For me part of the fun of traveling is the friendly and happy mañana, mañana of Central America or the relaxed pole, pole of East Africa, which is so different from the strict organisation of Western Europe. I associated Japan with politeness and reservedness, so the country wasn’t particularly high on my bucket list. But when my sister found herself a 6-month internship in Tokyo, my boyfriend and I decided that this would be a great opportunity for us as well. So we packed our bags and for two weeks we travelled from Kobe to Miyajimi, onwards to Hiroshima and Kyoto, Tokyo, Hakone and Nara.
Out first bows
Due to a delay, it took us more than 50 hours door-to-door and I was happy we had booked a hotel with Western style rooms for a smooth landing. After a long snooze we enjoyed a Japanese breakfast with soup, salad, rice and a crescent (croissant). According to my sister, Kobe wouldn’t be worth a visit – fair enough if you live in and compare it to Tokyo. But for us newbies to Japan, it definitely was a great place to start out trip! That first morning we took pictures of the cute pink rabbits indicating construction work, admired the extremely elegantly dressed Japanese 20- and 30-somethings, struggled to find the right underground line, teased each other about literally “standing out from the crowd”, and hiked up to the waterfalls just behind the Shin-Kobe station. The funniest incident was when we stepped away from the coin lockers at the train station to make room for a young Japanese couple, and they expressed their appreciation with repeated bows.
Throughout the two weeks, communication appeared difficult. Most words are at least four syllables and a simple thank you alone has seven (phonetically: Arigatō gozaimas) – I could only mumble-mumble-más. I therefore quickly started to use the bowing too, as a greeting or a thank you. After the frantic bowing of the young couple, we kept an eye out for this behaviour and found it charming to see how the train conductor bowed when entering the train cars, how an old man bowed at the train driver before boarding the train, etcetera. A few years ago in Uganda I was surprised to see a teenage girl kneel for her mother and felt awkward when I was expected to kneel for a man later on during the trip (which I eventually did with mixed feelings), but this Japanese bowing went pretty well!
Still, communication remained a challenge, as most Japanese learn how to read and write English, but barely practice speaking the language. Note: their English was nevertheless far better than our Japanese! We therefore frequently experienced miscommunication, the low point being a situation when we had calculated wrong and didn’t have enough cash to pay for a restaurant bill. I left my boyfriend inside (you deal with the awkwardness!) and went searching for Western tourists willing to give me 40 yen (€0,35). On my way back to the restaurant, however, my boyfriend just came out saying he had already solved it, so I gave back the money I had just received. Unfortunately, a kilometre down the road the waiter came after us and I had to start the search for donors again! Uhm.. you said you solved it?! *thank you German couple for helping us out*
The magic of a pen
From then on we always took cash AND card with us, but still had some problems understanding Japan and the Japanese. We couldn’t understand the girl at the supermarket explaining the content of this rice roll (pork? prawns?) until she wrote it down: plum! We wanted to buy sponge cake that wouldn’t expire before the end of the month, which we eventually were able to communicate by writing down the date. Similarly, the guy at the hostel said the shop where we should have a look was next to the …… Onaldo? Market? And then he drew the logo of… McDonalds! At other times, we just had to give up and give in to the fact that we wouldn’t understand (the) Japan(ese). But isn’t that part of the travel fun? Those moments where someone asks you, “What did you order?” and all you can say is, “I don’t know, but I think I understood it’s vegetarian.”
The Travelettes Top 8 Tips for Communication in Japan
- Speak slowly and clearly. Many Japanese people have difficulties understanding native English speakers – especially strong accents.
- Keep pen and paper at hand; the Japanese have better English reading and writing skills than speaking and listening. But I also have to add that most people really made a big effort to help us!
- Always ask before you take a picture. Cameras on Japanese phones always make a sound when a picture is taken, so people can’t take each other by surprise.
- Don’t be offended when Japanese stand up and walk away when you take a seat next to them on the metro or when somebody makes a big cross with their two arms in front of their body to indicate that something is forbidden.
- Don’t unnecessarily touch the Japanese. My boyfriend can get a bit too tactile, cracking a joke and touching a shoulder. He had already caused two Japanese people a semi heart attack before we had even boarded the second leg of our flight. It’s not appreciated.
- Go with the flow. You will stand out being non-Japanese but try to adjust by being quiet on the metro, standing on the left side on the escalators, etc.
- Close your eyes for a little nap when you feel like doing so. I secretly found it hilarious to watch people sleep in the stations and on the train, but this concept (inemuri) is socially accepted in Japan.
- Don’t be afraid to overdress. Many Japanese women were so elegantly dressed and you don’t want to stand out even more!
Hopefully my bows somewhat made up for the confusions we’ve caused with our questions, remarks, requests, and silly moves throughout those two weeks in Japan. For all of you who are planning to visit Japan, I’m curious whether a pen and a bow will get you through this amazing country too!
This is a guest post by Sanne van Lieshout.
Sanne moved to England to live with her boyfriend in 2016, after a year together in the Netherlands, and a year of romantic weekend rendez-vous in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, and Rome. She’s a big fan of AirBnB (which have been highlights and low points of travelling) and is looking forward to enjoying reading again once her PhD is finished. Although she enjoys public health and health psychology, she sometimes thinks she should have had a career in tourism.
