JapanesePod101.com Blog

Shibuya Crossing at Night [photo by Emily Carsch]

It is easy to get distracted by all of the lights, sounds, colors, and people at this large intersection. This photo gives you a good idea of the beginning of my Tokyo Adventure!

Hello JapanesePod101.com listeners!

My name is Emily, and I’ll be interning at JapanesePod101.com’s Headquarters in downtown Tokyo for two months. I will be visiting and staying in Japan for the first time. While I’m so happy to be here, I have a big problem…

I don’t speak Japanese!

Now, while it may seem like I’m in trouble, I’ve already come up with a solution. I’m going to learn survival Japanese using JapanesePod101.com’s Survival Phrases and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese. As I’m only here for 2 months, I need Japanese basics, and I need them fast! Plus, this will be a great way for me to see if these courses live up to the hype. (I hope my boss doesn’t see this!)

So if you’ve just started learning Japanese too, we can learn from each other! I can be you’re eyes, and ears, on the inside. And you can feel free to ask me anything you like about Japan, Japanese culture and the Japanese language. So in addition to the fun podcasts, I can give you a glimpse of Japan and JapanesePod101.com from the inside. I’d love to hear your questions and comments in response to this Tokyo Adventure blog series.

Today, I began Japanese Survival Phrases from both JapanesePod101.com lessons and from SurvivalPhrases.com - Japanese lessons. I listened to the first few lessons from each. (An exact account is listed below.)

Coming to and working in Tokyo, I realize just how important these survival phrases are. Take “Sumimasen.” (meaning excuse me, I’m sorry, or on certain occasions “Thank you.”), for example. In my five days in Tokyo, I cannot begin to tell you how often I have heard that phrase already. The same is true for “Arigato gozaimasu” (Thank you very much). At restaurants, convenience stores, and all other places of business, Japanese people are very warm and grateful for your patronage. They say “Arigato gozaimasu.” at least three times before you have the opportunity to leave the place.

Another interesting point I have come across in my journey through Japan thus far, even though I haven’t been here very long, is that “hai” is not only used as “yes”, but it is also used as a response to a request.

Quickly touching on eating at Japanese restaurants, if you order dinner in Japanese, you can start by saying “onegai shimasu” (please may I have your attention, or excuse me) to get the waiter or waitress’ attention, and he or she will respond with “hai“. Once ordering, “hai” is almost like saying “okay”. For example, today I ordered “tako o kudasai,” (octopus, please) and the waiter responded with, “Hai.”

So far, I have yet to hear “iie” (no).

My initial feelings are that the Japanese people are willing to go out of their way to help gaijin, foreigners, because the Japanese culture dictates compassion and hospitality towards strangers. Perhaps it is for this reason that I have yet to hear no. Based on my experience so far, it seems unlikely that a Japanese person would refuse help if you ever needed it.

I think “Sumimasen.” and “Arigatou gozaimasu.” are two of the most useful phrases so far. Those are my first impressions of some of the survival phrases I’ve just learned in the first few easy lessons. If you want to share some Japanese survival phrase stories related to these first few lessons as well, I’d love to read all about them!

Until next time!

JapanesePod101.com Survival Phrases 1 and 2 + PDFs
SurvivalPhrases.com - Japanese 1, 2 and 3 + PDFs