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Two Weeks in Japan
Valdís:
--- Quote from: Akima on 10 Apr 2013, 03:58 ---or would expect them to be "English-language friendly".
--- End quote ---
Un homme qui parle trois langues est trilingue. Un homme qui parle deux langues est bilingue. Un homme qui ne parle qu'une langue est anglais.
(French joke. Though I think "ne parle pas" would be snarkier.)
It isn't expected of English-speakers, but they expect it of others. Such as most Europeans (at least in countries close to them) now knowing how to speak it. I mean, even whilst down in Greece there were people around that could speak pretty decent Swedish due to tourism in the area.
GarandMarine:
In high traffic multilanguage areas world wide it's not uncommon to meet people who speak 5+ languages.
Any way, I don't expect Japan to be English friendly, there's some districts that are pretty safe bets, and there's a decent amount of written English around in the big cities (global tourism's big, and printing twice, once in Japanese, one in English is a cost effective way to cover a wide base). I'm studying Japanese pretty hard when I'm not working on school and my brother's Japanese is getting pretty decent. From what my expat friends say if you can get the subject, verb, and a "please" or "excuse me" out you can get just about anything or go any where without trouble.
I have my official itinerary if any one's curious, complete with some of my travel notes XD
May 18 - 22nd Tokyo
May 23 - O'dark Hundred departure for Hiroshima and Miyajima,spend the night in Hiroshima, tube hotel?
May 24: Early departure for Osaka, Osaka castle, wander Osaka, evening departure for Kyoto
Evening May 24 - May 26 Kyoto, stay in Ryokan, evening departure for Hakone mountain region around Lake Ashino. It can easily be reached from Tokyo on the Odakyu line for Onsen episode.*/**
26-28 May Onsen, late morning return to Tokyo on the 28th
28th - June 1st Tokyo
June 2nd - Evening departure back to the states, big lunch to celebrate the end of trip?
*VITAL: Ensure that the Ryokan, and the Onsen accept guests with some tattoos. Do this prior to making reservations.
**Stuff to do on the Onsen day: There is a castle at Odawara near Hakone, and boat trips and mountain walking and cable cars, etc. Several nice museums including a museum of toys and an outdoor sculpture museum
Carl-E:
While I understand issues with tattoos in public, it amazes me that a hotel / tourist area would not accept a guest who has tattoos. They're there to take your money (for services, of course), they can judge you in the privacy of their own home.
de_la_Nae:
Last I knew Korean-descended Japanese citizens don't get full rights. Judging is a hobby worldwide.
Speaking of, don't forget that there'll probably be folks (just like we've got here in the U.S.) who'd think you're bloody stupid/awful no matter how well you knew the language.
Might make sure there will be emergency medical accommodation available and known in the areas you hit up. Last I knew a lot of hospitals out that way pretty much close after office hours. Someone else could tell you better though, I've never been.
GarandMarine:
Carl, I think you're underestimating the sheer amount of baggage and stigma that come with tattoos in Japanese culture. Like I said it's usually a sign that you're a member of a gang at one level or another, and given the Yakuza's reputation for playing hard ball... it's easy to see how years of oppression and fear become a severe "Oh hell no" like that. As I mentioned in the tattoo thread, in some of the beach areas like Kobe you can actually be arrested for public displays of tattoos, so I could go to the beach, but if I took my shirt off I'd be wearing matching bracelets most ricky tick.
Yeah Japanese hospitals are weird, thankfully in a serious emergency as an absolute worst case I suppose my brother can try to take me to the Naval Hospital. My brother's also setting me up with a pay as you go cell phone and he's going to have emergency contacts set up for me, Base Police (his base that is) the U.S. consulate, general Japanese emergency numbers, etc.
As to the language, yeah, I'm not out to convince those people of anything, but I do want to force them to amend "stupid foreigner" to "polite stupid foreigner"
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