Mistakes we made in Japan 日本での失敗談

You don't know "embarrassing in Japan" until you teach pretty much a full class of baby & mama class telling all the kids in the class (with Mom's present) to さわってください instead of すわってください。That's right. I told all the children, all class, who stared at me blankly to "touch me please" instead of "sit down please". And I would've kept doing it if one of the Mom's hadn't corrected my shitty Japanense.

I am Japanese. The Japanese does not make a fool of foreigners' mistakes. Because the country is different, it is natural that I do not understand, I would rather want to help thinking that it is cute or adorable. It is mostly Japanese comments. Japanese people are mostly always welcoming foreigners. I think that you will know when you come to Japan.

Japanese people laugh in these situations not to be rude or gloat at your misfortune but by compassion to try to restore some harmony and make you feel better.

Copying peoples accents or catchphrases unconciously means you empathise with people. I remember Oprah Winfrey saying she has the same problem.

I feel you!!! I am Japanese and I just came back from the States after 10yrs. Omg everything's so advanced I can't figure out a lot of things even though I do speak and read Japanese. I think being Japanese and having no idea about a lot of stuff is worse. For example, when I go to a supermarket and pay, they ask me to do things like pressing certain buttons. I understand what they are saying but I don't understand what it means. I have to ask what it is and they give me weird look. lol They think I know what to do just because I am Japanese. It's so embarrassing that I have to ask questions every time I do something I haven't done in 10yrs. They answer my questions but with the confused look on the face, "What do you mean you don't know?? Where have you been??" Also, when I walk on the street and bump into someone, I can't help saying "excuse me" or "I'm sorry" instead of "sumimasen". This is very very embarrassing cuz I don't mean to say it in English.. I am afraid that people look at me like I am being a snob or something. So I'm overly nervous whenever I go out by myself since I came back. lol

I'm pretty sure I have more stories haha we will have to make a part 2! haha

Don't worry Everyone makes mistakes x3 , like the time i got stuck in the girls bathroom...

Kelly's eyes are soooo pretty!

Rachel! You're mirroring, which is usually a good thing, we use it to create a bond and show that we understand, creating rapport. I do it to, I'm Swedish but I have a very high fluency in English and I've pretty much lost my old accent, I lived in London for a while so I have a British accent, until I speak to anyone with any other kind of accent 😆😆 I don't even notice it anymore! And with my Chinese friend, I actually get a Chinese accent on my Swedish sometimes... It's ridiculous and I have to be weary of it to, but it comes from a good ability to connect with people so I don't feel too bad about it, and I have the excuse of not being having a strong accent of my own 😝

"um...Google, how do i-err- flush my toilet?"

I could totally relate to Rachel when she talked about copying people's laughs and accents. My dentist's assistant has a British accent and one time I needed to ask her where the bathroom was. She said, "It's the first door on the right" in her awesome accent, and I responded with "Ok, thank you" also with a British accent. I tried to play it cool and just walked into the bathroom where I then had a meltdown.

I was in a restroom with my sister (she's in a stall) and a GUY in a uniform suddenly entered and went in HER STALL. Turns out my sister clicked the button that you're supposed to click when you're asking for help. We had a hard time explaining that she didn't know where the flush was.

I hope japanese people are more understanding about foreigners at subway stations and stuff like that because obviously we are not used at all with this kind of things like fancy toilets and very confusing subway lines... And man... you even had to pay for the reserved ticket!!That's scary... o.o'

困っている外国人を見て｢バカだなぁ｣って思う日本人は少ないと思います。むしろ、助けてあげたいけど、言葉が分からないからムズムズしている。

One of the biggest mistakes I made when I was in Japan was when I got off the bus, I thought you would pay cash and get your change but it was actually a machine to exchange dollars and coins and you could only pay with coins so I grabbed all the coins and put it in my pocket and walked off the bus halfway then the bus driver yelled at me. I felt very embarrassed because I'm half Japanese so I can't really have an excuse that I was a foreigner so either way I looked like a dumb citizen or a dumb foreigner 😭😂😂😂

Omg, Tokyo's metro system sounds complicated. I am planning a trip to Tokyo but now I am scared especially since I don't know Japanese.

Kelly! youtube.com/c/strawberrymochi We tell stories about the dumb things we've done in Japan. @_@ And there's plenty more of it, too.

日本人は海外の人が変なことをしていてもバカにはしませんよ。 何をやってるんだろうと思ったりすることはありますが(笑) こうするのが正しいんだと思っていてもそれを英語で伝えることができないので見ているだけになってしまったりします。

日本人は 外国の人が間違っているのをみて 『何やってんだ』とか 否定的な目でみてませんよ 『間違ったのかな、かわいいな』とか 間違えるのはしょうがないって 思ってますよ

Hey Rachel, I've completed the subtitles in Dutch. Someone had already translated the first three minutes (I've no idea who that was, but I don't want to take credit for something I didn't do) and I did the rest. I hope you find it helpful. If I come across any more videos without Dutch subtitles I'd love to help translate them, if I have the time to do so of course. Keep up the good work!