Mina-san, what do you think of this helpful police officer? In the lesson we said he’s 方向音痴. What kind of ～音痴 are you?
Personally, I’m 数学音痴!

Ohh man ikikata makes so much more sense now that ive seen the Kanji.
Another helpful lesson!

When I was in Japan I would often try avoiding the kobans becuase I didnt have my bike registered. Many of the times I was lost and needed directions I would park my bike a block away to ask! Japanese police are always pretty friendly and usualy will go far out of their way to help you. Just get you bike registered becuase they take it really seriously!
But if you are ever questioned by the police you be surpirsed how much Japanese you can come up with to explain yourself!

Marky - I agree. Most places I’ve been, the police are usually very friendly with directions. The NYPD were very friendly to me when I was on a trip there in high school, and was lost a couple blocks from broadway. However, I have had issues of the Florida Highway Patrol being very unfriendly. Due to a major accident, they closed the exit I wanted to take, I tried asking them for information on a detour, and they just told me to get moving. Luckily, the attendant at the toll booth was much friendlier.

今日は。マクシーです。運転音痴です。(Reverse Parking音痴 to be precise).

上海で、警察に聞かれた、自己紹介を日本語でするべき。警察は「あ、うるさい、行け!」と答えます。
In Shanghai, if you are questioned by a policeman, you should introduce yourself in Japanese. He will answer ‘ah, get lost’.

Seriously, they often just pull people over randomly, just to see if you’re doing anything wrong, or to check your bike registration. If you don’t speak Chinese or English, they usually couldn’t be bothered and let you go!

In the description for today’s lesson (and in the grammar tag), I think you mean “-te moraitai no desu ga,” (moraitai is misspelled)

I was asked for directions today as I walked to work and just wondered how I would answer in Japanese.

There were some things I was not sure about so I searched on the net and found some expressions I had not come across before. For all you NOT 方向音痴 who feel you can help someone who got lost (e.g. a Japanese tourist in your home town?) here are some additional useful phrases:

～の突き当たりの
at the far end of
e.g. 突き当たり【つきあたり】を左に曲がる
turn left at the T-junction
後ろ向き【むき】になる
turn backward
引【ひ】き返【かえ】してください
You’ll have to turn back.

Do you have any other useful suggestions for giving directions ?

ミクジ