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Pratique du shadowing : How difficult is travelling in JAPAN without speaking JAPANESE?

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  1. How hard is it travelling in Japan if you don't speak Japanese?0:00
  2. That's the question I got asked the most when I said I was going to do this Q &A video and I'm going to answer as many things as possible0:04
  3. in this video about my experience of travelling in Japan for the first time back in 2018.0:09
  4. Yoooo!0:14
  5. So back then my best mate James and I did like a one month loop around the country visiting many of the classic sites.0:15
  6. And in terms of language barrier, I don't remember it being that hard at all really.0:21
  7. English wasn't spoken fluently by many people that we met but certainly in terms of the touristy areas and the main cities and the people you speak to worked at0:25
  8. the hostels and hotels.0:32
  9. Their English was great and they could help you out a lot.0:34
  10. Then when you're out in your day to day sort of exploring, there was enough signs in English to make it okay.0:36
  11. And there was enough people who could speak a few words to help you out with what you wanted to do.0:40
  12. Oh, mo, te, ashi!0:44
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  1. Omotenashi!0:48
  2. Omotenashi!0:49
  3. What does it mean?0:50
  4. Omotenashi.0:52
  5. Welcome to Japan!0:52
  6. Welcome to Japan!0:54
  7. Japanese people are the most lovely polite people on the planet and they don't expect you to know Japanese.0:55
  8. So they're always willing to help out and like any way you go in the world, if you can learn a few phrases, like I'll get one of those phrase1:01
  9. book apps and even if it's just one or two tiny little things, it shows that you're making an effort and not taking their hospitality for granted.1:08
  10. But the one that always went down really well was Hajime Meshite, which means nice to meet you.1:16
  11. And any time we said that, they were like, oh, I just blew their minds.1:19
  12. And in terms of transport, like the main trains, like the bullet trains going around the country, the signs were in Japanese and English.1:23
  13. As far as I remember, the announcements were also in English.1:29
  14. The only trouble we occasionally have was like getting on the metro.1:32
  15. Sometimes all the signs would just be in Japanese.1:35
  16. But for things like that, you just want to be more prepared, like get a map of the metro saved on your phone.1:37
  17. That's in English.1:42
  18. Google is your friend as well for getting yourself around.1:43
  19. And Google Translate is a really good friend.1:46
  20. So make sure you've downloaded Google Translate in Japanese.1:48
  21. You can hold that up to signs and menus and get it to automatically translate what you look at.1:51
  22. And we also use that quite a few times just to communicate with people.1:55
  23. High nose is enviable.1:58
  24. So get Google Translate, especially once you get into more rural areas and more off the bean track.2:01
  25. They're not going to be speaking English, but if you've got Google Translate on you, it can help you out.2:06
  26. Learn some basic phrases just to show you're being polite and you'll be fine.2:11
  27. It wasn't like when we traveled in China at the start of our Hong Kong to New York trip, that was a real struggle with the language barrier, but Japan2:14
  28. was fine.2:21
  29. Easy.2:23
  30. So easy.2:24
  31. And speaking of talking to locals, I had this question, which is where, what is the best way to interact with locals?2:26
  32. Our main experience of doing that was going to the Isekaias, the small bars.2:32
  33. That's where we just sat down as a bar that can only fit 10 people and we just start chatting to everyone.2:36
  34. And I had this other question, like striking up conversations with locals.2:41
  35. Was it usually you guys or the locals that said the first hello?2:44
  36. Often it was the locals who just came to us.2:47
  37. They just wanted to say hi and, you know, practice their English and just ask what we were doing there.2:49
  38. Not an aggressive way and like a happy to see us kind of way.2:54
  39. So all flowed very naturally.2:57
  40. And in terms of filmmaking, everyone there loved the camera, which is why we managed to get lots of those interactions on film.2:58
  41. Like I've had comments on other videos in the past going, oh, why didn't you show more of the locals?3:04
  42. You showed so much of them in Japan, but you didn't show it in this country or that country.3:08
  43. And it's like, well, they, everyone there loved the camera and all up for it.3:12
  44. They're like, hi and all that kind of stuff.3:15
  45. Whilst other countries, people don't want to be filmed.3:17
  46. They're just going about their lives.3:20
  47. Like, can you imagine in England going into a pub and just trying to film some random people there?3:21
  48. They'll fucking knock you out.3:26
  49. And I guess that brings us on to the next question.3:27
  50. Is Japan as safe as they say?3:30
  51. I don't know who they are, but yes, Japan was super safe.3:32
  52. If I've probably never felt so safe in a country as traveling around Japan, like anywhere you go in the world, I always use the same common sense you would3:34
  53. at home.3:41
  54. But yeah, Japan, absolutely fine.3:42
  55. How is the backpacking scene in Japan for solo traveler meeting people?3:44
  56. We were there in January, which was off season.3:48
  57. So most of the hostels were empty and pretty dead.3:51
  58. So this is what a lot of the hostels been like in Japan so far.3:54
  59. Crazy!4:00
  60. Feel my heart all night.4:06
  61. But there was always tons of hostels to choose from in each city.4:09
  62. So having all that infrastructure there suggests that when it's high season, there'll be tons of backpackers around and you'll be absolutely fine in terms of meeting people.4:13
  63. We were just there the wrong time of year for it.4:20
  64. There were some exceptions to that and a couple of hostels like organized social things in the evening.4:22
  65. We made some friends and stuff like you normally expect.4:26
  66. So I think when you're not traveling there off season, you'll be absolutely fine.4:28
  67. Is it better to visit with a group and a local guide or alone with your girlfriend experience?4:31
  68. High from Spain.4:36
  69. I mean this question can be applied to any country really.4:37
  70. Like solo travel and group travel are very different experiences.4:41
  71. And both have their advantages and disadvantages.4:45
  72. Like in terms of Japan, if you're traveling with a group and had a local tour guide, they could probably teach you a lot more about the country.4:47
  73. You get a bigger understanding of their history and their culture.4:53
  74. There'll be more of an educational experience.4:56
  75. And any other people you're interacting with can't speak English.4:58
  76. They could translate for you.5:00
  77. So that's always an advantage.5:01
  78. But I've always been asked to put on a group tour in Japan.5:02
  79. And one of the things that makes me hesitate about it is one of our favorite experiences with going to the Isekai is where you can fit like 10 people5:05
  80. in and we just chat to the locals.5:11
  81. You wouldn't be able to do that on a group tour because I mean normally tours have like 12 to 16 people.5:13
  82. So you couldn't even fit the whole group into one bar.5:18
  83. And you certainly wouldn't be able to chat to locals the way that we did.5:21
  84. So if you do go the group tour way, I try and find an itinerary that has a good amount of free time in it.5:24
  85. So you can just go off by yourself or with a mate and just explore around and go to the Isekai is or whatever.5:29
  86. I try and get those experiences that we did when we were there solo traveling.5:35
  87. Heavy brother!5:39
  88. Yeah!5:40
  89. Did you experience any people of businesses who were anti -tourists?5:42
  90. We didn't see any of that at all when we were there in 2018.5:46
  91. I think that's been more of a recent thing that's risen in Japan.5:48
  92. Like I've seen about it on the Christ Boards of Broad in Japan channel, which is a fucking amazing YouTube channel by the way.5:53
  93. I've seen about it there, but it certainly wasn't a thing in our time.5:59
  94. And I think that what's given a rise to this kind of stuff is people have gone there and just sort of taken a Japanese hospitality for granted and just6:03
  95. gone around being a dick like some other YouTubers did.6:09
  96. But yeah, that certainly wasn't a part of our experience in 2018.6:12
  97. Pocket Wi -Fi or travel sim.6:15
  98. I used pocket Wi -Fi a couple of times in the past in trips and I just found it to be a bit unreliable and annoying.6:17
  99. I never bothered to buy physical travel sim cards because I was just so worried I was going to lose that tiny bit of plastic while switching them around.6:23
  100. But I now use eSims.6:31
  101. So AeroLoad is a really good one.6:33
  102. As an app you can just buy an eSim for the country that you're in and you're set to go.6:34
  103. So I do have an affiliate link for them in the description, so click on that.6:38
  104. And basically as soon as you land you can be on data straight away.6:42
  105. Is the onsen worth doing?6:44
  106. Well there's lots of onsen, there's not just one.6:46
  107. But yeah, onsen are great.6:49
  108. They come in different shapes and sizes and stuff, but my favorite ones with the private ones you can get at some of the accommodation.6:51
  109. You can just have it to yourself and really relax in the water.6:56
  110. And it's just, you feel so good after you've been in them.6:59
  111. It's not quite the same as a hot tub where you feel a bit dehydrated afterwards.7:01
  112. This is just that your whole skin just feels soft and smooth and you feel so relaxed.7:06
  113. And yeah, I absolutely love the onsen.7:11
  114. And that brings us on to tattoos.7:13
  115. What is the deal with traveling Japan and being heavily tattooed?7:15
  116. Like James had some big tattoos when we travel around and it wasn't really a problem anywhere.7:17
  117. I mean, some onsen won't let you in with tattoos, but some do.7:21
  118. So you just want to sort of ask ahead or just give it a quick Google and you'll find out where you can go and where you can't.7:25
  119. Japanese tattoo!7:30
  120. My name is Yakuza!7:33
  121. Which company was the Mario Kart with?7:36
  122. We used a company called Marikar and again I'll put a link for them in the description of this video.7:38
  123. And we loved it.7:43
  124. It was just so, it was so much fun.7:44
  125. How to rent a motorbike or car there?7:46
  126. What documents do you need?7:48
  127. We didn't rent any motorbikes or cars whilst we were there, but for the Mario Kart you did need an international driver's permit.7:50
  128. So I'm guessing that's going to be the same for a motorbike or car hire.7:57
  129. So make sure you've got an international driver's permit and then your normal license and hopefully you'll be fine.8:01
  130. I've had some people asking what would I do with just one week there or 10 days there?8:09
  131. I mean if you look at my two week itinerary, I guess for one week you could do three nights in Tokyo, one night in Hakone so you can see8:13
  132. Mt.8:21
  133. Fuji.8:21
  134. And then two nights in Kyoto and then one final night in Osaka and then fly home from Osaka.8:22
  135. That'd be a very rushed and quick week but you get to see a bit of the country.8:27
  136. How long is needed to travel the same route as we did but not feel rushed?8:30
  137. Well as I talked about in the itinerary video, we weren't rushed.8:34
  138. We had lots of chill out days and stuff like that.8:38
  139. I talked about how you could take our month itinerary and compress it into three weeks and still do everything that we did.8:40
  140. So our itinerary was pretty leisurely actually.8:46
  141. Do you think for a two to three week trip you should try and see a wide variety of places or focus on just a few and see properly?8:48
  142. I mean that's always the balance of wherever you go in the world.8:55
  143. But the nice thing with Japan is that transport infrastructure is so good.8:57
  144. And so with the bullet trains you can get around the country so fast and it's so comfortable and relaxing.9:02
  145. I always say sometimes the worst part of travelling is the actual travelling.9:07
  146. Like you'd be south east Asia or Central America and you have to get on a bus for 12 hours and some bumpy road and it's all cramped and horrible.9:11
  147. And it just takes it out of you whilst in Japan a travel day is like, oh cool I'll just get to sit on this train for two hours and9:19
  148. I'll be at the next stop.9:25
  149. So maybe it's a good country to take advantage of that and actually see a lot of places in a short time.9:26
  150. Hey mate, if you go to any other city other than Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, where would I go?9:31
  151. The main one that's missing from there for me was Hiroshima.9:36
  152. Like Hiroshima we had such a good time at.9:39
  153. Like I talked about it in the itinerary video how when people think of Hiroshima they just think of one thing, the Peace Memorial Park.9:41
  154. But it's actually a really fun city with a good vibe and there's tons of little day trips you can do from there as well.9:47
  155. So that'd be the one that I'd add.9:52
  156. But obviously there's tons of other places in the country to choose from but that's the obvious one that's missing from that list for me.9:54
  157. Was there anything that didn't live up to the hype there?10:01
  158. Yeah, I guess there's a couple of bits in Kyoto like the bamboo forest was just like crowded and just like, I'll call some nice trees.10:04
  159. But I think when you see the pictures of it like looking all quiet, it looks like quite a zen place but it wasn't that at all.10:12
  160. And the same with the golden temple there.10:17
  161. It's quite nice, it's a picture but it wasn't amazing.10:19
  162. We enjoyed our day because we rode our bikes around Kyoto and went to see those places so we more enjoyed it for like the journey and the activity.10:23
  163. But the places by themselves were just kind of meh, they were fine.10:30
  164. But having said that, some places that are worth the hype, also Kyoto was the Fushimi and Ari shrine and I absolutely loved that, I thought it was incredible.10:33
  165. Yes, it's super busy but as I keep talking about in the other videos, you can get there and it just keeps going on and on up the hill.10:41
  166. So the further you walk up the hill, the less crowded it gets and before you know it, you can have the place reasonably to yourself.10:48
  167. When is the best time of year to go with the least amount of rain?10:56
  168. I don't know but I do know how to use Google so let me find out.10:59
  169. The best time of year in Japan is spring, March and April or autumn, October and November when days are sunny and dry.11:04
  170. During the summer months made in September, the cities are hot and humid with heavy rainfall occurring across the country in June and July except for Hokkaido.11:11
  171. There you go.11:18
  172. Takoyaki!11:19
  173. What is it?11:20
  174. Octopus ball.11:22
  175. Octopus ball, okay.11:23
  176. Hi Carl, how's the food in Japan for someone who doesn't eat seafood?11:24
  177. Well James doesn't eat seafood, he can't stand the stuff and he did just fine in Japan.11:28
  178. He did end up eating a lot of fried chicken and so did I as well because it's fantastic.11:33
  179. Good?11:37
  180. It's just like KFC.11:39
  181. There's tons of food on offer everywhere that's not just seafood so you'll be fine.11:41
  182. And the final question is when am I going back to Japan for round two?11:47
  183. No idea.11:50
  184. I'd love to go back and I definitely will one day.11:52
  185. Jamie really wants to travel there, James would love to go back so I'm sure we'll get back there hopefully the next few years and I talked about the itinerary11:55
  186. video like if I was to go back there, what the itinerary might look like and some of the places it might check out so if you haven't seen that12:02
  187. already check out the itinerary video and check out the budget video so you can plan your first trip there as well.12:08
  188. So that's it, thank you so much everyone for sending in your questions about travelling in Japan.12:17
  189. If you haven't watched the Journey in Japan two part series yet from 2018 then go check it out if you've seen it already and go give it a rewatch.12:21
  190. But I'm about to head off to somewhere new in Asia that I haven't been to before which is Taiwan which is why I'm filming this in a hotel room12:28
  191. so tomorrow I'll be filming a brand new adventure and I'm super excited for you guys to see that so make sure you're subscribed and I'll see you again soon.12:34
  192. Bye.12:58

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