LogFAQs > #927510056

FatalAccident posted...

Ive generally muddled my way around European countries and in Mexico with broken french/Spanish etc but get the feeling somewhere like Japan would be a bit different. How have you guys got around?

Tokyo and Osaka are super-easy to get around with no Japanese. Being major tourist hubs, the level of English knowledge is overall fairly good and important signage and announcements are usually in English as well. I still usually recommend that people learn a little Japanese before they go (just the basics - "Excuse me", "Where is the washroom", etc.), but it's completely feasible to get around the city without it.

FatalAccident posted...

Really? I expected them to be uncompromisingly Japanese, as far as I know theyve got a super strong culture? Didnt think theyd be that accommodating to English speakers. Or is it more just cause Tokyo is a tourist hotspot?

A bit of column A and a bit of column B.

Japan has the lowest level of second language knowledge of any developed nation (due in no small part to their low immigration levels). Tokyo and Osaka benefit from being major tourist hubs, but as soon as you head outside the major metropolitan areas, English knowledge and signage drops off very quickly. This summer I was visiting Iwate and Aomori for the first time, which are two of the more rural prefectures, and I had to lean very heavily on my Japanese (I'm not fluent, but I can speak low-level conversational Japanese, which was enough to get by in most situations). So yes, the fact that Tokyo sees lots of tourists works in your favour.

That being said, one thing you will quickly discover is that hospitality is Serious Business in Japan. The Japanese are drop-dead-heart-attack serious about how they treat their guests. Like, there was one point where I was in a store and I asked where the bank was (my next destination). In most countries, you'd get instructions on how to get there; in really good countries, they might even give you a map; in Japan, someone from the store escorted me all the way to the bank, while holding an umbrella over my head (it was raining and I'd left mine in the hotel).

FatalAccident posted...

Just Tokyo really, but from what I hear the place is literally one of the biggest cities on the planet so I imagine I can just visit different districts and get different experiences.

Do yourself a huge favour: plan to spend some time outside of Tokyo. Everybody goes to Japan, stays in Tokyo and assumes that's all the country has to offer. Tokyo is amazing, but there is so, so, so much to see outside of it. I have a soft spot for northern Japan (Iwate has some amazingly beautiful natural spots), but there's really neat stuff everywhere.
---

Kill 1 man: You are a murderer. Kill 10 men: You are a monster.
Kill 100 men: You are a hero. Kill 10,000 men, you are a conqueror!