Correct. I was there 14 years ago and getting by in English is easy. I spoke remedial
Edited by JacobRDaugherty on February 18, 2026, 11:48:41
Japanese and understood cultural protocol and got by super easily. Besides the fact that Tokyo is extremely difficult to navigate with the lack of street signs and flashing lights everywhere I think the cultural behavior is more important than the language. English only was fine in Kanagawa and Kyoto. Osaka seemed a little less willing to speak exclusively in English to me but still fine  Previous Message But they’ll absolutely appreciate any effort made in Japanese. Previous Message by with English just fine. Previous Message
a little Japanese.
Now I don’t know. It feels like I needed to start two years ago to have any shot at knowing even a tiny bit.
This is no way to run a language. These motherfuckers have THREE ALPHABETS! An alphabet for children, an alphabet for foreign words they thought were cool, and an alphabet for “fuck it, let’s just make our own Chinese.”
But I’m no quitter. So I’m gonna see how much I can pick up by June.
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Message Thread | This response ↓
 I’m taking a trip to Tokyo in June, and even though I can probably get by, I decided to try to learn - doubledown February 15, 2026, 11:51:42
- A long time girlfriend of mine passed the Japanese translator's exam and did arbitrage over there... - MtHoodIllini Yesterday, 20:44:02
- The only word you need to know is takoyaki* - Sounder February 18, 2026, 11:44:03
- There are 50,000 letters. Like, the government had to step in. - doubledown February 18, 2026, 11:41:37
- 6 times out of 10 if you say it as English in a katakana accent, it’ll be fine. - assassin February 15, 2026, 13:42:18
- send a message to youtuber xiaoma for tips. dude knows like 100 languages* - lcubed February 15, 2026, 13:18:59
- We won a war so you don’t have to learn that shit* - timmer February 15, 2026, 12:31:12
- More power to you. But having visited Japan, including Tokyo, a couple of summers ago, you can get - DocWalk20 February 15, 2026, 11:59:00
- Hai* - CWR10 February 15, 2026, 11:55:06
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on February 18, 2026, 11:47:43, in reply to "Yeah, they will 100% assume you don’t speak any Japanese and will start in English "