Summer has hit Japan.
Hello everyone it's your American friend Anming. I have been living in Asia since 2012.
But the first country I lived in was China.
And I stood out a lot there, especially around kids.
I noticed that they would turn to their parents and say "Hey look at that foreigner" when I walked by.
Or point or whatever. But after about 6 years in China I moved over to Japan
which is a completely different world. And you might have the chance to come over here some day
so you might be wondering "How are kids going to react to me?"
Well, we're going to be talking about that today. Make sure you subscribe and hit the like button.
If you're on a train with Japanese kids are you going to think to yourself "Man everybody's looking at me"
Or are they barely going to notice you?
If you happen to know some Japanese and you talk to kids are they going to react strangely
and laugh at you? Or are they going to listen to you like a normal adult?
Well speaking from my experience with kids in China, they're going to be brutally honest.
The moment I realized my Chinese had gotten pretty darn good was when the kids stopped making fun of me.
Because you know kids just tell it like it is.
Kids are quite savage about everything, especially how you look. Like this.
This guy talks more than me. Yeah.
I'm gonna go on the slide and no one can stop me.
That's nice.
He came down on his butt.
Yeah, that's a green bug.
But hey let's be good sports about it and give them their time, because in Japan childhood
is the only time you can be that direct, that brutal, that savage. And after that it's over.
But hey they might just be curious about you. They might just like you, those kids.
You made a fan. Hi!
He's like "Look at this babe." I'm sorry boo boo you're gonna have to wait a few years.
Most of the time Japanese kids are just completely in awe of you.
Especially if you can speak some Japanese.
It's too easy! Even a little Japanese really impresses Japanese kids.
They go nuts for it. They love it. They'll come right up to you.
Hi
Bye bye. Good!
I have been studying Japanese since 2015, but you don't have to study nearly that long to have
a conversation like the one you just saw. In fact I got started with these audio lessons on Pimsleur
and I highly recommend it to everyone. Go and check out the video description for Pimsleur.
It's very reasonably priced and a great way to start.
But hey even if you're speaking really good Japanese you might not always get a direct answer.
That's why I like talking to kids, because it is just so hard sometimes to get a straight answer
out of Japanese people.
New title for this video "Japanese avoid answering questions"
No, no, no, I say that they bad.
They're all bad. Nobody's feelings are hurt. They're just all bad.
Yeah, I hate them you know. Ok
Thank you. Yeah! Ok.
As a general rule for China and Japan kids are really interested in talking to foreigners directly and using English.
Dog! Cat!
Everybody wants to use their English, even the kids.
But in some cases they're not interested in you at all.
What I've learned from my travels abroad is that when you're in another country, when you're in Japan
you can poke and poke and poke and try to change the way things are, but
at the end of it you need to just accept it and have fun with it.
Go all in or just go home.
Jeeze you're already dirty!
Bye bye Anming.
One, two, three...
Hey I finally got a tan.
Oh Jasmine it's on my back too!
Good stuff, see you know what just go out and make friends. No need to be shy.
Even if it's high school boys.
Even if it's high school boys they'll talk to you.
They're the most willing to talk to you.
I'd say elderly people are actually the most willing to talk because they're kind of lonely.
But you know give Japanese people more credit. There's some really friendly people out there.
You should have gotten in. You should have let them burry you too.
You would?
You wouldn't do it?
Eh, party pooper!
Let me see your back. Let me show you your back.
You like completely got the bottom part.
There's no sand on my back. You guys are lying to me.
No way, I don't believe it. Maybe a little.