WHERE'S OUR VIDEOS!? Well, this one took over 20 hours to make. I've just graduated with a master's degree in June and am hunting for an office job here in Japan. More videos to come once things settle down. The next video will be a day in the life at my old workplace.
Congrats on the masters degree . Hope you find work you enjoy. And make allot of money. But most of all stay happy and healthy. I always enjoy your vids. Thank you.
I remember on my first trip to Japan. I came across a class of kids who were out practicing their English on foreign tourists, reading off scripts and giving out paper cranes. It was probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen
I had a similar one, but it was nervous high school boys awkwardly shaking my hand and asking my name, plus "Do you like Kyoto?" and "Do you like Japan?". They were clearly waiting for tourists by a temple. I ended up in a group and got stopped by three of them one after the other, haha.
@@Jabroniville Same i stood out a lot when i visited japan cause im dark skinned and the same happened but it was a group of girls i think they were like in 3rd grade.
Kids have no "filter" - they say and do whatever pops into their head. Years ago, (after finishing my meal) a small kid came out of the restaurant to grab my hand and said "Hey Chinese man, come home with us." His mom came running out to stop him, and scolded him that you can't do that with a stranger. That's when I realized that small children are inhabiting a parallel universe in which ALL things are possible.
That’s exactly right! Back when I was 4 I remember seeing a woman in the library with a little facial hair and asking my dad loudly in front of her “Daddy why does that woman have a beard?” My dad was mortified. 😄
I’m a Japanese high school students who learning English. I have a strong feeling to want to create peace as many countries as possible, so I started studying English! and your voice is so beautiful✨ clear and easy to catch!! also your Japanese is so wonderful and perfect! I’m really happy you like Japanese! also the video was so much fun!! Thank you so much! 👍 And I love America! also all nations💫 I love you guys!!
It's nice that you are learning English!! I hope you do very well! I was an exchange student to Japan in Showa58. I have many many pleasant memories of Japanese speaking English to me. 🇯🇵🇺🇸✌🏻
Best memory of kids in Japan was walking near an elementary school baseball field in Naha and the entire team surrounded me and asked me to make a muscle. Talk about making you feel like Arnold.
Me and some Amercan Cousins decided to ditch Kokusai Dori in Naha and go into the back allies where people rarely see Americans, kids were just coming out of the woodwork many yelling '' This is a Pencil'' and giving us the Peace sign. It seemed a real treat for them to see us. It was a bigger treat for us to see them.
@@shinjaokinawa5122 This is probably a stupid question, but why is the peace ✌️☮️ sign a pencil ✏️? I don't get the logic. Is it a misunderstanding of the English, maybe?
@@zhouwu I do know that all the kids and girls give the peace sign. The first phrase anyone learns in English Class is This is a pencil. when there is a group of small kids they will simultaneously say this is a pencil while while doing the Peace sign. The two fingers spread has become iconic and goes back to the 60's. I remember it being everywhere by the 70's. So it is not unusual for kids to hold up a pencil and give the peace sign at the same time.
Kids are very fascinated with foreigners for sure. Keep in mind, about 90% of the population is Japanese and the rest are foreigners. When kids or even elderly see foreigners, they are sometimes surprised. I've even had times where an old woman will start randomly speaking to me in Japanese, it's pretty interesting haha. (keep in mind, I said about 90%. You don't need to message me telling me it's more, I was just estimating lol.)
i dont know about the numbers exactly but when you say 90 - 92% are Japanese, among these 8 - 10%, a lot are Korean / chinese well.. asian . In term of non asian i think the number is much much smaller than that right ? I saw on another videos that most of the foreigners are mostly in big cities too. i assume that if you go to the country side as a western person black or latino etc... people would be like that : O _ O
@@wzz7380 Actually people don't know much about Japan, In Hokkaido there's large Russian, Polish, Danes and Australian population. They are Japanese citizens
@@sankujamatia525 is it only in Hokkaido ? I think i thought that Hokkaido was a special area 🤔 its the big island to the north with Sapporo right ? i saw an anime (sorry for the cliché) about Aïnou people and got interested into their story. Its like a mix of Russia and north japanese if im not mistaken. Didnt know about polish australian and dane though. What do you say by " large" ? Because as a french i live into a very very mixed country, i think we dont have the same notion of " large" when it comes to count the non native :')
They still do this. It's cute to most foreigners. We had a group of kids trying to speak English to us in Kyoto when I was just there. I'm sure I sounded just as bad to them with only my 6 months of Pimsleur lessons in Japanese.
Kids don't even give that stuff a second thought. One time I gave my 5 year old nephew a hug after having put on some weight since I last saw him and mid hug he says to me "Whoa Uncle, your tummy got big!!". Obviously the next day I went on a diet...
When I was in Japan a few years ago, absolutely no Japanese people paid attention to me, which, as a afro American, kinda surprised me. The Chinese tourists, however, wanted me to pose for pictures with them for no reason. One guy put his arm around me and said "Kobe!" Lmao I look like Kobe Bryant the same way Paul Rudd looks like Charlie Sheen. 😂
I remember when we were visiting the Silver Temple in Kyoto with our son who is fluent in Japanese. A bunch of kids got off a school bus to tour the shrine at around the same time. When they discovered that Dan could converse with them in Japanese, they were utterly delighted and flooded him with questions. They also tried to speak to my wife and I in English. It was great fun, and they were very sweet.
aww that's so sweet 😭😭I guess since I'm american I just kinda take for granted living around people of many different races all the time. It's interesting to hear about how different it is for people in other parts of the world.
My first time in Kyoto, I was standing next to a group of school kids and a few of them shouted "Hello" at me and asked where I was from. It was obvious how cool they felt, speaking to a foreigner in English.
@@OrientalPearl Wow, I had no idea. Very cool! It's cute when you see them trying to get up the courage to speak to you. I could never imagined doing that, as a kid.
Same thing happened to me in taipei. I got lots of children wanting to practice English and even plenty of 30 to 40yo who were taking an English class. Approached me with a set of almost identical questions. All of them were very polite and I enjoyed being able to help them out. I also helped a grandmother find a museum, I was going to it as well. Her cute little grandson spends half his time in England. So I had a nice conversation with him on the bus to the museum.
Honestly, I'm glad that Japanese natives are getting exposed to foreigners at such an early age. There will come a time where seeing someone THAT different from you will not be a big deal and it would be a moment of coexistence that we should strive for.
@@OrientalPearl Japan has an issue with xenophobia, and I've heard horror stories of foreigners living there having a hard time. From renting/buying a home to something as simple as commuting. They wont sit next to you nor engage you in conversation. They shy away from helping when you're clearly in need. But hopefully, there will be a time that negative incidents like those wont be the norm.
They have a wide range of weird. Dont have to be worry. At most it's Just xenophobia,not with the individual. More like ignorance of other countries' culture,just like americans.
@@41tinman41 they wont sit in because they dont speak english in the first place, they value their own language which is what I envy in Japan. Foreigners should atleast be able to study Japanese language (the basics) and dont expect the locals to adjust for them. This is happening in my own country, foreigners doesnt bother studying our language who is living in our own country, some live for decades yet doesnt even try
@@joeycorsi9142 Not sure where you get that from, but you’re 100% incorrect. Only 3.6% of the adult Japanese population had a BMI of 30.0 or higher. Compare that to 43% in the US. That might account for the young boy’s curiosity. Just watch videos of people walking around Japan. You won’t see overweight people. This is not because of a social status of wealth. In fact, the opposite is true. The Japanese see overweight people as lazy and inefficient. So your assertion is likely based on conjecture or crossed wires about another culture you may have heard about on a random documentary you watched. I believe this may be true in some tribal African colonies, but as I haven’t researched it I won’t say it with any amount of confidence.
@@joeycorsi9142 no, that was in the older times when the wealthy people ate a bunch of food and didn't do work opposed from the citizens who worked all day and had a balanced diet.
@@Kirbyystomp y'all act like it's not though. People take offense to it. You can't be body positive for someone ruining and killing themselves. It's a sad pathetic thing to be. So preventable.
I lived in Japan for three years and I absolutely adore your videos. I hope I get to go back one day and appreciate and learn the language to converse because your videos are so inspiring.
I remember when I traveled to Japan as part of a special credit system for a month and we visited a children’s elementary school and I got up in front of the class and introduced myself in Japanese, and they asked me about my favorite movie (I said it was The Lion King) and the teacher gave me a ball game - the one with the wooden post with multiple sides that are shaped to hold a ball, which is attached by a string, and the goal is to flip the ball up by force and land it on top without it falling off. I flipped it over [it was my first time playing with this toy] and it landed perfectly on top, and the entire class was a singular chorus of “OOOOOOHHHHH”. They asked me if I’d ever done that before and I said no, and they were amazed, lol. Then as I was leaving a group of kids ran out and asked me if I was coming back. They are such adorable beings.)
The best reaction me and my friends got EVERYTIME we came across schoolchildren in Japan, was about our height. We are all around 190cm, which meant we pretty much towered over everyone there. The kids would look up to us in awe and start saying 'Woah, se ga takai!!', which was the funniest thing.
@@elpino8503 As far as i know, here "se" means height then "ga" is subject particle( used to refer to the person ) and "takai" means tall or high. All in all, it means "That person is tall" or "He has a tall height"
The day of the entrance ceremony at the school I'm working at, a 1st grader came to me and asked "外国人ですか？" (which means "are you a foreigner?"). Didn't expect that one 😂😂 Also, because I'm overweighted, some 1st graders used to run to me to touch my tummy 🤣🤣🤣 But my funniest experience was about 1 year ago, when I was living in Otsu (a small city in Shiga prefectura, near Kyoto). It was raining, so I was using an umbrella. A kid (maybe 8 years old?) passed by while I was waiting to cross the street, and then he looked up and realized I looked different. His face suddenly changed and he opened his eyes wide, and he kept staring directly at me with that shocked expression while he walked away (yeah, he was walking backwards so he could keep looking at me) 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Japanese people are known for their courtesy and respect towards foreigners. It's a beautiful cultural exchange when kindness bridges any language barriers.
Those kids don't seem any different than....well...any kids. They don't see the world through any political or socioeconomically inspired lens, they are just exploratory and honest. God bless them.
@The Goddess Alice they are the same my little cousin told a police officer fat and most of them just walk around being curious and the reason why they do or say bad things sometimes is because of the culture around them but being from latinamerica doesn't make you automatically a bad person it is just being born around bad people
When we visited Vietnam, we stayed mainly in rural areas. Everyday children would come up to us and practice their English. They were so polite and respectful
That's so sweet. It happened to me and my friends but in Hanoi. We're Filipinos and obviously tourists. A group of middle school aged boys came up to us to talk when they saw us looking for something. They told us the directions to the opera house we were looking for and they were happy to speak in English.
I remember my first time in Japan (Narita) almost 20 years ago… seeing the little school children walking to school in their uniforms and huge backpacks made me smile. So darn cute!
Kids. Are. SAVAGE. My favorite was a student of mine around 6 years old who pointed to a drawing of a queen with curly hair and her say “ew, she has weird hair like sensei ” 😅😅😅
I love how kids often are basically like, you are fat or sometimes might even say you are ugly or something that might seem harsh, but they will still want to get to know you, they will still be your friend. They accept you the way you are unconditionally. They arent subjective yet, they see you as is AND take you as is. (Which ironically is how you develop your subjective views you have later in life)
I get this in my school. I'm a big beardy dude. I'm a teaching assistant. Comments are made innocently. I just tell them it never matters what anyone looks like, just how they treat you 😁
@@SingingPhatpants So what do they say when they have not been treated well enough to do math? They graduate not being able to figure anything out. Great treatment, but I bet your nice about it.
@@EarthSurferUSA your comment makes zero sense. My kids are all taught according to the Wales curriculum set and we work within the abilities displayed upon our first assessments. This was a side comment about personal remarks.
Yeh. when my big sister was still little she was on the bus with our mum when a really old lady get in. She obviously had some back problems and a big nose. My sister said "Mum! A witch!! 😱" Mum was so embaressed, but the old lady just laughed and said she hears this all the time xD
I found my visit to Japan amazing, everyone was so warm and kind and helpful we had many people walk up to us just to say hello and practice their english with us. Even at the train stations we never wondered for too long people always came up and offered to help , amazing beautiful country! sugoi!
As a fat guy who has lives in Japan for a few years, I absolutely lost it when that kid patted the guy's stomach. I understand that pain. XD Also, yeah. My Japanese is like a preschool level and the kids are still SUPER psyched when I say something in Japanese. Blows their minds.
In I believe 1993 when I was about 20 years old I was walking through the parking lot at Tokyo Disneyland. I noticed far off in the distance a few girls coming towards me but they were pretty far away. As the gap closed I could tell they were probably high school age or possibly college age and they seemed oddly focused on me for some reason. As the distance began to close even more between us I kind of naturally and subconsciously shifted my path to avoid a head on collision between us but I noticed as I moved left or right they moved with me. After doing this for several minutes across the very long parking lot they were finally coming very close and I could see by the look on their faces that they were simply amazed to be seeing me up close. Why exactly I had no idea. I mean I was a fairly handsome 20 year old, sure, but it was Tokyo Disneyland not the middle of Saga Prefecture or something like that. Anyway as they apparently had a tractor beam locked on me we finally ended up literally face to face and so feeling a little awkward by the situation I said, "hello" in English and they literally started jumping up and down screaming like I was Tom Cruise or something. It's the only brief moment in my life that I experienced ever so slightly what it might feel like to be famous. lol PS. You ladies were rocking those bikinis. Yes, I'm old now but I'm not dead. :)
I can really relate to your observations about the children in Japan i taught English to elementary and junior high school students for almost 5 years in Japan and enjoyed every moment of teaching children which was a lot more fun and rewarding then teaching adults ..
This was amazing ! that little kid patting on that big guy's stomach was so funny and cute lol ... glad to see you back Anming. Awaiting more awesome uploads.
Kids really know how to keep you humble with the reality check. I'm very glad to see another upload, I hope all is well. Best of luck with the job hunt as I know times are tricky right now.
I remember being in japan and we went to Hiroshima memorial park and there was a group of Japanese elementary kids and they were so excited to see us. They all waved hi and wanted to talk and speak with us, sadly we didn’t get to but it was very cute.
I want to be a Exchange Student in Japan someday when I am old enough. I’m 13. And I’m still following my dream sense I was about 9. and if I end up moving to Japan, I want to be an English Teacher. I love your vids! You really inspired me to follow my future dreams!
I’m watching this at my friends house who learned Japanese years ago… I had no idea he knew Japanese and he was writing stuff down and he just laughed and went ‘yeah America’s pretty messed up’. And I looked up at him and was like ‘wa… how… what?’…. Umm so he’s gonna teach me Japanese now 😬 guess you learn something new everyday…
We went to Japan 2019 and while we took photos from the Temple in Nara some kids popped up out of nowhere and asked my husband to take photos with them because he looks so cool (he is Vietnamese/Chinese but was born and raised in Germany) 🤣 that was so cute. He also got a little present from them 🤗 wonderful memories
My favorite interaction with a kid in Japan was during a trip with some friends. We were talking to the 10-year-old daughter of the owner of the inn we were staying at. One of my friends, who is Slovenian, was pretending he was Japanese. The girl, of course, wasn't buying it. When he asked her why she thought he wasn't Japanese, she said, "because your nose is too big." That was apparently a bigger clue than his skin, or his hair, or anything else. 😂
Asians always point out that Westerns have big noises in the same way Westerns point out Asians'eyes as their characteristic feature... like they were a bigger clue than their skin, hair, or anything else :)
You can spot a Western artist immediately from a Japanese artist because the Western artist will always draw a noticeable nose, while a Japanese artist will draw a dot or the slightest curve for a nose.
The aesthetic of Japanese and just Asian culture in general is so pretty, it just looks like such a cozy place, their restaurants, buildings, roads and streets, the way trees are placed between buildings, dunno something about it just really speaks to me, I feel like it’d be a cool place to visit someday.
My son is a 6'8" American of European descent and when he went to Japan he was like a child magnet in the streets. They crowded around to get their photos taken with him!
@@wezerd Especially in Japan or Asian countries where the height average is shorter. I'm Asain & I'm considered talled & I'm 5"11 ish. 6"8 is a fucking monster in Japan
Beautiful video! I went to the Philippines for the first time in January 2020, and as always children are the best (anywhere in the world) especially in the province where not alot of foreigners visit. So many smiles and some confusion of a pasty white person was walking their streets. A beautiful people the Filipinos ❤
I think what the guy at the beginning was trying to say was, "I hate them all equally". Lol To a Japanese, that's probably more polite than just naming one. 🤣
@@アシキン My impression is that he doesn't actually "hate" any of them, he was just caught off guard by her question. Having a Japanese mind, his two main choices were, "None, I like all foreign countries" or "I can't choose, so all of them". He just chose the second option. Also, in Japanese, the commonly used "dai kirai" literally means "big dislike" which is translated as "hate", but I think the English word "hate" is much stronger than "dai kirai", and there are several other Japanese words to denote stronger levels of hatred.
My experience when traveling in Japan was that kids they are very inquisitive, funny and I even got a free lunch when a group teenagers in Osaka asked if they could talk / have a conversation with me in English during their lunch break so they could practice.
I’ve been working at a hotel in Okinawa and honestly the best part about this job is that I can meet and talk with the kids. At first they are a little bit reluctant, but after they notice that I can speak Japanese, they would be so excited about it and start talking with me. Whenever they would see me in the lobby, they would greet me and high-five me and it is just so motivating man.
I worked in Japan for 4-1/2 years - my family accompanied me. It was a fantastic experience. An adjustment at first but we did not want to leave. In the populous areas, it is possible to 'survive' on just a very basic ability to speak the language but making an effort to learn helps you truly experience living in Japan - even without being fluent. My middle son was in preschool and went to a Japanese school - he became fluent amazingly fast (typical for kids). As we travelled the world, westerners were more amazed that he could speak the language.
Aaah it reminds me when I lived in Japan, I'm a tall Spanish girl and really stood out. I loved how people were always kinda reluctant to help me when I approached then but when I spoke Japanese, they would feel relived and talk to me asking me a lot of questions ahah
The last couple of times that I was in Tokyo, I found myself taking to most people in Spanish as it was difficult to find any Japanese that could help me out in English. :) One South American store clerk tried to hold back her tears when talking to me, and explained that she had not spoke her native language in nearly 20 years, and was so happy to do so... that was experience.
I went to Japan and managed to learn just enough to make sure I could be polite and respectful (I'm bad at languages so I did my best). And they praised me SO MUCH and I definitely didn't deserve it 😭
They will tell you you're good when you're bad. It actually means you are bad, but the rubbish attempt is entertaining them. When you get proper good, they'll not comment. That's japanese culture. It's not as well meaning as foreigners think. This is especially true in Kyoto
Pearl you are such a wonderful good will ambassador, thank you for setting such a good example, for Americans abroad. I live in Thailand and can speak some Thai and it goes such a long way, and people respect you for trying to learn. Sometimes westerners think the locals are saying something bad, they are not, most often they are only curious.
I’ve only ever been to Japan once and I’ve never felt so happy and free in a different country ever it’s a great experience I think everyone should take a trip to Japan it’s a beautiful country
I was in Japan two years ago with my fiancee, then girlfriend (she's japanese). She came into a convenience store and I was waiting in the street. In that moment many children were coming back from the school, all together. The little bag of one of them, a girl, fell down I picked it up and I gave her; maybe she didn't expect that from a foreigner, so she felt embarrassed, and I told her in japanese "Don't worry, here is, be careful next time". She bowed several times while her classmates were a little bit surprised and stopped and started looking at me, like, so....surprised Two of the teachers were smiling and thanked me too, in english (even they turned around to look at me sometimes while walking.......). A beautiful and a little bit strange moment to remember.....and my fiancee didn't see anything of that....goddammit
I asked a group of children for directions when I was in Suzhou, as soon as they understood where I wanted to go they grabbed my hands and pulled me along. They really seemed to enjoy meeting a westerner.
it's hard to get straight answers from adults because they try their best to answer something which doesn't offend you, while kids just say whatever that pops in their head, because well, they're kids. 😂
Thanks for reminding me of joyful experiences with Chinese children! One boy around seven or eight years old saw me reading on a flight to Inner Mongolia, and then asked, very shyly in English, if I was reading about Temujin (Ghengis Khan). I asked if he could read English, and he told me "I can read some words." His mother looked mortified, worried that her son was bothering me. I gave her a big smile to let her know I was enjoying the interaction. I kept that smile for the rest of the fllight, while he and had a great conversation. When we arrived in Ho Hot, I gave the boy all the American change in my pocket, as a souvenir. What a memorable smile! 🤩 Later that week, I was reading again, outdoors, when an elementary school got out nearby. I found myself surrounded by ten or twelve children, all joyous that they could practice their English with a foreigner. They made me feel joyous too! As it happens, I was a guest at the home of their school principal. When he learned how much I enjoyed interacting with the children, he took me to school the next day to talk to children in their English class. Those are some of my favorite memories from a trip that was full of great memories! 🙂
When I lived in Nagoya, I actually loved the kids. They aren't shocked you speak Japanese, they take it as a given. The lack of a filter means they'll tell you anything (I had one kid tell me how much he loved the movie The Ring, even though the teacher didn't want him to say that). I love Japanese, the culture and the people, but sometimes getting into the "in group" is difficult to westerners...especially in a place like Nagoya, where westerners aren't as common. Kids, though, they just said anything and asked you anything. I even had a kid get surprised by me when he ran around the corner at the grocery and screamed for a second and then asked "what are you buying?". So yeah, I really enjoyed when I got to teach classes (as a part time job, I went to school, as well).
When I lived in Okinawa, it was so much fun talking to Japanese kids! I am American, but they loved how my skin and hair was, even though it was just brown hair, they could not believe my Hazel eyes. You just have to accept it, they are not purposely being rude, they are just curious, they never said anything mean, so we let them touch our hair and carried them on our shoulders because we were SOOOO tall compared to the Okinawans, its was a ton of fun!
AnMing is always such an easy-going, nice and friendly lady, never take things too hard; there will always be some nice people out there. Take care and stay safe!
Being buried in the sand reminds me of a trip to Ibusuki years ago with our daughter. She worked in Tokyo for several years, was fluent in Japanese and we visited her a total of five times. During one trip, we cycled across the islands of the Inland Sea and, during another, we stayed at a campsite part-way through a hike through the mountains somewhere near Nara. I recall bathing in a river with hot water bubbling up from the river bed. At the campsite, we were cooking using the communal facilities and the Japanese just couldn't resist coming up and looking over our shoulders to see what the gaijin were preparing. They were really startled when our daughter spoke to them in fluent Japanese.
It's always fun to surprise people with language! Being a native HKer that grew up in the US, I blend in completely in Hong Kong appearance-wise. So whenever I strike up conversation with tourists and foreigners or when they ask me for directions or something, they're always surprised at how fluent my English is 😆
Yes. The most common comment I heard, especially from children was "foreigner!" In Taiwan and Japan, accompanied by a pointing finger. I found it more common in out-of-the-way areas of course, where visitors are less common.
I remember when I was in Mongolia a couple students approached me when I was walking down the street and asked if I could help them with their English homework. I was on my way to one of the museums, so we ended up walking and talking. It was just them asking me questions about my travel (Where are you from? What do you like most about Mongolia?) and them writing down my responses, but clearly the learning was from them having a conversation with a native speaker. This was back in 2018, but hopefully they got a good mark!
When we said we wanted to see more of you, we weren't expecting the beach scenes :-) There was a TV show in the 60s with Art Linkletter called "Kids Say the Darnedest Things" which was all about the honest unfiltered speech of kids, and it was quite popular (albeit, there were only 3 channels back then).
Yeah it's probably one of those shows that got versions of it in every single country as i remember watching a show with The same premise and title 00's Romania
I ounce said hello to a little kid in Japanese and his face lit up like it was Christmas it was so cute. We started talking and everything it was so adorable I can’t even. I love Japan and I’m blessed to be able to have and opportunity to live in it.
What a great video Anming. Interesting video, most of them seem to think nothing of it as much as 20 years ago where we were less common frequently going to other countries
Things have changed a lot from my first time in Japan in the late 1980's. Back then I could board a train in the countryside and send the elementary school kids sitting in the car into Beatlemania-like hysteria just by my being there. On my first visit to Nikko in 1989 middle-school girls were asking me for my autograph and having their photos taken with me. These days, on the other hand, I can walk down a village street somewhere in rural Japan and the local kids will barely register my presence. I think the JET program has done to lot to de-mystify the foreigner among Japanese children, many of whom have grown accustomed to having Westerners working in their schools and living in their towns.
There's still a little of that unwarranted celeb-dom. I used to live and work maybe an hour from Nikko about a decade ago and everybody knew my business. Most of my students figured out where I lived, their parents would stop me at the supermarket, and sometimes when I'd meet random locals, they would say "Oh, I've seen you around." Since I moved to Tokyo, all of that has disappeared. It's kind of nice knowing I can go around and do things without everyone watching what I wear and do and buy, but it's still fun/nostalgic when I travel out of town to less urban areas and I can feel that indirect eyesight feeling again -- except for this one time a racist girl in her 20s embarrassed herself in front of her date and a large group of stone-faced Japanese onlookers by complaining loudly about foreigners "ruining the atmosphere" before my bf and I made a point of having a *very* audible conversation in fluid Japanese (by "stone-faced," I mean the way Japanese people get when someone does something deathly embarrassing and they're all pretending not to look but you can tell they're all watching/listening intently).
They are curious.. especially in the more remote areas of Japan. the great thing is Kids never get tired of repeating things when you are trying to learn Japanese.. after living there for 3 years I can honestly say that kids helped me learn more quickly.
I want to go to Japan and many other places in Asia some day. I'm currently learning Japanese at school in hopes to become fluent in the language and reach my dream of becoming am interpreter. Love your videos, such an inspiration to continue my studies.
Love your attitude. I lived in several Asian countries from 2003-2009; Japan, China, India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, all of them vastly different cultures and yet I had a great time in each country, and you are 100% correct, learning a little bit of their language goes a very long way.
I remembered when I visited Japan there was a huge group of preschoolers walking to school the same way as we are and then one tripped and fell, then me and my cousin was like "OMG ARE YOU OKAY!? (Literally English🤧)" And then the little kid was like "eh? Daijoubo desu..." in other words, they were cute
When my husband and I were travelling in Japan got asked about a dozen times by school children for an interview - usually they had a class assignment to practice their English by talking to tourists. A small group of teenage boys stopped us at the Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto and one of their questions was how we met. When we told them we met on a dating app they were deeply, deeply scandalised. I know this is down to a conservative dating culture in Japan that starts with group dates etc. and dating apps have highly sexual overtones there. But it made us feel like we had said something inappropriate to minors!
gonna be brutally honest. There is a HUGE difference between seeing a pretty foreign lady and almost any foreign man. It's not even close. Especially when it comes to chatting to kids.
or just being what people consider attractive in general. id consider myself pretty ok looking but im plus size, and my japanese is pretty well, and when i went to japan i almost never had any experiences like this and heard a lot of people talking about me negatively because of my weight and even had a lady tell me that id be prettier if it weren't for my "Size". it didnt hurt me much because im thick skinned but its a whole different experience for some people.
I've found it helps to have some sort of obstacle between you and the kids so even if they get close, you still can't touch them. Then the adults tend to chill out. But you're still right about it being easier for a woman.
You are a very genuine and kind person. I love the way that your first instinct is to care for the happiness of the people you meet. If only the world had more like you.
3:26 - I run into this constantly - the students have questions to ask foreigners to practice their English. Most Japanese kids are shy so you can tell they are uncomfortable, but once they get started the really enjoy it!
I lived in Brazil for a few years and that's how I knew I'd gotten a handle on the language too. When I realized the kids weren't laughing the moment I opened my mouth. When you can talk with the kids and joke and have fun, you're doing pretty good.
We went to South Korea in July of this year and started our trip on Jeju. There, we didn't get a lot of interaction with adult locals but when exploring Jeju City we bumped into a couple of groups of middle schoolers who were very excited to say "Hello!" and practice some of their English while passing us by. A woman also scolded her son when he said hello to us as they got on the bus. He had his Tai Kwon Do Dobok on and I said "You do Tai Kwon Do? Taebak!" and he got all excited because I knew what he was wearing
Once in Japan on a high school field trip a bunch of elementary school kids just pointed to our group and shouted "外国人！！"* I wanted to yell back "日本人！！"* so bad haha. But sometimes it depends on how much those kids have been exposed to foreigners and possibly their age/stage in development. Because once I visited Aomori, a northern prefecture where foreigners rarely go. The kids there weren't used to seeing foreigners, but added to that, I think most of them were so young that they hadn't even formed perceptions about foreigners yet. They had no stereotypes; we were just people, which is nice for a change. (I'm talking like two or three year olds.) They just went right up to us and started saying random stuff, like "Let's play shiritori!* Do you have any dogs? Hey do you know what, I take the bus to school everyday!!" It was adorable. ❤ *for those learning! 外国人 = がいこくじん, gaikokujin, foreigner 日本人 = にほんじん, nihonjin, Japanese person/people shiritori = Japanese game where you take the last letter of one word and it has to be the first letter of the next word (literally "taking the butt" 😊) ~:~
I hope to learn Japanese one day to communicate to people like this, the world is full of amazing people. Right now I'm learning German, so I can't wait to go to Germany and speak with locals. :) Good video! Ps, the kids were so cute
WHERE'S OUR VIDEOS!? Well, this one took over 20 hours to make. I've just graduated with a master's degree in June and am hunting for an office job here in Japan. More videos to come once things settle down. The next video will be a day in the life at my old workplace.
Glad ur doing well. Hope everything goes well and your able to settle down soon.
All the very best for your job hunt. 👍Hope you get a job soon 😇🙏
Congratulations
Congrats on the masters degree . Hope you find work you enjoy. And make allot of money. But most of all stay happy and healthy. I always enjoy your vids. Thank you.
Can I suggest marrying first, based on surveys housewives in Japan are happier than working husbands.
I remember on my first trip to Japan. I came across a class of kids who were out practicing their English on foreign tourists, reading off scripts and giving out paper cranes. It was probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen
My dad visited japan and the same thing happened to him
I had a similar one, but it was nervous high school boys awkwardly shaking my hand and asking my name, plus "Do you like Kyoto?" and "Do you like Japan?". They were clearly waiting for tourists by a temple. I ended up in a group and got stopped by three of them one after the other, haha.
niice
@@Jabroniville Same i stood out a lot when i visited japan cause im dark skinned and the same happened but it was a group of girls i think they were like in 3rd grade.
😯
Kids have no "filter" - they say and do whatever pops into their head. Years ago, (after finishing my meal) a small kid came out of the restaurant to grab my hand and said "Hey Chinese man, come home with us." His mom came running out to stop him, and scolded him that you can't do that with a stranger. That's when I realized that small children are inhabiting a parallel universe in which ALL things are possible.
haha that's cute
What a nice way to word that!
That’s exactly right! Back when I was 4 I remember seeing a woman in the library with a little facial hair and asking my dad loudly in front of her “Daddy why does that woman have a beard?” My dad was mortified. 😄
so...did you go home with them?
Children are innocent when they young.
I’m a Japanese high school students who learning English. I have a strong feeling to want to create peace as many countries as possible, so I started studying English! and your voice is so beautiful✨ clear and easy to catch!! also your Japanese is so wonderful and perfect! I’m really happy you like Japanese! also the video was so much fun!! Thank you so much! 👍
And I love America! also all nations💫
I love you guys!!
That’s you so much! I wish you the best of luck with your English studies.
It's nice that you are learning English!! I hope you do very well! I was an exchange student to Japan in Showa58. I have many many pleasant memories of Japanese speaking English to me. 🇯🇵🇺🇸✌🏻
hi! I'm in Highschool 2! we should be friends :) It would be cool if we taught each other or just to be friends in general.
Sweet kid lol
Good luck with your studies!
Japanese kids r so cute and respectful.they always have smile on their faces.they r so approachable and friendly.
Japanese kids are really polite and friendly
Thanks so much for watching! I love Malaysia.
I Grew up READING all your comments
You're everywhere-
They really are they have such great manners!
Omg why are you everywhere??
Best memory of kids in Japan was walking near an elementary school baseball field
in Naha and the entire team surrounded me and asked me to make a muscle. Talk about making you feel like Arnold.
That’s awesome! They were impressed with your muscles lol
Okinawan kids are the best
Me and some Amercan Cousins decided to ditch Kokusai Dori in Naha and go into the back allies where people rarely see Americans, kids were just coming out of the woodwork many yelling '' This is a Pencil'' and giving us the Peace sign. It seemed a real treat for them to see us. It was a bigger treat for us to see them.
@@shinjaokinawa5122
This is probably a stupid question, but why is the peace ✌️☮️ sign a pencil ✏️? I don't get the logic. Is it a misunderstanding of the English, maybe?
@@zhouwu I do know that all the kids and girls give the peace sign.
The first phrase anyone learns in English Class is This is a pencil. when there is a group of small kids
they will simultaneously say this is a pencil while while doing the Peace sign.
The two fingers spread has become iconic and goes back to the 60's.
I remember it being everywhere by the 70's. So it is not unusual for kids to hold up a pencil and give the peace sign at the same time.
Kids are very fascinated with foreigners for sure. Keep in mind, about 90% of the population is Japanese and the rest are foreigners. When kids or even elderly see foreigners, they are sometimes surprised. I've even had times where an old woman will start randomly speaking to me in Japanese, it's pretty interesting haha. (keep in mind, I said about 90%. You don't need to message me telling me it's more, I was just estimating lol.)
Think it’s actually 92%, but that is just a few thousand different from 90%
@@nyancatbeatcreature.3782 that's like a 2.5 million difference
i dont know about the numbers exactly but when you say 90 - 92% are Japanese, among these 8 - 10%, a lot are Korean / chinese well.. asian . In term of non asian i think the number is much much smaller than that right ? I saw on another videos that most of the foreigners are mostly in big cities too. i assume that if you go to the country side as a western person black or latino etc... people would be like that : O _ O
@@wzz7380 Actually people don't know much about Japan, In Hokkaido there's large Russian, Polish, Danes and Australian population. They are Japanese citizens
@@sankujamatia525 is it only in Hokkaido ? I think i thought that Hokkaido was a special area 🤔 its the big island to the north with Sapporo right ? i saw an anime (sorry for the cliché) about Aïnou people and got interested into their story. Its like a mix of Russia and north japanese if im not mistaken. Didnt know about polish australian and dane though. What do you say by " large" ? Because as a french i live into a very very mixed country, i think we dont have the same notion of " large" when it comes to count the non native :')
修学旅行で、外国人に英語で話しかける、というミッションのようなものがあったの思い出した
しかも2組以上だったはず…！
中学生には難易度高すぎだよ😢て思ったけど皆さん笑顔で気さくに応じてくれたし、中学生の拙い発音でも理解しようと耳を傾けたりしてくれてめっちゃ嬉しかったなあ🥰
動画で似たような子達出てきてて、微笑ましくなった
👏🏻♥️
もしかして京都？
東京か？
自分もありましたw懐かしい
でも一向に話しかけれないままその日は終了しました
今までその日の為に同じチームの子と沢山練習してきたのに結局水の泡になりましたww
あれ、観光に来てはる外国の人に対してめっちゃ失礼やよね
子どもの時は先生が神だったんで、なんも思わんかったけど
They still do this. It's cute to most foreigners.
We had a group of kids trying to speak English to us in Kyoto when I was just there.
I'm sure I sounded just as bad to them with only my 6 months of Pimsleur lessons in Japanese.
Reminds me of that video where an afican kid was scared of a guy because he "looked like a ghost" that was hilarious
I want to interview a few of my African-American friends here in Japan. Some of them have some crazy stories to tell about their experiences.
@@OrientalPearl kindly do it
@@OrientalPearl African kids are not ready for round two ghost
Oh hey I just clicked from that video
I actually just saw that video!
Hahaha, died when the kid said your tummy is different from mine 😂
So cute! No judgement, just an observation 😁
Naw I died when he started to tap it.
Kids don't even give that stuff a second thought. One time I gave my 5 year old nephew a hug after having put on some weight since I last saw him and mid hug he says to me "Whoa Uncle, your tummy got big!!". Obviously the next day I went on a diet...
Just raw honesty. It's sad that we adults lost the ability to manifest our feelings so pure as kids but it's understandable
@@alextogo8367 fun fact, that's how Japanese generally signal you that you're getting fat(adults/teens) since being fat is frowned upon in Japan.
When I was in Japan a few years ago, absolutely no Japanese people paid attention to me, which, as a afro American, kinda surprised me. The Chinese tourists, however, wanted me to pose for pictures with them for no reason. One guy put his arm around me and said "Kobe!" Lmao I look like Kobe Bryant the same way Paul Rudd looks like Charlie Sheen. 😂
LOL we dont hate anyone but weebs
@SpidermaN79 It's the 14th Street Bridges in Washington D.C. where I'm from. They connect VA to DC.
@@bangawa3441 That must be awkward, because us weebs LOVE you !.
The "Kobe" tho😂
@@bangawa3441 There was this one super weeb on our trip who was bowing to random buildings and refused to speak English for most of the trip. 😂🤦🏾♂️
I remember when we were visiting the Silver Temple in Kyoto with our son who is fluent in Japanese. A bunch of kids got off a school bus to tour the shrine at around the same time. When they discovered that Dan could converse with them in Japanese, they were utterly delighted and flooded him with questions. They also tried to speak to my wife and I in English. It was great fun, and they were very sweet.
Awww
*...my wife and me... They tried to speak to me in English.
@@BariumCobaltNitrog3n Grammar Nazi...😆
@@BariumCobaltNitrog3n thats not an actual correction, my wife and I works as well mate
@@DeletedDevilDeletedAngel Nope. "They tried to speak to I in English." That sounds right to you?
"They're all bad. Nobody's feelings are hurt, they're just all bad"
*ah yes, true equality*
i literally look at this comment when she said that
Americans are so sweet that's why they put nuclear in Japan
I mean, sometimes even I hate the west.
”I can't say I hate any country, because you know human are all bad.”
*Asia philosophy*
@@waohope And then there is China
"Are u with the Olympics"
Lol
I feel honored to be asked that lol
@@OrientalPearl i would be too 😆
@@OrientalPearl that's when you know all your hard work at the gym has paid off. :)
@@OrientalPearl proper response … “yes I throw javelin” 😝
Nah, im mostly Japanese lol
Kids are the cutest at that age. Savage and straightforward and you can’t be mad at them for being brutally honest😂
5～6歳ぐらいの頃かな、近所の公園で、金髪の子供たちと遊んだ記憶がかすかにある。
お互い何話しているかわからないけど、何かわからないけど、楽しく遊んだ。
aww that's so sweet 😭😭I guess since I'm american I just kinda take for granted living around people of many different races all the time. It's interesting to hear about how different it is for people in other parts of the world.
Did they speak Japanese?
My first time in Kyoto, I was standing next to a group of school kids and a few of them shouted "Hello" at me and asked where I was from. It was obvious how cool they felt, speaking to a foreigner in English.
There are quite a lot of Japanese teachers that take their students to tourist sites in Kyoto to practice speaking English with the foreign tourists.
@@OrientalPearl Wow, I had no idea. Very cool! It's cute when you see them trying to get up the courage to speak to you. I could never imagined doing that, as a kid.
Same thing happened to me in taipei. I got lots of children wanting to practice English and even plenty of 30 to 40yo who were taking an English class. Approached me with a set of almost identical questions. All of them were very polite and I enjoyed being able to help them out. I also helped a grandmother find a museum, I was going to it as well. Her cute little grandson spends half his time in England. So I had a nice conversation with him on the bus to the museum.
Honestly, I'm glad that Japanese natives are getting exposed to foreigners at such an early age. There will come a time where seeing someone THAT different from you will not be a big deal and it would be a moment of coexistence that we should strive for.
I feel the same way.
@@OrientalPearl Japan has an issue with xenophobia, and I've heard horror stories of foreigners living there having a hard time. From renting/buying a home to something as simple as commuting. They wont sit next to you nor engage you in conversation. They shy away from helping when you're clearly in need. But hopefully, there will be a time that negative incidents like those wont be the norm.
They have a wide range of weird. Dont have to be worry. At most it's Just xenophobia,not with the individual. More like ignorance of other countries' culture,just like americans.
Sometimes it's not a good thing. A lot of foreigns fetishize and harrass Japanese people because of 4nim3.
@@41tinman41 they wont sit in because they dont speak english in the first place, they value their own language which is what I envy in Japan. Foreigners should atleast be able to study Japanese language (the basics) and dont expect the locals to adjust for them. This is happening in my own country, foreigners doesnt bother studying our language who is living in our own country, some live for decades yet doesnt even try
“Your tummy is different from mine” That kid was going for it 💀
Kids are savage. Lol
No different from a three year old in America exclaiming “She’s faaaat!” They need to be taught to censor themselves 😂
@@joeycorsi9142 Not sure where you get that from, but you’re 100% incorrect. Only 3.6% of the adult Japanese population had a BMI of 30.0 or higher. Compare that to 43% in the US. That might account for the young boy’s curiosity. Just watch videos of people walking around Japan. You won’t see overweight people. This is not because of a social status of wealth. In fact, the opposite is true. The Japanese see overweight people as lazy and inefficient. So your assertion is likely based on conjecture or crossed wires about another culture you may have heard about on a random documentary you watched. I believe this may be true in some tribal African colonies, but as I haven’t researched it I won’t say it with any amount of confidence.
@@joeycorsi9142 no, that was in the older times when the wealthy people ate a bunch of food and didn't do work opposed from the citizens who worked all day and had a balanced diet.
@@Kirbyystomp y'all act like it's not though. People take offense to it. You can't be body positive for someone ruining and killing themselves. It's a sad pathetic thing to be. So preventable.
I lived in Japan for three years and I absolutely adore your videos. I hope I get to go back one day and appreciate and learn the language to converse because your videos are so inspiring.
I remember when I traveled to Japan as part of a special credit system for a month and we visited a children’s elementary school and I got up in front of the class and introduced myself in Japanese, and they asked me about my favorite movie (I said it was The Lion King) and the teacher gave me a ball game - the one with the wooden post with multiple sides that are shaped to hold a ball, which is attached by a string, and the goal is to flip the ball up by force and land it on top without it falling off. I flipped it over [it was my first time playing with this toy] and it landed perfectly on top, and the entire class was a singular chorus of “OOOOOOHHHHH”. They asked me if I’d ever done that before and I said no, and they were amazed, lol. Then as I was leaving a group of kids ran out and asked me if I was coming back. They are such adorable beings.)
Funny thing is, the cup and ball game has been in the West so long that it is old-fashioned here now. Heh!
日本人です。
グーグル翻訳で読みました。
おそらく『けん玉』ですね。Kendama
英語でKendamaじゃ伝わらないのですね？
細かく説明されてますね。
説明上手です😊
@@仕事したくない-s1h yes yes its Kendama.
@@仕事したくない-s1h なるほどボールゲームってなんだろうと思ったけど
けん玉の事かあ～納得 ありがとうございます。
Even I would of been impressed. I never could do that game as a kid.
The best reaction me and my friends got EVERYTIME we came across schoolchildren in Japan, was about our height. We are all around 190cm, which meant we pretty much towered over everyone there. The kids would look up to us in awe and start saying 'Woah, se ga takai!!', which was the funniest thing.
What does se mean
Height
@@elpino8503 it's something like "wow, amazing height"
@@devbrothonath9396 I'm starting to learn japanese, and I understood all the words except "se". I know Takai is tall
@@elpino8503 As far as i know, here "se" means height then "ga" is subject particle( used to refer to the person ) and "takai" means tall or high. All in all, it means "That person is tall" or "He has a tall height"
The day of the entrance ceremony at the school I'm working at, a 1st grader came to me and asked "外国人ですか？" (which means "are you a foreigner?"). Didn't expect that one 😂😂 Also, because I'm overweighted, some 1st graders used to run to me to touch my tummy 🤣🤣🤣
But my funniest experience was about 1 year ago, when I was living in Otsu (a small city in Shiga prefectura, near Kyoto). It was raining, so I was using an umbrella. A kid (maybe 8 years old?) passed by while I was waiting to cross the street, and then he looked up and realized I looked different. His face suddenly changed and he opened his eyes wide, and he kept staring directly at me with that shocked expression while he walked away (yeah, he was walking backwards so he could keep looking at me) 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thank you for sharing your stories. If only those moments were caught on camera.
it'd be perfect, if you gave him acorn that day
LOL. When i worked in schools, the kids used to pat my belly and say, "Pon, Pon , baby?" As a dude, it got old really quick.
For some reason this make me thinking of that scene from My Neighbour Totoro.
Sugoi.😂
Japanese people are known for their courtesy and respect towards foreigners. It's a beautiful cultural exchange when kindness bridges any language barriers.
At 0:36 covered in sand running to the water: "No, I'm not with the Olympics, I just swam here from America and now I'm swimming back."
Ha ha, that's a loooooong swim.
Lol
🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂😂!
Those kids don't seem any different than....well...any kids. They don't see the world through any political or socioeconomically inspired lens, they are just exploratory and honest. God bless them.
@The Goddess Alice they are the same my little cousin told a police officer fat and most of them just walk around being curious and the reason why they do or say bad things sometimes is because of the culture around them but being from latinamerica doesn't make you automatically a bad person it is just being born around bad people
And they luckily dont believe in gods unless some dumb adults tell them to...
@@HarryCaneNo1 Lol we tell our sister to cuz we have a Religion so
they only know life in there own little bubble.
@InstultMeOnTheInternetYouSadPos
There's one real god, but ofc people have different beliefs and religions
When we visited Vietnam, we stayed mainly in rural areas. Everyday children would come up to us and practice their English. They were so polite and respectful
Ok?
@@alexg2903 come on David ride your tiny bicycle and clean the tables.
That's so sweet. It happened to me and my friends but in Hanoi. We're Filipinos and obviously tourists. A group of middle school aged boys came up to us to talk when they saw us looking for something. They told us the directions to the opera house we were looking for and they were happy to speak in English.
Vietnamese culture is so good..parents teach the kid to respect and polite to older people , teachers, and help people when they need help..
@@alexg2903 hey i enjoyed his comment.
I remember my first time in Japan (Narita) almost 20 years ago… seeing the little school children walking to school in their uniforms and huge backpacks made me smile. So darn cute!
Kids. Are. SAVAGE. My favorite was a student of mine around 6 years old who pointed to a drawing of a queen with curly hair and her say “ew, she has weird hair like sensei ” 😅😅😅
True story! Kids don't pull any punches.
@@OrientalPearl i love it
🤡
3:21 OMG! I’m a foreigner living and studying in Japan and i was shocked to see my classmate posing,that was our little trip from 2019 in Asakusa!
Wowww , thats really an awesome coincidence
Wow talk about coincidence xd
That's so cool!
I love how kids often are basically like, you are fat or sometimes might even say you are ugly or something that might seem harsh, but they will still want to get to know you, they will still be your friend. They accept you the way you are unconditionally. They arent subjective yet, they see you as is AND take you as is. (Which ironically is how you develop your subjective views you have later in life)
I get this in my school. I'm a big beardy dude. I'm a teaching assistant. Comments are made innocently. I just tell them it never matters what anyone looks like, just how they treat you 😁
@@SingingPhatpants So what do they say when they have not been treated well enough to do math? They graduate not being able to figure anything out. Great treatment, but I bet your nice about it.
@@EarthSurferUSA your comment makes zero sense. My kids are all taught according to the Wales curriculum set and we work within the abilities displayed upon our first assessments. This was a side comment about personal remarks.
Yeh. when my big sister was still little she was on the bus with our mum when a really old lady get in. She obviously had some back problems and a big nose. My sister said "Mum! A witch!! 😱" Mum was so embaressed, but the old lady just laughed and said she hears this all the time xD
Nobody accepts anybody "unconditionally".
I found my visit to Japan amazing, everyone was so warm and kind and helpful we had many people walk up to us just to say hello and practice their english with us. Even at the train stations we never wondered for too long people always came up and offered to help , amazing beautiful country! sugoi!
Oh god, those boys at the beach probably thought: "just like the simulations"
?なに
"Watch those wrist rockets!"
"I thought these only happened in anime. How much lies have I been told?"
They had the best time in their lives
The comment i was looking for xD
As a fat guy who has lives in Japan for a few years, I absolutely lost it when that kid patted the guy's stomach. I understand that pain. XD
Also, yeah. My Japanese is like a preschool level and the kids are still SUPER psyched when I say something in Japanese. Blows their minds.
I felt that
In I believe 1993 when I was about 20 years old I was walking through the parking lot at Tokyo Disneyland.
I noticed far off in the distance a few girls coming towards me but they were pretty far away.
As the gap closed I could tell they were probably high school age or possibly college age and they seemed oddly focused on me for some reason.
As the distance began to close even more between us I kind of naturally and subconsciously shifted my path to avoid a head on collision between us but I noticed as I moved left or right they moved with me.
After doing this for several minutes across the very long parking lot they were finally coming very close and I could see by the look on their faces that they were simply amazed to be seeing me up close. Why exactly I had no idea. I mean I was a fairly handsome 20 year old, sure, but it was Tokyo Disneyland not the middle of Saga Prefecture or something like that.
Anyway as they apparently had a tractor beam locked on me we finally ended up literally face to face and so feeling a little awkward by the situation I said, "hello" in English and they literally started jumping up and down screaming like I was Tom Cruise or something.
It's the only brief moment in my life that I experienced ever so slightly what it might feel like to be famous. lol
PS. You ladies were rocking those bikinis. Yes, I'm old now but I'm not dead. :)
I love the ending. I’m old, but I’m not dead. 😆
@@OrientalPearl 😇
@@lamar_actual
Like Arnold put it: old, but not obsolete
@@OrientalPearl Put that on your gravestone. People will be like "Oh that's nice.....wait, wtf?"
@@exudeku I'm dead, not decomposed!
I can really relate to your observations about the children in Japan i taught English to elementary and junior high school students for almost 5 years in Japan and enjoyed every moment of teaching children which was a lot more fun and rewarding then teaching adults ..
This was amazing ! that little kid patting on that big guy's stomach was so funny and cute lol ... glad to see you back Anming. Awaiting more awesome uploads.
I loved hat clip with the slide and that kid. Gotta love those moments.
Kids really know how to keep you humble with the reality check.
I'm very glad to see another upload, I hope all is well. Best of luck with the job hunt as I know times are tricky right now.
Thanks for being a loyal fan! TH-cam stats said you are the #1 commenter!
I remember being in japan and we went to Hiroshima memorial park and there was a group of Japanese elementary kids and they were so excited to see us. They all waved hi and wanted to talk and speak with us, sadly we didn’t get to but it was very cute.
Aww, that’s adorable.
I want to be a Exchange Student in Japan someday when I am old enough. I’m 13. And I’m still following my dream sense I was about 9. and if I end up moving to Japan, I want to be an English Teacher. I love your vids! You really inspired me to follow my future dreams!
9歳の頃の夢を追い掛ける…とても素晴らしい事です！今でも日本の留学、英語の教師の夢を追い掛けていると良いな…私は貴方に尊敬を示し、応援しております！❤
I’m watching this at my friends house who learned Japanese years ago… I had no idea he knew Japanese and he was writing stuff down and he just laughed and went ‘yeah America’s pretty messed up’. And I looked up at him and was like ‘wa… how… what?’…. Umm so he’s gonna teach me Japanese now 😬 guess you learn something new everyday…
Alright! You have a Japanese teacher now.
Ahh I wish I had an in person friend that just happened to be learning Japanese or already learned it.
We went to Japan 2019 and while we took photos from the Temple in Nara some kids popped up out of nowhere and asked my husband to take photos with them because he looks so cool (he is Vietnamese/Chinese but was born and raised in Germany) 🤣 that was so cute. He also got a little present from them 🤗 wonderful memories
Awww, that was sweet to give them a present.
He wouldn't look much different since he is Asian too.
@@pantera141000 true but the kids recognized that we speak a different language and asked us where we came from :)
My favorite interaction with a kid in Japan was during a trip with some friends. We were talking to the 10-year-old daughter of the owner of the inn we were staying at. One of my friends, who is Slovenian, was pretending he was Japanese. The girl, of course, wasn't buying it. When he asked her why she thought he wasn't Japanese, she said, "because your nose is too big."
That was apparently a bigger clue than his skin, or his hair, or anything else. 😂
Wow, I never expected to see you here. The internet is so small. Shorah t'shem!
omg i am slovenian as well
Asians always point out that Westerns have big noises in the same way Westerns point out Asians'eyes as their characteristic feature... like they were a bigger clue than their skin, hair, or anything else :)
Thats funny
You can spot a Western artist immediately from a Japanese artist because the Western artist will always draw a noticeable nose, while a Japanese artist will draw a dot or the slightest curve for a nose.
The aesthetic of Japanese and just Asian culture in general is so pretty, it just looks like such a cozy place, their restaurants, buildings, roads and streets, the way trees are placed between buildings, dunno something about it just really speaks to me, I feel like it’d be a cool place to visit someday.
My son is a 6'8" American of European descent and when he went to Japan he was like a child magnet in the streets. They crowded around to get their photos taken with him!
If you're 6'8" you're gonna be an eye magnet everywhere i imagine
@@wezerd Especially in Japan or Asian countries where the height average is shorter. I'm Asain & I'm considered talled & I'm 5"11 ish. 6"8 is a fucking monster in Japan
@@wezerd Especially in a short country.
@@Hero4fun77 6'8 is tall even for european country ngl .
@@heatwaves8790 idk anywhere where 6'8 would be considered average tbh.. maybe nordic countries but idk
Beautiful video! I went to the Philippines for the first time in January 2020, and as always children are the best (anywhere in the world) especially in the province where not alot of foreigners visit. So many smiles and some confusion of a pasty white person was walking their streets. A beautiful people the Filipinos ❤
I had the same experience in the Philippines especially the first day I was alone there.
I think what the guy at the beginning was trying to say was, "I hate them all equally". Lol To a Japanese, that's probably more polite than just naming one. 🤣
Exactly! That’s his strategy.
Japanese never give a straight answer especially if it's something negative.
I think it was already indicated in the video ?
@@Mwoods2272 I hate and fear that
@@アシキン My impression is that he doesn't actually "hate" any of them, he was just caught off guard by her question. Having a Japanese mind, his two main choices were, "None, I like all foreign countries" or "I can't choose, so all of them". He just chose the second option.
Also, in Japanese, the commonly used "dai kirai" literally means "big dislike" which is translated as "hate", but I think the English word "hate" is much stronger than "dai kirai", and there are several other Japanese words to denote stronger levels of hatred.
"Go all in or just go home" Girl, you're so inspiring!
My experience when traveling in Japan was that kids they are very inquisitive, funny and I even got a free lunch when a group teenagers in Osaka asked if they could talk / have a conversation with me in English during their lunch break so they could practice.
I’ve been working at a hotel in Okinawa and honestly the best part about this job is that I can meet and talk with the kids. At first they are a little bit reluctant, but after they notice that I can speak Japanese, they would be so excited about it and start talking with me. Whenever they would see me in the lobby, they would greet me and high-five me and it is just so motivating man.
Kids are so pure that they're so brutally honest with everything no matter what nation or ethnicity they are.
My little cousin only speaks French and he always tells me how bad I am at speaking French 😭😂
@@toyaleejb7714 I tell my students that learning French is easy, because 2 year olds in Paris can do it! but somehow they don;t believe me
Like my beloved Mom would say until her dying day: "If the innocence could last forever."
I worked in Japan for 4-1/2 years - my family accompanied me. It was a fantastic experience. An adjustment at first but we did not want to leave. In the populous areas, it is possible to 'survive' on just a very basic ability to speak the language but making an effort to learn helps you truly experience living in Japan - even without being fluent. My middle son was in preschool and went to a Japanese school - he became fluent amazingly fast (typical for kids). As we travelled the world, westerners were more amazed that he could speak the language.
Aaah it reminds me when I lived in Japan, I'm a tall Spanish girl and really stood out. I loved how people were always kinda reluctant to help me when I approached then but when I spoke Japanese, they would feel relived and talk to me asking me a lot of questions ahah
The last couple of times that I was in Tokyo, I found myself taking to most people in Spanish as it was difficult to find any Japanese that could help me out in English. :)
One South American store clerk tried to hold back her tears when talking to me, and explained that she had not spoke her native language in nearly 20 years, and was so happy to do so... that was experience.
I went to Japan and managed to learn just enough to make sure I could be polite and respectful (I'm bad at languages so I did my best). And they praised me SO MUCH and I definitely didn't deserve it 😭
Potato. When you actually do get pretty good, most of them will stop praising you on your attempts at Japanese.
You my friend got jouzu'd
They will tell you you're good when you're bad. It actually means you are bad, but the rubbish attempt is entertaining them.
When you get proper good, they'll not comment.
That's japanese culture. It's not as well meaning as foreigners think.
This is especially true in Kyoto
日本語はインターナショナルな言葉ではないので、学ぶ人が少ないからこそ
『上手ですね』と褒めるのです
それは、みんな本心から出てる言葉なので
素直に『ありがとう』と言えば相手も喜びます
Love the intro.
I can see how this took a long time to edit -- the quality is so good.
We missed you!
Thanks. I really enjoy editing the parts with the natural scenery.
Pearl you are such a wonderful good will ambassador, thank you for setting such a good example, for Americans abroad. I live in Thailand and can speak some Thai and it goes such a long way, and people respect you for trying to learn. Sometimes westerners think the locals are saying something bad, they are not, most often they are only curious.
“Old people are the easiest to talk to because they are lonely” -funniest words I have heard all day
It’s funny, but true.
It is sad reality of Japan, actually. If you talk to old Japanese, you will learn quite a bit. Like, bombings of Tokyo or Hiratsuka.
I’ve only ever been to Japan once and I’ve never felt so happy and free in a different country ever it’s a great experience I think everyone should take a trip to Japan it’s a beautiful country
I was in Japan two years ago with my fiancee, then girlfriend (she's japanese). She came into a convenience store and I was waiting in the street.
In that moment many children were coming back from the school, all together. The little bag of one of them, a girl, fell down
I picked it up and I gave her; maybe she didn't expect that from a foreigner, so she felt embarrassed, and I told her in japanese "Don't worry, here is, be careful next time".
She bowed several times while her classmates were a little bit surprised and stopped and started looking at me, like, so....surprised
Two of the teachers were smiling and thanked me too, in english (even they turned around to look at me sometimes while walking.......).
A beautiful and a little bit strange moment to remember.....and my fiancee didn't see anything of that....goddammit
😂 she would’ve fallen for you all over again
Excellent comment....till that last word.
It might be a good idea to ask elderly Japanese people about their hometowns and stories about their past. I'm Japanese and I always do it this way❤
Hey that would be really interesting. But could you ask them in english too?
I asked a group of children for directions when I was in Suzhou, as soon as they understood where I wanted to go they grabbed my hands and pulled me along. They really seemed to enjoy meeting a westerner.
it's hard to get straight answers from adults because they try their best to answer something which doesn't offend you, while kids just say whatever that pops in their head, because well, they're kids. 😂
Thanks for reminding me of joyful experiences with Chinese children!
One boy around seven or eight years old saw me reading on a flight to Inner Mongolia, and then asked, very shyly in English, if I was reading about Temujin (Ghengis Khan). I asked if he could read English, and he told me "I can read some words." His mother looked mortified, worried that her son was bothering me. I gave her a big smile to let her know I was enjoying the interaction. I kept that smile for the rest of the fllight, while he and had a great conversation. When we arrived in Ho Hot, I gave the boy all the American change in my pocket, as a souvenir. What a memorable smile! 🤩
Later that week, I was reading again, outdoors, when an elementary school got out nearby. I found myself surrounded by ten or twelve children, all joyous that they could practice their English with a foreigner. They made me feel joyous too! As it happens, I was a guest at the home of their school principal. When he learned how much I enjoyed interacting with the children, he took me to school the next day to talk to children in their English class. Those are some of my favorite memories from a trip that was full of great memories! 🙂
3:53 かわええな〜投稿者さんも言葉遣いすごく優しくて素敵だわ😀
When I lived in Nagoya, I actually loved the kids. They aren't shocked you speak Japanese, they take it as a given. The lack of a filter means they'll tell you anything (I had one kid tell me how much he loved the movie The Ring, even though the teacher didn't want him to say that). I love Japanese, the culture and the people, but sometimes getting into the "in group" is difficult to westerners...especially in a place like Nagoya, where westerners aren't as common. Kids, though, they just said anything and asked you anything. I even had a kid get surprised by me when he ran around the corner at the grocery and screamed for a second and then asked "what are you buying?". So yeah, I really enjoyed when I got to teach classes (as a part time job, I went to school, as well).
When I lived in Okinawa, it was so much fun talking to Japanese kids! I am American, but they loved how my skin and hair was, even though it was just brown hair, they could not believe my Hazel eyes. You just have to accept it, they are not purposely being rude, they are just curious, they never said anything mean, so we let them touch our hair and carried them on our shoulders because we were SOOOO tall compared to the Okinawans, its was a ton of fun!
Ooh, I loved living in Okinawa in the 90’s. So much fun!!
AnMing is always such an easy-going, nice and friendly lady, never take things too hard; there will always be some nice people out there. Take care and stay safe!
Being buried in the sand reminds me of a trip to Ibusuki years ago with our daughter. She worked in Tokyo for several years, was fluent in Japanese and we visited her a total of five times.
During one trip, we cycled across the islands of the Inland Sea and, during another, we stayed at a campsite part-way through a hike through the mountains somewhere near Nara. I recall bathing in a river with hot water bubbling up from the river bed. At the campsite, we were cooking using the communal facilities and the Japanese just couldn't resist coming up and looking over our shoulders to see what the gaijin were preparing. They were really startled when our daughter spoke to them in fluent Japanese.
The two dudes putting sand on her were enduring hard
*They have my respect*
pog moment
@@comradeskulerr8522 ..
@Togos Na70 nah.. prob better if u dont find out..
@@comradeskulerr8522 I give you a pog moment.
At 6:29 I am pretty sure I have seen doujin with that title.
@@hermaeusmora424 You can't say that without providing the sauce.
Japanese people seam to be a curious & kind people . I absolutely respect their culture . I always wanted to go to Japan .
It's always fun to surprise people with language! Being a native HKer that grew up in the US, I blend in completely in Hong Kong appearance-wise. So whenever I strike up conversation with tourists and foreigners or when they ask me for directions or something, they're always surprised at how fluent my English is 😆
That’s great! I bet they are very impressed with you.
私は日本人です。
日本に来てこのように楽しんでいる姿を見てとても嬉しい！！
Yes. The most common comment I heard, especially from children was "foreigner!" In Taiwan and Japan, accompanied by a pointing finger. I found it more common in out-of-the-way areas of course, where visitors are less common.
I remember when I was in Mongolia a couple students approached me when I was walking down the street and asked if I could help them with their English homework. I was on my way to one of the museums, so we ended up walking and talking. It was just them asking me questions about my travel (Where are you from? What do you like most about Mongolia?) and them writing down my responses, but clearly the learning was from them having a conversation with a native speaker. This was back in 2018, but hopefully they got a good mark!
When we said we wanted to see more of you, we weren't expecting the beach scenes :-) There was a TV show in the 60s with Art Linkletter called "Kids Say the Darnedest Things" which was all about the honest unfiltered speech of kids, and it was quite popular (albeit, there were only 3 channels back then).
Ha ha, be careful what you ask for.
Can we have more of more of you 😉❤️👍
Yeah it's probably one of those shows that got versions of it in every single country as i remember watching a show with The same premise and title 00's Romania
Kids are pure curiosity and it is beautiful
I ounce said hello to a little kid in Japanese and his face lit up like it was Christmas it was so cute. We started talking and everything it was so adorable I can’t even. I love Japan and I’m blessed to be able to have and opportunity to live in it.
What a great video Anming. Interesting video, most of them seem to think nothing of it as much as 20 years ago where we were less common frequently going to other countries
Things have changed a lot from my first time in Japan in the late 1980's. Back then I could board a train in the countryside and send the elementary school kids sitting in the car into Beatlemania-like hysteria just by my being there. On my first visit to Nikko in 1989 middle-school girls were asking me for my autograph and having their photos taken with me. These days, on the other hand, I can walk down a village street somewhere in rural Japan and the local kids will barely register my presence. I think the JET program has done to lot to de-mystify the foreigner among Japanese children, many of whom have grown accustomed to having Westerners working in their schools and living in their towns.
There's still a little of that unwarranted celeb-dom. I used to live and work maybe an hour from Nikko about a decade ago and everybody knew my business. Most of my students figured out where I lived, their parents would stop me at the supermarket, and sometimes when I'd meet random locals, they would say "Oh, I've seen you around."
Since I moved to Tokyo, all of that has disappeared. It's kind of nice knowing I can go around and do things without everyone watching what I wear and do and buy, but it's still fun/nostalgic when I travel out of town to less urban areas and I can feel that indirect eyesight feeling again -- except for this one time a racist girl in her 20s embarrassed herself in front of her date and a large group of stone-faced Japanese onlookers by complaining loudly about foreigners "ruining the atmosphere" before my bf and I made a point of having a *very* audible conversation in fluid Japanese (by "stone-faced," I mean the way Japanese people get when someone does something deathly embarrassing and they're all pretending not to look but you can tell they're all watching/listening intently).
日本人です。
日本語とてもお上手ですね。
素敵な動画をありがとうございます!
自分も日本人として感謝します。
They are curious.. especially in the more remote areas of Japan. the great thing is Kids never get tired of repeating things when you are trying to learn Japanese.. after living there for 3 years I can honestly say that kids helped me learn more quickly.
I want to go to Japan and many other places in Asia some day. I'm currently learning Japanese at school in hopes to become fluent in the language and reach my dream of becoming am interpreter. Love your videos, such an inspiration to continue my studies.
Hope it work out i also working on my japanese Keep going!!
Nice to see you're still enjoying your time in Japan! Congrats on the master's degree too! :D
Thank you so much! Nice to see you here again!
@@OrientalPearl Always here. 🙏🏽😁
Love your attitude. I lived in several Asian countries from 2003-2009; Japan, China, India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, all of them vastly different cultures and yet I had a great time in each country, and you are 100% correct, learning a little bit of their language goes a very long way.
"your tummy is different then mine"
so young yet so savage.
That's why I love kids. They are straight forward and speaks what's on there mind.
I remembered when I visited Japan there was a huge group of preschoolers walking to school the same way as we are and then one tripped and fell, then me and my cousin was like "OMG ARE YOU OKAY!? (Literally English🤧)"
And then the little kid was like "eh? Daijoubo desu..." in other words, they were cute
When my husband and I were travelling in Japan got asked about a dozen times by school children for an interview - usually they had a class assignment to practice their English by talking to tourists. A small group of teenage boys stopped us at the Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto and one of their questions was how we met. When we told them we met on a dating app they were deeply, deeply scandalised. I know this is down to a conservative dating culture in Japan that starts with group dates etc. and dating apps have highly sexual overtones there. But it made us feel like we had said something inappropriate to minors!
gonna be brutally honest. There is a HUGE difference between seeing a pretty foreign lady and almost any foreign man. It's not even close. Especially when it comes to chatting to kids.
Yeah we live in a society
or just being what people consider attractive in general. id consider myself pretty ok looking but im plus size, and my japanese is pretty well, and when i went to japan i almost never had any experiences like this and heard a lot of people talking about me negatively because of my weight and even had a lady tell me that id be prettier if it weren't for my "Size". it didnt hurt me much because im thick skinned but its a whole different experience for some people.
Sam, the big guy in the video, talks to kids really well. He’s even better than me.
I mean if you are alone talking to kids, without the parents around is kinda creepy
I've found it helps to have some sort of obstacle between you and the kids so even if they get close, you still can't touch them. Then the adults tend to chill out. But you're still right about it being easier for a woman.
You are a very genuine and kind person. I love the way that your first instinct is to care for the happiness of the people you meet. If only the world had more like you.
3:26 - I run into this constantly - the students have questions to ask foreigners to practice their English. Most Japanese kids are shy so you can tell they are uncomfortable, but once they get started the really enjoy it!
Japan is a country people very politely and friendly,really good place.
I lived in Brazil for a few years and that's how I knew I'd gotten a handle on the language too. When I realized the kids weren't laughing the moment I opened my mouth. When you can talk with the kids and joke and have fun, you're doing pretty good.
This video was so fun!!! Talking to kids can be brutal, but it's worth it because they're so adorable! Can't wait for the next video!
We went to South Korea in July of this year and started our trip on Jeju. There, we didn't get a lot of interaction with adult locals but when exploring Jeju City we bumped into a couple of groups of middle schoolers who were very excited to say "Hello!" and practice some of their English while passing us by. A woman also scolded her son when he said hello to us as they got on the bus. He had his Tai Kwon Do Dobok on and I said "You do Tai Kwon Do? Taebak!" and he got all excited because I knew what he was wearing
2:50 the girl in the red shirt is absolutely gorgeous
Once in Japan on a high school field trip a bunch of elementary school kids just pointed to our group and shouted "外国人！！"* I wanted to yell back "日本人！！"* so bad haha.
But sometimes it depends on how much those kids have been exposed to foreigners and possibly their age/stage in development. Because once I visited Aomori, a northern prefecture where foreigners rarely go. The kids there weren't used to seeing foreigners, but added to that, I think most of them were so young that they hadn't even formed perceptions about foreigners yet. They had no stereotypes; we were just people, which is nice for a change. (I'm talking like two or three year olds.) They just went right up to us and started saying random stuff, like "Let's play shiritori!* Do you have any dogs? Hey do you know what, I take the bus to school everyday!!" It was adorable. ❤
*for those learning!
外国人 = がいこくじん, gaikokujin, foreigner
日本人 = にほんじん, nihonjin, Japanese person/people
shiritori = Japanese game where you take the last letter of one word and it has to be the first letter of the next word (literally "taking the butt" 😊)
~:~
I like mixing in different languages when im playing shiritori just to mess with people 😂😂
I hope to learn Japanese one day to communicate to people like this, the world is full of amazing people. Right now I'm learning German, so I can't wait to go to Germany and speak with locals. :)
Good video!
Ps, the kids were so cute
Those children are too adorable for words!