Thank you for the great feedback! I really would like to travel from Tokyo/ Kyoto area all the way to Sapporo but just became a bit concerned after a friend commented on the hospitality. I was going to try it anyways because just like Peter-san said, it’s luck of the draw.

My personal experience was the first time (and the only time) I visited Tokyo. I asked a couple of passengers on the streets regarding directions but they were a bit shy. I finally learned that the best place to ask for help in English is McDonalds because teenagers gather there and they are eager to speak English to foreigners. But this time I’d be prepared to ask questions in Japanese. And now with your feedbacks, I will definitely visit northern Japan. I may ask for some pointers/ recommendations later in the year if you don’t mind. Thanks again!

Rhonda-san, glad you liked the lesson. Yes, again I draw so much on experience, and this one is at the top of the useful phrase list! Please let us know how this turns out, we’re very interested. Great idea for a lesson, and by all means, please feel free to use the notes. We are quite flattered! Correct my Japanese, thanks for the great idea!

JP-san, thanks for the great post! We are so happy that you are making the most of it! The Monbunsho….yes, I am quite familiar with this, as many of the students around me have this. I don’t. Been paying my way through school here. However, the silver lining to the cloud is not having the monbusho gives me a lot more desire to succeed! Plus, real life experience, through working, is priceless. Whenever I need extra energy, I draw on the fact that I got here myself! So while the monbusho is great and all, you can show all of the monbusho people how good you get on your own!
Ganbatte kudsai!

Lily-san, thanks for the great post! Great to hear that you’re coming to Japan! Your question is not the first time we were asked this, and I think many people would like to know this. I think it is best answered by luck of the draw. There are great people and not so great people every where in the world. And usually what makes a trip great is the people you meet along the way! I personally travel exclusively in the Northern Honshu, and so far nothing but aces! However, twice in the town I was living in, I had bad experiences with drunken old men, who were not to happy to see me. At the same time, in NY, I had good and bad weekends! Sometimes I would meet great people, the next someone would say, “what are you looking at?” I chalk it up to luck of the draw.
Jonas-san had a lot of good points. Japan is not like the Japan of 30 years ago when there weren’t many foreigners, there are a lot of them here, and many Japanese want to meet foreigners. As I always say, 9 times out of 10 if you make the first approach trying in Japanese, it will be recipricated 10 fold.

Mari-san, thanks for your post and thanks for listening! Great to hear your using this the way we intended! In the near future we plan on adding a lot more stuff, and one thing we plan to do is find a school that we can recommend. This will take a bit of time, because here we pride ourselves in our knowledge being practical and useful, and to recommend a school on someone else’s recommendation goes against our principles. So please give us just a little longer.

チャナンさん、please let us know how that works out!

Jonas-san, thanks for the info! Would be great to trade stories one day!

Ormo-san! great to hear!! I can imagine! We took the local train from Ibaraki to Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, Aomori, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, and finally Ibaraki, all a 5 day all-you-can-ride local train pass for 10,000 Yen, (USD100)! Amazing trip, and yes, we used that phrase all the time too! Very cool place you live! The people were really nice!

I dont think you need to worry yourself too much. Most japanese I’ve met are really nice. I lived for half a year in Sapporo (Hokkaido), and I had no problem what so ever. My girlfriends mother is from Yamagata(I think… or somewhere in that general area, hehe) and she also says most people are hospitable. Hokkaido is actually famous for its hospitality, and they most people there are probably used to foreigners, since there are so many russians there.

In the big cities like Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka etc there is a foreigner at every corner , so no problem there either.

And don’t worry about offending anyone. It’s pretty hard to offend japanese people(when you’re a foreigner, that is. If you do something stupid, it just gets attributed to you being a foreigner).

Actually, some japanese are too hospitable.. You ask something, and you just want a simple answer, right? Like, I asked someone in Hokkaido about where I could find a cheap hotel, and I just wanted some directions, but the guy followed me to the hotel, and helped me book in and stuff….

Jonas

すごい!

First of all, thanks again for the great podcasts. I walk around Duke’s campus listening to your ‘cast and muttering to myself in Japanese every day now.

I’m wondering if you could do a show on summer language programs in Japan. If I return for a visit this summer I would like to take 2-4 weeks of lessons… but it’s hard to know how to pick a school! I’m sure your audience in Japan and abroad would appreciate any insights you have.

Mari