With regard to those who cannot get over the fact that you can speak, comprehend, read, write their language – I feel I must inform you that living in Korea as a non-native fluent speaker of Korean, my predicament is identical to yours!

The adding of random English words – often including ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ mangled through a konglish filter as though it might help you even though you are speaking fluent Korean, the speaking to you as though you were a retard, or a child and the constant ‘second guessing’ are all two common here too. I would even say it’s more extreme here as a large minority of Koreans are under the impression that the genetic programming of foreigners also prevents them from picking up chopsticks or eating ‘spicy’ Korean food (most Koreans I know can’t handle the hot curries that I love).

There’s a post on my site that goes into more detail if you’re interested. We call it ‘waegukin (gaijin) shock syndrome’. Actually I wrote a diary post on it in Korean with an English translation too.

Love the site dude.

Isn’t Japan’s national religion a mix between Shinto and Buddhism? I read this somewhere online, but I do have to admit, their food’s rather tasty…though because of my dislike of seafood, I’m not really a fan of sushi.

This article is a wonderful insight of the quintessence of the Japanese spirit.

I have studied Japanese full-time for 3 years in College in Paris 15 years ago. My Japanese, which was far from being usable at that time but was so pleasingly literate, has been lost along the path of life since then.

Nevertheless I have decided to come live and work in Japan from now on.

One thing that I got really surprised about, this time, is that Japanese people take for granted that I am a Japanese fluent.

When I came here 15 years ago for a short stay, it was really different, every single person would address me in that dreadful Engrish and I was absolutely lost and did not get anything language wise out of that stay. Actually I even drifted away and went on Chinese which led me to leave in Taiwan and China for a while.

So although my Japanese has not improved in the least, what made the change ?

I believe it is the way I move around. The way I interact. The way I am.

Japanese people interact a lot with non verbal communication. If you succeed in fine tuning yourself on it. It does the trick and can even get really weird sometimes.

Like being able to answer a question where once it has been spoken out you realize that you did not know ANY of the words that composed it but still you had all the meaning out of it BEFORE it was actually spoken out… and then your answer comes out with a mere one or two words and it is right on the spot…

It won’t be enough to live your life here in Japan at a gratifying level of communication but it is definitely part of the magic of leading a good meaningful life.

khatzumoto your written English is so pleasurable that I will definitely go on trying the method you propose.

I am 36, not that old, not that desperate and, although I am French I will manage to circumvent that tiny problem and get serious on using the SRS, AJATT and Monodic to kick my Japanese to a decent level.

I will let you know.

So true! I was very lucky to have GPS in the car when I was in Japan. Couldn’t read a lick of it, couldn’t figure out how to make it give me directions, absolutely didn’t care. It had little icons for Family Mart, Lawson, and beaches, and that’s all I needed to know. (Okinawa).

i’ve been wanting to go to japan since i was 8 i think, due to my major sailormoon obsession then. my bro was into dragonball. both of us were crazy over doraemon. so naturally, we were pretty much otakus since then =P

at 12, when my family got a cat, my bro and i wanted to name her something japanese, but the only japanese-ish names we knew were ‘nagasaki’ and ‘hiroshima’. wanting to make either a family name, we chose nagasaki, and chose ‘rei’ as the first name (because it sounded good with nagasaki, and for my part, it’s sailormars’ first name XD).

so yeah. i love japanese manga. and culture. and ppl. they’re a pretty amusing bunch. tryig to learn japanese, but not hardcore-ly, because laziness cant be dropped cold turkey-ly (am trying tho!). i hope i can pick up my pace and get better quick =)

now i’m more pumped up than ever to go to the wonderful nippon! not sure if i could live there tho.. im not brave enough to stay at a foreign country on my own (yet? ;P).

cheers!

Yep, they are amazingly kind, aren’t they – I remember being lost in Tokyo on my second or third day there, and a Japanese girl on the subway, seeing that I was lost, offered to guide me to my destination. I thought that this would involve taking me a couple of hundred yards, but no, it involved taking me across Tokyo from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro, and right to the door of my destination. Incredible!

If you get the chance, and haven’t already, take a short trip to Taiwan – it is definitely no longer the ‘beautiful’ island that the Portuguese believed it to be (well, at least Taipei isn’t!), but the people are just soooo kind and generous.

>Because in Japan, no one knows where the heck anything is. Even in their own neighbourhood.

That’s another amazing thing, isn’t it? I lived in Tokyo for nearly five years, and knew my way around pretty well, but couldn’t give directions to anyone else, except in terms of the proximity of the desired destination to a building of ‘unusual’ shape (‘…yes, it’s over in that direction [waving arm vaguely], just behind the green building that looks like a pile of snot’). I think that postmen are the only ones that really know there way around, and then only in their own small part of town.

>On TV, in the morning, in the afternoon at night, and in the commercial breaks, there is food.

Yes, it was quite a while before I realized that a food program being on every time I turned on the TV was not a coincidence, it was just due to the fact that things like news/other are mere brief interludes between the 23.5 hours of cookery programs that fill the daily TV schedules.

>I could get started on a more serious rant at people–especially (dis-empowered?) women–for believing in horoscopes and fortune-tellers

Try to calm yourself – ranting will just raise your blood pressure.

One thing I notice is that they usually give up as soon as you refuse them in Japanese (is it because they know anyone who is either Japanese or speaks it fluently can’t be swayed by their Sith mind tricks? who knows…). If you say: “遠慮します” or “お引取り下さい” (yes, they have come to my home), they make with the bowing and bounce on out.

You know, if JW’s keep bugging me, then one day, I’m going to run for office, win, and make proselyting illegal…i’ll call it the 「異国・迷惑宗教防止法」 “Foreign and Otherwise Troublesome Religious Practices Act”. Oh, snap, inner monologue leaks out again…

One situation I do run into from time to time is religious solicitors (particular Jehovah’s Witnesses), who tend to park themselves in certain spots downtown and target specifically foreigners, whom they accost in broken English in hopes of cornering a hapless tourist or short-term visitor. I either decline their attempts at conversation in Japanese, or pretend I’m German and speak no English.

A section on Life in Japan!
Time for a kanji session~

You live in Tokyo right? That’s where I’m moving at the start of October. It’d be interesting to meet you and maybe interview you for my site. =D More on that later, hehe.