Lol. I live in Japan and My Japanese friends always ask to use the bathroom, it really confused me at first. Now I know them better Sometimes I say no just as a joke, luckily they laugh 💕
I am from the UK although I've not lived there for many years. I also ask to use the bathroom but my Japanese friends, even the one who come to my place a few times a week, ask every use 😅💕 most of them have kids so each visit they might ask 8 times if it's OK to use the bathroom. My family are very.... My house is your house, kinda people, so the super politeness was hard to get used to. I wanted my friends to feel comfortable enough to treat my place as their home. 💕
I learned a lot from this video, thank you! When I lived in Japan I always heard people saying these kinds of things when shopping but never really figured out the exact meaning of the words. And yeah, I always said thank you to the staff (with a little bow/nod) as I left so you got me there, but I'll probably continue to do so even if it isn't natural Japanese people because that's just who I am!
Haha, I've lived in Japan for well over 10 years, and on the few occasions I've seen customers getting angry with convenience store staff, they were always old men asking for cigarettes, but the staff not knowing where, or which ones they wanted.
And I will add on that, every time there was a problem in a konbini, it was due to an old person... A few times they tried to cut the line and go before me, that's funny when the staff tell them to line over there like any customer...
From experience working in a konbini in shibuya, I'd say the worst customers are usually old but the best customers are also usually old It's just like that in Japan, old people are just either awful or too kind, no in-between
From what I've heard, the konbini sound like real lifesavers for a visitor to Japan, and way nicer than (most of) the ones we have here. This is sure to be useful to many travelers, including hopefully me :)
This was one of my favorite videos Japanese Ammo videos. Great to hear the insider info on the convenient stores in Japan. I'm obsessed with Japanese convenient stores and grocery stores. I practically live off of Family Mart, Lawson's and 7-11 when I'm traveling in Japan. 😂 So convenient to grab food on the go and the food is excellent compared to US convenient stores. However, my favorite convenient/grocery store I have been to in Japan is AEON Food Style. Excellent. I'd like to hear more insider info on the food in the convenient and grocery stores. 😂
Wonderfully useful! And easy to memorise! Maybe you could expand it to the phrases that people say in a fast food store or in a department store.... things like ," Dine in or take away?" and "Would you like this wrapped?" That would be a great help... there's always set phrases so when you learn them and learn to recognise them, your day goes so much smoother. Thanks so much!
Thanks for the recommendation for Lawson (as well as the phrases of course!) Whenever I’m in Japan (hopefully finally coming again in July on business!), I get a lot of my food from the konbini. I’ve usually gone to Family Mart or 7-11, but next time I’ll definitely look for a Lawson and check out their onigiri and chicken! 👍😋
Your story about having trouble and being rushed to find the cigarettes reminded me of when I had to sell alcohol at my job when I was 16 and I didn't know any of the brands. I felt so embarrassed taking so long to find the bottle with people laughing and trying to tell me where to find it in the 3 fridges- I don't think most of them were rude though, I am just self conscious. When I had spare time I also studied the fridge to learn where things were but sometimes people would re-stack them in the wrong place. Also there is a beer called Corona that people like to put a slice of lime in and I had NO IDEA what this guy wanted from me the first time it was asked for. Eventually I went to the other fridge and cut a lime into quarters and brought him the whole lime in a bowl xD My family didn't really drink so I didn't know much about it back then
Thankyou misa Sensei for this useful lesson. Sometimes I cant understand what staffs were saying before but now I will do. This is very helpful coz I do visit to conbini quite often. ☺️
Japanese convenience stores are amazing. They really are convenient. You could pay your bills there, make copies, basically anything you need to do in a hurry. They usually have ATM machines there as well. I'm surprised you didn't mention the fact that people don't hand money directly to cashiers. They have a little tray to put the money into. Then the cashier puts the change in the tray and the customer picks it up.
@@FF2Guy Supermarkets usually have the tray attached to the register at an elevated level. But if they have customers pay with the self-payment machine, then there's only the small tray that catches the automatically dispensed change.
@@FF2Guy It is normal that money is not exchanged directly from hand to hand at the cash register in Japanese stores. The stores you saw were rare cases.
@@zeroimpact742 This is common in Japan but not in other countries. I just want to point it out to folks who might commit some cultural faux pas like I did in the past.
About asking direction at Koban, thats true. The policemen are so helpful that besides taking out their paper maps as reference, they even may try to call the place you are looking just to make sure the place is still as per map (just in case the place has moved) . omotenashi right there 👍
The number sorting system for the cigarettes is a good idea. I had the same issues with not knowing every cigarette brand in existence and the differences in their light, 110s, 120s, "full flavor" (hilarious) etc. I used to smoke and I didn't know every cigarette brand. Eventually you develop a familiarity with where they all are and can associate the space each product occupies. But when I worked retail the tobacco companies would come out with new products, eliminate others, and change the modular. Don't know about you but I often pondered upon the full life utility of knowing the "flavors", lengths, soft and hard packs, colors and designs, etc. of all of these different cancer sticks. Suprisingly there are huge differences between different cigarettes, though. I think they tweak the poisons to make it unique.
Interesting, i do ask to use bathroom when at a new acquaintance home but not a business like say Walmart find an employee to ask if i can use the bathroom, that would be so strange here in the U.S. And also asking a close friend or family member if i can use the bathroom in their home they would probably ask me why in the world am I asking, etc. But if I'm over a strangers home etc. yes we absolutely ask to use the bathroom. It's so interesting that learning another language isn't just about learning the language but a lot of it has to do with learning the culture and polite way of talking and doing things as well.
This video reminds me of a funny story about 借りる。I was demonstrating what some kanji means to someone interested in learning Japanese. He really likes anime and also samurai (whether I inspired him further I don't know). I was showing him the kanji flashcards I use on my phone, explaining how 銀 means "silver", 恋 means "love", 火 means "fire". 戦 means "war". Etc. 借 came up, and obviously I know what that means. So I calmly explained that it means *borirow*.
That’s interesting about Europe, didn’t know that. I’m American but I’ve always asked someone (even family) to use their bathroom first so the Japanese way is nothing new to me. Except conbini, that one is a bit weird but I could probably get used to that.
Thanks for the lesson it is quite helpful. Could you make a video about other shop like butcher? For example, how to order custom mixture of grinded meat.
In my experience you have to almost physically stop staff at combini from bagging everything lol! Never in a full year did I get that question even when buying a single small item haha!
We also ask to use the toilet in the Europe/Uk. Our polite reply is to say 'of course, you don't need to ask' etc, but actually, you should ask, and it would be rude if you didn't. In the UK, it is considered rude to use a shop's toilets if you haven't bought anything. I feel uncomfortable about using a shop/restaurant's toilets if I haven't bought anything because of how I've been raised in the UK. I actually experienced that here in Japan, Japanese people reassure me that it's OK to use a shop/restaurant's toilets even if I haven't bought anything. The insist that it's ok! - the opposite of what you explained!
oh man..i can totally relate. for those of us who used to work at the infamous "wal-mart" it's hell. i think japan might have more normal people going in and out of your stores but in walmart..you'd get people wearing bikinis...some people only with an underwear. its..weird~ im lucky that i found a local coffee shop to work at when college year started or else i'd have to stay in that really really bad work environment.
Working in 7/11 Japan here I'd say it's the opposite, when it was free we used to put it anyway without asking (asking usually when there was hot and cold food if we needed to separate) Since last year they're no longer free (usually costing 3 yens) and so we have to ask if the customer actually wants to buy one The case we don't usually ask is when the customer obviously doesn't need it The taught sentence in 7/11 is usually something like お袋は有料ですが、ご利用になりますか？as it's really long you will probably more often actually here お袋はご利用になりますか？/お袋に入れましょうか？/お袋は要りますか？/etc
I got a kick out of the "confirm that you're 20+" thing when I went to Japan for the first time in '19. So easy and on the honor system. I also thought it was funny that the signs for "Family Mart" list tobacco and liquor! Nothing says family like booze and smokes :)
I had a konbini staff call the grocery bag a koban. maybe that is because he knew that I didn't know japanese that well and koban is a word you learn early on. meh. or maybe it is a regional thing.
A lesson on how to shop online on a fully Japanese website (amazon/rakuten) To understand the vocabulary (categories, prices, discounts) difficult words like 送料無料, 無制限、税込、条件あり would be nice to share computer screen, point and explain at the same time! :)
Yes this! Although the new built-in Safari translation makes things much easier. And I look at the status bar often because it sometimes reveals the English name in the url like /men/shoes
I went to Tokyo Once, in Family Mart. Bruh they don't know whats Gatorade xD And I was so shy to ask what is Poccari sweat. While my uncle gave it to me, for me to buy the drink. And Language barriers, plus I cant read Japanese drinks at the fridge TWT
I was reading an interesting article a few months back and it pointed out that even though many people ask 袋はご利用ですか？, the correct form should be ご入り用. I was honestly shocked to learn that. Hahah
