What is it like to travel to Japan without speaking any Japanese?

It won’t be a big problem if you don’t speak Japanese and travel to Japan, but this does not guarantee that the entire journey will be smooth and smooth. From time to time, you will always encounter some unexpected troubles.

First of all, if you don’t know Japanese and want to travel freely in Japan, I personally think there is no problem. It is even possible if you want to travel in depth. The following are all my own experiences and very useful methods that I have practiced. . ?

Let me introduce my situation first: I have been to Japan six times in two years, the first and fourth times being by myself. When I went there for the first time, I didn’t know any Japanese at all and went with a lot of enthusiasm. The whole process went smoothly.

When I went there for the third time, I learned a little Japanese by myself. I will talk about the details later. Moreover, I went to many very small places, such as Hita, Yomune, Oga Peninsula, Tashirojima (Cat Island), etc. It is basically impossible to communicate in English in these places, which once again proved that you can still have fun without knowing Japanese. A little deeper. ?

My English level is at a level where I can communicate simply in daily life. My spoken English is average and I can solve some simple problems such as communicating in a hotel, simply asking for directions, etc. Specifically speaking, when I want to say "good", I just want to think of good, which is an elementary level that I can't even think of nice. Thanks to my good grammar skills, I was able to speak a complete sentence, but the words I used were all good, very good. ?

Let me dispel a few concerns first: Place names are mostly Chinese characters, especially in big cities, so the feeling of looking at a map is not much different from looking at a Chinese map. Although the Japanese subway system is very large and has many lines, the important signs are very clear. Which platform and where to go are very clear and the guidance is very good. ?

With Google Maps on your phone, you have no worries and can’t lose it. There is really no place where complicated communication is required. In general, gestures and guessing are enough.

So there is no need to worry about having a bad experience when traveling in Japan if you don’t understand Japanese. The culture there does not conflict with ours. As for my personal experience, it is actually quite good.