathrooms and hotels. I remembered I accidentally pressed the emergency button instead of the FLUSH button and the security rushed in the bathroom! Omg I was so embarrassed 🫣🫢 🤣
We went to Japan November 2022, even in hotels no one spoke English. The Japanese people were very kind and tried to help us when we had a question. Used google translate.
That last guy is also a famous blogger/youtuber/tiktokker who talks about overcoming shyness and interviewing other people, older people to get life advice. I love yalls content.
I've been to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo, on separate trips and didn't have any issues getting around, finding restaurants, understanding the subway system, how buses work and so on. I was also travelling around in Kyushu (Fukuoka, Kumamoto and more), with my main stay being in Kagoshima and had zero problems. Everything is pretty much self-explanatory. And if you indeed need help, everyone will help you the best they can. I loved every trip to Japan I did in the past.
I hate people that litter! I love how respectful Japanese people are to the environment! ❤️😁
People DEF litter in japan too. Less so than other countries but I still see a lot. The bigger thing is that people volunteer to clean it up more.
@@krissydiggs I know they’re not perfect. But at least they don’t litter as much as people in America do.
So this guy would litter if he was back in Canada...what a tool..
I'm going early May 2024 with my brother for 15 days. I've started learning as much as I can with basics, but I'm so poor with pronunciation and it's hard to spot. One tip I found online said to record yourself saying the phrases, that way you can listen to how the local says it, replay how you say it and spot where you're going wrong. It's a slow process (and very cringe at first) but I'm hoping it'll help me once there. I cannot wait to see Japan.
貴方の旅行が楽しい物になる事を祈ります。そして、日本語を話せない事を決して恐れないでください。きっと貴方が困った時に手を差し伸べてくれる日本人がいます。気軽に英語で助けを求めて下さい😊例え英語を話せなくても必死に貴方を助けようとしてくれるはずです。
Thank you Takashii San for providing us with very informative and interesting content. I agree with the last person you interviewed wholeheartedly and that is to adopt the values and principles of the place you are in and learning some Japanese will definitely help you more than not knowing any at all.
dang, did not know about japan opening late in the morning, that would be the biggest culture shock for morning people that need to get moving early. The google translate piece was enlightening as well.
It’s pretty hard to go to restaurants without English menus. It’s not just that it’s hard for you, it’s also hard for the staff and locals as well. We stuck to the more touristy spots just because it’s easier to experience. I would only go off to the more local spots if I was comfortable with my Japanese.
Rule of thumb, if there’s no English menu, they don’t want to deal with you (maybe had a bad experience).
My husband and I were in Tokyo for 2 weeks in 2016. We don’t speak any Japanese and didn’t have any issues. Google translate works great for translating signs and instructions, ect.
And how many conversations did you have at bars etc. with japanese people? With how many do you still keep contact on social media sometimes?
??? I didn’t go to japan to meet people and make friends. I went for a vacation. The question is how difficult is it to travel Japan with no English. I answered it. It’s not difficult at all.
@@netogrof And what about restaurants ? Did you stay in Tokyo or have you been to cities where it was harder to communicate
@@guerric we stayed in an air bnb in Tokyo so we had our own little house to ourselves. We only went outside of Tokyo once to Saitama for the train museum and it was fine. Most restaurants have an English menu, have pictures, or the hyper realistic fake food displays you can point to. If not, google translate worked great on menus. We even managed to exchange some cold medicine in a store using only google translate. Japanese people could easily tell we were foreigners and just spoke to us in English 🤷🏼♀️ it wasn’t weird or awkward. Most would just come up to us and offer help if we looked confused. I think people stress about it more than you need to. So go and have a good time. It was the most relaxed I’ve ever felt being in Japan.
@@netogrofI 100% agree/relate to your experience.
The advice to go to a place without english menu's can be a double-edge sword. You might find some really good places, but the restaurants with english menu's do it in the knowledge they'll get tourists in so you'll more likely find someone that speaks english. As much as cultural embrace is a good thing for both sides a lot of places adapt to tourism to make it easier for tourists to enjoy the place rather than having to worry so much. Vacations are not meant to be stressful after all. Language barriers should not cause anyone trouble or be seen as a negative, but both sides have to embrace that communication can be difficult and just remember to be kind and nice to each other, eventually you'll reach an understanding.
My wife and I go almost every year. We just came back from a 2 week trip to Japan. My wife, who is white, can speak Japanese due to her growing up in her Japanese neighbor's home. I am Korean and cannot speak anything except, "where is..." I am just weirdly refusing to learn another language as I also speak Korean and some German. You can definitely get by and have fun in Japan without speaking. However, bc of my wife, we are definitely able to do more things bc of my wife compared to our friends who don't speak. This is helpful for us bc we avoid tourist things like the plague. This last time, we didn't see many foreigners where we were bc we visited obscure places only Japanese people or people who live in Japan would go to. To the last guy's comment about googling, totally agree. I would type words like "sushi" and my wife types it in japanese and she find more options.
Hi Takashi, I'm in Tokyo for the first time in Japan, really love the air quality and vibrant diversified city. Really like the parks and small shops, I'm trying to say more things in Japanese but I agree it's better I learn more to engage with people better. Very conformable place overall. Will definitely visit again!
I spent 6 months in Japan traveling around most of the country in the car I bought and registered. And I did that without Japanese. Of course you pick up a few phrases, but helpful, nice people and Google translate basically saved me. Was an amazing time even though registering the car is a massive pain in the ass
Maybe you can interview travel agents or the people who sell tickets for train/plane/ferry. Ask them what advice they have for travelers. 😊
Bless you takashii for being able to maintain professionalism with people. I’m afraid to visit Japan bc I don’t know the language. But your video has taught me that I am at least 50% smarter than the foreigners that visit and that maybe I should reconsider
Go there, enjoy it, and relax
@7:05 I knew those two were from LA before speaking 😂
The bimbo and himbo accent really makes it clear 😂
Your videos are really helpful and informative! Thank you! I am someone who'll visit Japan as a tourist on November and will probably start living there after two years.
I’m leaving for Japan in 20 hours and I’m looking forward to it, and I have been picking up some basic Japanese here and there
Good luck!
@@danielantony1882 Thank you!
How was it?
@@meteturhan3505 it was easy. Just as long you pick up a bit Japanese it’s helpful. And plus I had a translator on my phone
Once, in eastern Hokkaido, I was driving with my wife on a rural road with no people and no buildings in sight, literary middle of nowhere, but somehow there was a traffic light. As it went yellow I drove past it but not before it had turned red. Since there was no traffic anywhere I thought it was safe to do so anyway. Suddenly a patrol car appeared behind me (God knows where it was hiding). I pulled over. A police gentleman first came and spoke in Japanese and when he saw that we could not understand him he went back and a lady officer came with very good English command and told me I had driven past the red light. Then she inquired about our travels and what did we already see in the island. She then told me that since I was driving within speed limit she would let me go with a warning. She was very polite and correct.
Traveling in Japan with zero Japanese is perfectly doable. With tons of guide books and websites, and perhaps a few friends with prior experience, to advise you on what to see, how to get there and what will it cost, and with google translate I traveled from Ishigaki island in the south to Abashiri in the north (and whatever lay in-between) without any big trouble, even in rural areas.
Yes, it will not be easy to make acquaintances or have elaborate conversations, but you will sometimes will find very good English speakers outside big cities.
One such accidental meeting with an English speaker is how we ended up in 2018 being the only foreigners to participate in the Hachioji annual Hojo clan samurai parade, with full armor being loaned to us.
I loved hearing from the Polish guy (who already probably speaks Polish and English as a second language and has made efforts to learn "survival Japanese" as well!).
His epiphany moment being able to communicate and be understood and understand the train station staff was wonderful to hear!
I had a similar epiphany moment when I finally realized a dream to visit Bondi Beach in Sydney Autralalia and swim in the waters of the Pacific after being as school and seeing Ozzy school kids do that after finishing exams. Decades later I was able to do that. So hearing his personal anecdote with relation to Japanese learning was very heartening to hear! Well done! And the importance of learning some Japanese and the correct behavioural mannerisms makes a big big difference! Good luck to him and to realize one's dreams is important at whatever age you are.
The lady from Brighton made some level-headed remarks having already experienced living in Japan. Equally the other young lady from London who only had 2 weeks in Japan and wished to make use of every hour (hence her disconsolation at the late opening hours each morning!) had some interesting things to say.
The topic of this video was well chosen and seems inspirational for anyone who wants to learn Japanese to visit Japan.
I went to Japan three times when I was in the military, and on two trips we got a day for site seeing. The first time we went to Kyoto, and the second time we were on Hokkaido and I got to travel to Sapporo. I love Japan; it is an amazing mix of historical places and hi-tech. The people are polite and the country is very clean. The food is amazing and I hope to get back for a longer visit someday. That being said, I found it a little tough trying to get around with zero Japanese. In Hokkaido we were trying to catch the train from Sapporo back to where we were working, and none of the signs were in English, and very few people spoke English. Luckily we finally found someone that pointed us to the correct train. I did not really use any public transportation in Kyoto, so I cannot comment on that, but a lot of the restaurants (at least that I went to) had pictures of the food, so that helped when ordering. However, as I said before, Japan is amazing and I would love to go again.
I just came back from Japan for a short trip. I didn’t find it difficult to go around with my basic phrases knowledge (thank you, hello, good evening). When I needed to communicate with a Japanese person, I would whip out my Google translate app, type in my question or statement and show it to them. They would in turn bring out their Line app and translate what they wanted to say into English. It was a lifesaver. Going around on trains was not a problem at all because they do show the English words for the stations. There were, of course, some things I couldn’t/didn’t do like boat rides that only had Japanese guides.
It's always good to learn at least a little bit of the language and culture of the country you're visiting. My first travel to Japan was in 2020. I could speak a little but just the very basics. Locals do appreciate when you try and speak Japanese.
Im sure others have pointed it out, but it seems like no one interviewed had zero Japanese. Haha.
But seriously, i think what other people have advised is that if you have literally no Japanese language training at all, its most helpful to type out your words on the phone or on a pad. I think generally Japanese people have a higher likelihood of understanding English by reading, than by listening. And even then, they can scan your words to google translate. Especially helpful if you as the traveller, have no data, and they most likely will.
Thank you for this. I just started following you, because my husband and kids and I want to visit Japan in the future. But my husband grew up in Germany, so he's very big on learning the language before we go, so that we can communicate with people. So, we are actually all learning Japanese before we come visit.
I’m in Japan for the first time with 0 Japanese vocabulary. And I’ve had 0 problems interacting with people ordering food and traveling the transportation systems. I show a lot of respect to all of the people as well. Great fun and super friendly
What parts of Japan are you visiting?
@@chocolateicecream3150 we went to Shinjuku, Akihabara Tokyo and shibuya
Harder in Kyoto.
@@thyunholysinner5389Those areas are full of foreigners and places that cater to foreigners.
@@Ricardo1030A little bit, but not by a lot.
Last person, very helpfull, thank you!!
I’m visiting Japan in January 2024. I have relatives in Japan who I’ll be staying with but I’ll be by myself in Tokyo for approximately 5 days. This video was very helpful preparing me of what to expect as someone who doesn’t speak Japanese.
Hopefully google translate will make it a lot easier for me😅 to communicate when/if I need too
I saw somewhere to take screenshots of places/locations you might need help with and show the person helping you
Ive been in Japan since almost three months now and I just know a few words in Japanese however what really helped me to understand what Japanese people wanna say is their body language.. Japanese body language is very clear and its incredible how less words you need to understand each other and they are so kind and helpful.
Last October, my husband and I went to Japan for our honeymoon. We noticed that it was really hard to find Japanese people, especially staff in the hospitality industry, to easily communicate with. We were also surprised because English is considered a global business language. Anyway, we loved Japan so much that we went back not even 6 months later. During the time between visits, I studied almost everyday. When I returned, I was able to communicate with Japanese people a bit more!!!
日本語が6ｹ月に勉強しています。
That's really great! What Japanese words and phrases helped?
@@channelreiwa795 Thank you! I would say in addition to the basic greetings/etiquette, counters are helpful for ordering food and saying how many seats you need at a table. "Kore"/"Sore" and other points of direction are also helpful when buying something and not knowing the Japanese word for the item. Also the phrase "machigaemashita" (I made a mistake) for when you accidentally do something you didn't mean to do, such as ordering too many of something like my friend accidentally did 😅
そんなに驚いているのか？ww日本人にたいする英語を学べるのが無理ぐらい難しいだぜ。だって文法などぜったい違いし、日本の全国の人口が99%日本人だ。英語で喋るチャンスがなえぇぇぇ。
@@Pruflas-Watts はい。分かります。I didn't expect any fluency, but again, considering English being a global business language and most of the places I went to were popular tourist spots, I thought they would be more used to communicating with foreigners. 私は違いました!
Most Japanese don't deal with global businesses only Japanese companies. A majority of Japanese people don't even travel abroad.
When we were visiting in Japan, we couldn't speak the language. But we could write in Chinese to, say, ask directions to a hotel. The Japanese person could read and understand our written request and then WALK us to the hotel. There is a lot of overlap between written Chinese and Japanese. So that helped us a lot.
I think that we all could benefit from learning and following Japanese culture of respect for our environment, respect towards others, the virtue of cleanliness, and being kind to strangers.
It's crazy how much better takashii's english has gotten since he started the channel
so good now!
Wow, thanks a Lot. The Life Hack with the translater is Awesome!!!!!!!
What the 3rd girl said about the hours being late was exactly the only negative thing I experienced when I traveled to Japan last week!! I feel like when you travel you tend to wake up early to have time to experience everything but then you find out a lot of things open at 11am and close at 8pm and you have to re plan your day.
Hello, can you please explain more? Is Tokyo not super lively and never sleeps? I thought bars, clubs and restaurants and things like that don't close until midnight at least?
as a late riser, this is great news to me
3 Weeks in Japan from Sendai(and Matsushima and Yamadera) to Tottori(and Iwami) to Nagoya(Gamagori) to Osaka(and Nara) to Kyoto to Tokyo all by myself and zero Japanese and it was AWESOME!
I ended up picking up a bit of Japanese along the way. I will go back again it was a dream come true for me!
Very interesting video! I spent 7 weeks in Japan and I was actually impressed with how many people spoke English good enough to have nice conversations.
My daughter is going to Tokyo for school in May & I love watching this channel to get pointers. I’m going to set her up so it helps me too!
Have just returned from Japan and would get up very early and leave the hotel for a walk. I would often see litter strewn on the streets. When I left the hotel later in the morning with my travel companions, the streets were miraculously clean.
Exactly why I'm trying to learn Japanese, we are planning to travel to Japan in 10 years from now. Yeah 10 years is far away but I want to be able to communicate well with the locals and really experience the culture. It's a fun challenge to learn a language that has a complete different alphabet... We could say Alphabets cause there's 3 to learn, Kanji, katakana and Hiragana. Not going to be easy but it's worth it.
We have a lot to learn from Japanese people and also Japanese have some to learn from foreigners.
There's no such thing as perfection, the goal of life is to grow and learn more every day to be better.
Its truly like the last guy said. Japanese people just now what respect means been here now for couple weeks never seen so respectfull people in my life
I definitely agree as a new japanese language student. Definitely learn basics before coming here (or just meet Takashii😉)
I recently visited Japan, 1st of all I LOVED EVERY SINGLE MOMENT, second, it's not that hard to be a tourist without knowing any Japanese, the people are extremely polite and helpful, I remember trying to pick the train to Haneda airport, an elderly person approached us and with his really limited English explained to us where to stand in order to pick the proper train, just because he saw us wondering. I'll visit Japan again for sure
I have traveled in Japan years ago in the late ninety's and it was no problem at all. A lot of that depends on your
openness to a different culture. Be respectful. I had a wonderful memorable time and only spoke the very minimum
to get by...like Thank-you and where is the bathroom, restaurant, what train etc kind of thing. No translation devices
or Google translate. Everyone I met was more than helpful.
Kon'nichiwa Takashi,
I really enjoyed this video you made about a day ago. Thanks for interviewing these tourists who do not speak Japanese and their experience in the Greater Tokyo Area. Keep up the great work and videos.
Dōzo okiwotsukete, yoi isshūkan o osugoshi kudasai. Sayonara
I really enjoy your interviews.
The last guy really nailed it. Think like a local and don’t assume your home’s rules apply to the place you’re visiting. You’re a guest.
I’m currently visiting Japan (used to live here) and I’ve encountered so many rude foreign tourists. I wish more people would see this.
Foreign tourists in Tokyo are really annoying, obnoxious - who knows how long Japanese "Omotenashi " to tourists will last before they come to the conclusion that it's not worth it.
I visited China in 2008 and was much too much on high alert to worry about being rude. It was my first time traveling abroad alone (with a group of college kids, but without my parents), so I just tried to learn whatever I could and didn't expect anyone to bend over backwards for me. The best afternoon, actually, was when one of the university sports instructors watched a bunch of us try and play volleyball in the outside courts and he was still able to instruct us without having to use any English at all. I could still ascertain his meaning and excitement when we did well. Got a giant bruise on my hand with the rock hard ball, but that just added to the experience LOL :)
Would love to visit Japan someday!
Holy shit, god bless that last guy! I wish more people were like him. It's so sad that basic respect is something so rare nowadays. As an imigrant myself I totally get everything he said.
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Basic respect really isnt rarer today than it was say 100 years ago. You just have the internet to make you more aware of douchebags.
Right, but it threw me off when he said, "If I was in my own country I would maybe consider littering here." Really? I wouldn't ever even think of littering anywhere, no matter what country I was in. I haven't littered since 1974 and I can remember the exact time and place that I last did. From that moment on, I vowed to never litter anywhere else ever again - and I haven't done it since.
He's a Canadian, most of em are raised better than American's. There are always outliers though.
When i visited, i really struggled with money, coins when you got change in a shop. Its quite a lonley place to visit if you're on your own. The train system is superb, get a JR pass if you can.
Fun to see a fellow montrealer with an intelligent take on thing
日本語ができなったら全然違うな経験になっちまってる
Thank you for your video. I don't think it's difficult to 'travel' to Japan as a tourist with zero Japanese. I have been living in Japan for a year, I came here with very little Japanese, and I live in Iwate. I'm actively learning and studying Japanese. I think for a trip to Japan, you'd have issues figuring out restaurants sometimes, and you'll probably get ripped off a little bit if you go to izakaya, but fortunately you'll never know it if you know nothing about Japanese. Canada guy makes some good points too, and as he says it might be weird if you're a social outgoing person. If you go to Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo, and the popular tourist destinations, I think it's easy.
My first few weeks here were easy... but, easy to travel and do certain things. The company I work for took care of the 'life things' (apartment, utilities, etc.). That's what it comes down to. It's easy to travel to, do some things, and be a tourist. Some things are VERY difficult with zero Japanese, at the same time, but many travelers won't be trying to do those things. Ticket guy, I don't know about him. Train stations always have ticket machines that have an English option. Aussie girl seemed to be on point. Everything does seem to open at 10am here, so London girl brings up an interesting point too (I find it annoying, but it's what it is). LA people, if they seriously thought they'd be able to first ask, then understand the answer to asking a priestess about history - you would really need to live there for years and study to do that, dude. Harujuku and Shibuya. LA people. I'm from northern California, which is very different from the Los Angeles (LA) area, and this couple is essentially the LA stereotype in person, and in picture.
Sorry for such a long comment. You chose good interviews, and I have things to say about them. I have things to say about living in Japan.
The "learn as much as I can to make them feel more comfortable" line resonates with me; I'm going in October, and that's my main reason for attempting to learn as much as I can, that one big reason, but a few others:
1. I just want my experience to be as authentic as possible; I don't want people trying to dumb things down for me because they see me as a gaijin; I want to be able to converse and be treated as a normal citizen. I know I am NOT a citizen, but I mean moreso to not be treated any differently. I know my Japanese won't get nearly to that level that quick, but just to get as close as possible.
2. I want to be able to connect with people. I'm very socially anxious here in the US, but I really do want to connect with people. I feel being in Japan would be a "blank slate" of sorts, where my mind would potentially be free of pre-conceived notions of how I normally act. Being able to converse in an entirely different language and culture seems like it would help me get over that roadblock in a way.
3. Relates to #2 above: I have always heard that Japanese people love it when tourists are able to speak even a little bit of Japanese, so I would love to make somebody's day by surprising them a bit if I were able to have a brief conversation with them, even at a very basic level.
Japan has great hiking trails, but the farther you go out knowing Japanese helps you so much , especially because all the signs are in Japanese
wish that video was longer, i love listening to those people from allover the world
I'm looking to sign up with the JET Program in the near future, and whether I get accepted or not, whether I go to Japan through it or other means, I'm doing everything I can to learn about it. From the culture to the language, I'm doing what I can to make a good first impression. With the language, I'm using the Duolingo app, and I'm going to start looking into finding a Japanese tutor website, so that I can practice having a conversation in it, in order to make sure I can say the right thing at the right time.
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its crazy everywhere he goes.. hes interviewing people in back alleys and stuff, and its like.. its so clean and polished.. its like, the birds wont even crap on the sidewalk.
I found it super easy on my 3 week holiday to Japan with no Japanese last month.
Using google maps, google translate and the camera translation helps a lot, and then just pointing at things.
And so many people knew basic english which was super suprising and helpful
Asian female don’t like black men
Just came over to Japan from Australia, and even though I knew no Japanese I still found the people to be very considerate and helpful. I will definitely be coming back to visit. Even thought of moving over there to live for a bit.
During my first visit to Tokyo, I went on a spur of the moment trip. I arrived and knew just minimal to zero Japanese but after my first day or two I found it extremely easy to navigate and get around. Translation apps and getting familiar with the train line / color / numbers made it super easy. I will say though I got off the train at wrong stations twice, but I learned from that.
Eating at some restaurants did seem difficult, but I managed, and loved it!
If you are planning on going and know zero japanese, try to learn just a few phrases and you will see it will help greatly. Do not be discouraged!