I grew up in NYC so I've seen people of all ethnicities since I can remember. It never occurred to me that some people have never met a person outside of their race. It's kind of bizarre.
“She also let me touch her face” Ahh the classic “foreigners look like dolls, I must touch them” attitude Cathy’s reaction and the camera cutting out were perfect XD
Actually, I think this is a totally normal reaction. Think about it.. its a culture that has basically no genetic variety. s of cource people will be curious to feel a persons hair... I think it might be somewhat curious, but definitely not racist .
I met my first Japanese person when I was 11 or 12. She was a 16 year old high school student from Japan. My family hosted her for 2 weeks in the US. I remember seeing her at first as this amazing, mysterious princess-like being from a far away land. After a day, it was normal, and like having another big sister. We didn't speak the same language, but somehow we communicated and understood each other. Maybe plus side of being kids. I remember the day she left we were all sobbing, her especially. TBH, I don't know what happened to her. I live in Shiga now, I remember she was from Kyoto. Maybe we've passed each other on the streets and not even known it.
I was waiting for someone to say it, but I think a few people might have had their memory jogged about an earlier time, or they made it up to not be embarrassed by saying she was the first.
i feel like the Japanese people who are being interviewed rarely give a detailed answer right away. Cathy has to continue on asking them questions to actually hear the whole story/opinion. it seems (to me, at least) very different from the western way of talking, when people first give a short answer and then expand it further without additional questions [from the person asking]. maybe it's just a wrong impression of mine though.
No you’re spot on. This is a common type of thing in Asia. It’s derived from how they’re taught in school iirc because asian schools teach memorization to pass a test (usually entrance exams). So a common thought process is to remember or answer with what is relevant information rather than expounding on an answer. In the west we’re taught to use more critical thinking skills when answering questions, and so the idea of reasoning naturally follows up an answer to a question. This is broad and probably overly generalized but I’ve experienced this first hand as a former ESL teacher in America. TLDR: you’re right and it comes mostly from differences in education.
My first memory of meeting a foreign person was when I was in kindergarden. My family hosted a Japanese girl for 2 weeks during the summer. She brought us a lot of Japanese toys for children and they were so different from anything I had ever seen. I had no idea how I was supposed to play with them but I enjoyed making my own game out of the toys. The amazing thing for me was how nice and polite they were, it really helped shape my perceptions growing up. Seeing how polite this Japanese girl was as opposed to all the Americans I saw on a daily basis. My family hosted a lot of exchange students from lots of foreign countries over the years. I remember stories about all of them but one I'd really like to share is about a boy we hosted from Yugoslavia. There was a war going on while he was with us and when his family would call they would whisper because they had to be quiet. I remember my Dad watching the news and I'd see tanks rolling around blown up cities... it meant nothing to me until I saw this 17 year old cry and say "That was my neighborhood" and when he would try to call his family he couldn't get through (they were okay thankfully).
The first encounter with foreigners that I clearly remember was on a motorcycle trip about 25 years ago. My dad and I pulled over at a rest stop in Colorado, and ended up parking behind a bus full of Japanese tourists. They asked to sit on our bikes and take pictures with us, so we obliged. They were some of the friendliest people we me on that trip!
I had met a foreigner fairly early in my life, I believe it was when I was around 5, maybe 4 I know I didn't go to school yet so probably 4 or 5, it would be unusual to see a foreigner in my country, I don't remember the place or where the hell that was but the moment of meeting a person who looks very different from others somehow got burned in my memory. Anyways it was an Asian dude (I think he may have been Chinese cause they were selling Chinese items, plus his eyes were really squinty and I mean it, there were lots of toys and I even asked my parents to buy me a plastic guitar thing, it was pretty basic and made of plastic but it was fun to use, if I remember correctly it broke after a few months. The dude had a very short haircut, he was almost bald and spoke with a funny accent, he even had a female which was also Asian looking and when I inquired him about his strange looks and the way he talked he said something to his female employee (relative? bride? Idk really) something in Chinese and she replied with something to which they both made a laugh. The stuff they sold was pretty cheap too. it was around 2004-2005 I believe
It's from an inquisitive person. And she now has a positive attitude towards foreigners all because that girl understood it was that person's first time and that person was innocently naive and found her interesting, rather than shouting, "You're racist!" as is common in the West. I'm glad that the foreigner was tolerant towards the Japanese. That created a much better relationship without the grief that has washed all across the West, where you can't do anything without being hated by people who love to hate.
Rationalific some people don’t like to be touched. So it would’ve been the Russian girl’s right as well to say “um no thanks, don’t touch me.” Even if it was Japanese girl’s first time seeing a foreigner. Japanese people themselves don’t have a touchy culture and don’t like hugging, touching, PDA etc. they can’t expect others to let them touch all over them when Japanese themselves don’t like it
I was reading through the comments and suddenly remembered the first time I met a Japanese person and had such an omg moment I thought I'd share. I think I was probably 19 or 20 or something like that and at the time I was super obsessed with anime, manga and all the likes (the term weeaboo did not yet exist, i'm old) and while on the bus to visit my dad for the weekend, i noticed the girl next to me was asian and reading what was obviously a guidebook about Canada. with all my weeaboo skills i was pretty sure that her book was in Japanese and got really excited. I really wanted to talk to her but i was too scared so i decided to pull a manga out and that maybe she would start talking to me since it was something from japan. that was a really dumb thing to think but it worked! we started chatting and she told me that she was on vacation and touring Canada in 10 DAYS. she didn't really have a plan for where she'd stay in Quebec City either so I was like "I'll ask my dad if you can stay with us!!" lmao... ( it's a good thing no strangers ever offered me candy on the street as a child...) so anyways, I did and she spent the weekend with us and we went to do tourist things with her the whole weekend. it was fun! on monday morning my dad even drove her to the airport super early... I've totally lost touch with her though. internet was a thing but it wasn't like it is now and she was pretty much a workaholic. I remember she had a really cool phone that was much more advanced than what we had at the time, hahaha... I wonder what she's doing now?
I was 12 when I met my first Japanese person. It was at Epcot at Walt Disney World, so it was the cast members that worked at the Japan pavilion. When I was in high school, I had a penpal from Japan (this was before the internet). We were the same age and when she went on school trips she'd send me postcards from where her class visited, like Kyoto. When she visited Tokyo Disneyland she sent me a souvenir park map (which I still have somewhere) and when she did a school trip across Europe, she sent me postcards from each city she visited. I remember she wanted to be an interpreter/translator when she finished school. Her written English was really good and she taught me how to write my name in Japanese, which was really cool.
In high school we had a Japanese exchange student, Haruka. Unfortunately she was in a different class than I was. The family she stayed with ended up not being nice at all and she didn't feel welcome, so she ended up moving to the house of one of my friends. Since my friends and I were already quite interested in Japan, because of anime culture, we asked if she could teach us a bit of Japanese. Through that we also found out that our English teacher had taught English in Japan too, so she knew Japanese too. And so every Wednesday after school we'd meet up with our teacher and Haruka and together they taught us Japanese. Now, about 10 years later, I still have the papers of those lessons. I found it difficult, though, and I guess I liked hanging out together more than learning, because I already had a huge load of work from doing extra classes in school. However, the friend who let Haruka stay at her place really was into learning. She already knew some Japanese and studied really hard with the help of these lessons, and did extra work too! After high school, that friend ended up studying Japanese at a university. I have the feeling those lessons were the kickstarter for that.
ah, I’m one of those who smiles and engages even in conversations at stores and such. after all, being open and having a good attitude makes the day go by faster.
The first Japanese person I met was my Aunt. My uncle married a Japanese lady and then moved to live with her family. I got to meet her when I maybe 10 years old, when they came to visit England.
the girl in the purple and dark green windbreaker was cute asfff so was the girl that was talking about when a foreigner smiles at them it makes her heart beat faster she was really cute too
i think the issue is whether or not u recognize they were japanese. im asian and i cant tell between chiense japanese or korean. sometimes its noticeable but most of the time i dont pay enough attention to figure out where they from
I'm from Spain and the first time I met Japanese was in USA while I was studying. They were really shy and not very confident sometimes (specially the girls), but always kind and they always wanted to help me if I had problems. They told me I spoke so loud and sometimes I was so direct. They also said I liked the party too much and I was friendly, because I didn't have any problem to talk with extrangers. After two months with them they started to be more open...
Out of curiosity, do you Spanish guys can understand Italian language? Perché io posso tranquillamente capire quello che dite ma non so se per voi è lo stesso...
Cathy Cat! Whats really great with the channel is that you show such a positive image to japanese people, among which some.may still in 2018 be biaised about foreigners or just awkward. And they getvto speak in japanese with a non japanese. Thats great. Thanks for all the foreigners that ll come afterwards in tge country xD
First Japanese person I met was called Yuki. Yuki was a roommate to a friend in University I had at the time. My first meeting and interaction with her was being asked to escort her back to her house by my friend one night, as Yuki was sacred to walk through the bush (across a dry riverbank and the trees and bushes which grew there between the university and where she was staying). We didn't really talk, but I walked beside her pushing her bicycle until we reached her house, then I went back to the University.
First Japanese I ever met was an exchange student at my boarding school. He lived with us at home half terms and occasional weekends, going back for holidays. He was an active sporty type, played American football back home, but adapted to rugby very well, ended up liking it more in fact. He was 6' by the time he left,so he must have been a real giant back home. We used to joke it was all the western food.
I was 35. I met two Japanese ladies on a subway train. They were asking what station they should exit to visit Hollywood. They were very, very shy, and reserved.
Before the pandemic, I worked at a hotel and we had a few Japanese people stay from time to time. At first, I thought of speaking Japanese to them, but I still haven't mastered the language. I am thankful to my coworkers who encouraged me to break out and try and when I did speak Japanese, they complimented me for it. I know it was just them being polite, but I felt happy that I connected with them.
I tutored a Japanese student in Computer Science at our university. Her name was Tamaka Tagaki. She spoke fluent English and played on the college tennis team. She was a part of a pair of Asian tennis players our school brought over. Her doubles partner was Sonja Hahn from Korea. They played doubles together and were quite good. I remember her mother called me one time (before cell phones). She was concerned that Tamaka might be having an American boyfriend. I didn't know who she was dating, I just knew that it wasn't me. I enjoyed tutoring the athletes.
I saw many Japanese tourists growing up and people in restaurants, but the first nihonjin I met was my sensei for Japanese language class in high school. Despite an interest in the language and anime, the big Asian community in my area was Korean and I had many Korean friends and we’d watch dumb teenage boy shonen like DBZ. It was probably many years later when I worked with a Japanese professor and I trained him a bit for our work, but I didn’t get to know him well. Thanks everyone for sharing your stories in the comments!
Never met any Japanese, but I did have two teachers from the Philippines during my first year of High school. Asian population is pretty low here, and from who do live here, are mostly either Chinese Americans or Philippians.
I took some japanese classes last year, so my teacher was the first japanese person I met. She could speak Dutch (i live in Belgium) , english , japanese and chinese. She was a little cute lady, maybe in her mid 40’s 🤗
I was around 16,at highschool whn I met a Japanese girl. I THINK she was an exchange college student who came for a culture event at our school their college was a part of(but she coulda been a HS senior too..) Her name Hana. And she was VERY glad I pronounced her her name correctly w/o needing to be taught. She actually gave me her FB account at the time to become friends n I was allowed to ask her whatever I was curious about of Japan. Sadly,I lost the paper the next day and opportunities were missed TT3TT
I have a Japanese friend named Kevin that I met back in 3rd grade. He was born here in the US but his dad is from Japan and they're both great people! Going to school with him was great even though he wasn't your traditional Japanese person. We'd always make jokes and get in trouble from time to time actually lol and he'd always bring me Japanese from when he'd visit his family.
I live in America so I met people of different ethnicities as far back as I can remember. I may have met Japanese kids in school but most of the asian kids were Vietnamese, Chinese, or Filipino (I’m from San Diego, CA). The first time I met Japanese people from Japan was back in high school. I was taking a Japanese class in high school and separate from that class, one day I found out there were Japanese exchange students who were at my school for a day. During lunch I went over and got to talk to a girl there, but I was so excited that I was saying silly things like “bet you can’t pronounce my last name because it’s 12 letters long” (it backfired). So I got to talk to a girl who was far shorter than me as we walked around during lunch period. Not much came of it. A few years later my parents and I hosted a Japanese exchange student from Osaka, and he lived with us for a year. It was great and I learned how to be a better person when living with a roommate of sorts (I was an only child so I never had a brother living with me).
College. Think he was exchange student. Saw him sitting on a bench, and I walked up and gave him my best "higemimashte" and he said it back plus a bit more in Japanese. Of course, I speak next to no Japanese at all so we chatted a bit in English. Never really hung out much after that, just different circles and activities and such, and soon he was gone but we connected on FB and are still FB friends today.
Thankyou! The Japanese people which you interviewed gave heartfelt and beautiful testamonials, "responses", to the questions that you presented to them! "Reizend " , "lovely"! Personally, I love Japanese people!
When I first came back to my country from studying in the U.S. I got a part time job as a tourist guide while studying, so I was asked to give a tour to a Japanese, so I did, and he was very polite, he gave me, my first tip, now I find that amusing, since later on I discover there is no tiping in Japan. 😄
The first Japanese person I know that I *really* talked with is my friend けいと. I've had to talk him through some stuff, so no happy happy fun time friendships really. But he's a really great guy and I play a fair amount of video games with him
Most european languages has at least some mutual intelligibility, so listening to these casual conversations without understanding anything else than loanwords, brings me a lot of joy
Yes, Recently I met one Japanese girl of 20/21 age in Shinjuku. I was speaking with her in Japanese fully but she didn’t speak Japanese back to me.However, I started myself to talk in English very fast later on that moment she didn’t understand what I said. I did it because I wanted to learn some Japanese with her but eventually she got me Wright and had a good time with her that day . Catty cat I wish I could meet you someday in Tokyo. Loved your hard work and dedication in japan.
I like the blue on you! Your make-up is really well done as well. As fro my first time meeting a Japanese person (that I knew was a Japanese person) was High School. I thought her fashion style was a little different from other students so I sat next to her on the first day of class and said hello. We became good friends from that day on. She moved back and I was very sad, but I have since met her in Japan and am living here now too thanks to learning about Japan from her. We only meet once every several years, but it was a good meeting. :)
I was 11 years old in 1969 when I went to Japan for the first time. Now, I have regular contact with people who live in Canada but remember Japan is their birthplace. Each time my life is made better through those contacts and exchanges. On a personal note: should you read this note - thank you for the “Ask Japanese” cultural insights. Perhaps one day you might travel here and add to your video library on Japanese influences in this amazing place.
It's always nice to see videos about foreigners in relation to Japanese. I don't remember the first foreigner I met nor do I even know of the first Japanese I met. Saying that, I'm 70% sure I haven't met a Japanese person yet. I've probably walked past a lot before I cared for Japan.
The first Japanese person I ever met was one of my mom's friends. I can't remember the first time I ever saw and spoke to her, but it was in middle school. She gave me some Japanese things like bento boxes and anime. She also let me recite a few lines to her that I remembered from Japanese songs, and she then translated them for me. I really liked the way the Japanese language sounded. It seemed really cool, fast, and difficult. One time when she invited my mom and her Korean friends over for a "non-American" dinner, I got to try some Japanese food she made since we all prepared food from our country. (My mom and I brought German dumplings) The funny things was that all the guests brought their husbands and children. All of the dads were American, so we children were mixed. So it technically wasn't a "non-American" dinner. (lol) But meeting a Japanese person was really cool since I got to ask some questions I had about Japan :)
I am from Philippines, the first time i meet a Japanese when my relative brought her Japanese boyfriend and introduce to us.If i'm not mistaken i was only in Elementary that time, He is so kind, down to earth and Of course his good in math he teach my brother in his assignment. Even though he cant fluently speak in Tagalog (our language in Philippines) and he doesn't speak fluently in english too, i appreciate him how he communicate to us a little by little. I hope i saw him again his from osaka, even though he and my relative broke up long time ago, His so kind anyway that's my experience about meeting a japanese people for the first time.
The first Japanese person I met was my Japanese teacher in college. I was horrible in the class but she liked me a lot from my out of class interactions. She knew I played in a rock band so she asked me to come and play a Japanese song for the class. My band mates were taking the same class so we sang it together hahaha!
My close friend brought a college roommate to camp and hike in the desert of Utah with us. He was an exchange student studying in Washington State. His name was Uta and came from Tokyo. His English wasn't very good but he was a kind person. I remember that he was over 6 ft (183cm) tall!
When I was in middle school I met my first japanese freind around 12 she was awesome and so much fun to be around but she went back to Japan I tried my best to speak Japanese and I’m still learning today “fighting”!!
Hard to say exactly as we had lived in Hawaii for a few years but I was in the 1st and 2nd grade. BUT my first Japanese person when we moved to Japan was in the base BX. She was very nice and suddenly I was hearing Japanese in person. NOT TV or the movies.A few days later my dad took us into the local small village and everyone was just so polite. IT was my first person to person with the woman who ran the tailor shop and my dad got my half a dozen tailor made shirts. Later we went into the city where my mom did some serious damage to the credit card. Unfailingly polite and friendly and all smiles My dad had come to Japan three weeks ahead of us to secure housing on base so he was already familiar with things. We were at the military base in Fukuoka and suddenly it was total immersion. I loved it and was a bit scared too. Not of the people just the sudden culture shock. Every store we went into they were all so nice and polite and in our first Japanese restaurant was the first time we had hot towels and lemon water to clean our hands with. This was back in the late 60's early 70s and I don't see that anymore. AND of course being young teenagers first Japanese words we learned were all the dirty words and curse words. We picked up the language to a small extent, enough to get around by cab and in some stores you could still dicker. You don't see that anymore from what I know. They were always surprised to see a couple of 13 and 14 year olds talking to them in Japanese (albeit badly) and then they were even friendlier. Then months later we were transferred up to Tokyo and that made Fukuoka look like a country hick town. We went to the Ginza and that was mindblowing. WOW. Well I could go on but that was my first experience with Japanese people. Hawaii then Japan. Wish I could move back to Japan. I can easily afford it but thanks to a stupid move, my record says I will never be allowed back even though it has been 43 years.
The first time I meet a Japanese person was when I was in 9th grade, she was a foreign exchange student, we became good friends, she spoke English very well, I miss her!!! It's been 2 years
My first real friend was Japanese. It was during pre-school in the U.S. (so age 4 or 5). My parents always said his parents were very nice. He moved back to Japan shortly there after. I'm visiting Japan this winter so I'm hoping to see him then. It has been over 20 years since I've seen him (I'm feeling old haha).
I am from Mexico, and I haven't met any japanese people, but I remember when I was 14 and my little brother was 1 or 2 years old, honestly I don't remeber well, but we met a chinese mom and daughter (the girl looked like 6 or 7 years old), and they didn't seem to speak any english or spanish. My mom and I were so distracted with the stuff we had to put in the car that we were surprised when we saw the girl making my brother laugh and playung with him. Her mother noticed it too and we smiled at each other and then they left to pay their stuff. It was the first time I met a foreign person, and I always smile when I think about that day.
The first japanese foreigner I met was a japanese teacher and interpereter. He taught me some japanese and etiquette, plus translated some car accessory pamphlets, and I helped him get some nice tires for his Prius.
The first Japanese persons I spoke to were fellow Babymetal fans in the queue at Wembley in 2016. Very happy, energetic people who were just glad to be able to connect with foreigners due to the same interest.
The first Japanese person I met was in High School, there was a foriegn exchange student, but I never had any classes with her and we didn't speak. My Second was in college when I worked in the International Relations Office. One of my co-workers was Japanese and he would bring us treats from Japan to try. Many girls had crushes on him but I don't think he had any idea!
I was born in Japan but moved when I was two. So I've just seen the pictures. But I had a Japanese nanny and my parents have some good stories. Beautiful culture. I guess they liked my blonde hair.
The first Japanese person that I met was on France. I went for a cultural exchange over there (I'm from Argentina), and he had previously stayed with the host family I was in, but after he had finished his own cultural exchange he had come back to France to study. By the time I was there he was around the area so he decided to visit the family and me as well. he was pretty cool but didn't actually know that much English, so I had to actually use the little french I knew. I was told by the host family that they've had problems with him when he stayed there, he wouldn't follow directions from females. The exchange company had representatives on the area that would organize events, one of them told us that it's very frequent for them to face problems with young Japanese males, since they come from a very patriarchal society they don't usually get along with the host moms. It should also be taken into consideration that Asian societies are very different from western ones, so it's not only the Japanese that experience problems, other Asians such as Chinese or Taiwanese experience severe difficulties when adapting to the language and the social customs.
*Also to answer the question in the video: I don't remember the first time I spoke to a Japanese person. It was probably when I was too young to remember. She was my dad's ex and is still his friend, so it makes sense.
Im peruvian n meet japanese people isnt frequent because they appertain to another social class n here is less likely meet to someone there for that reason. However some years ago i was working for "nikkeis" (sorry, i don't know the english name for japanese decendents in english) n unfortunately wasnt good experience. They r very hard workers nothing more. Greetings ✌🏼 🇵🇪
3:16 - Chosengo should be the same thing as Kankokugo, that is, the Korean Language. "Kankokugo" comes from "Hanguk" (a word for Korea). "Chosengo" comes from "Choson" (another word for Korea). If anything, "Chosengo" might be a North Korean variant (as "Kita Chosen" means "North Korea"), but then again, it might not be.
That is really surprising. It takes until they're adults to meet a foreigner fairly often. Even one from elsewhere in Asia. I'm Scottish and I couldn't even tell you when I first met one. It's so common, people that own shops, or food places, or teachers or class members or whatever else. For Japanese people though, I have never met one as far as I know.
I don't remember meeting any Japanese people in person aside from going to Epcot and trying out phrases like "Arigatou." I remember they said "Enjoy your shopping!" which not many people say. It was nice.
I live in Canada. So it's very culturally diverse. The city I live in even has a yearly event where we celebrate different cultures and get to experience them. They often have food, drinks, entertainment, dance, and merchandise from their cultures you get to experience. However, I only recently met and spoke with my first Japanese lady who came to my workplace one day. She had two cute kids and I recognized that she was speaking Japanese to them. She was very kind and I wanted to make sure I was correct. "Are you speaking Japanese?" She told me yes. I told her that I recognized it because I watch a lot of anime and learned a bit of the more basic phrases from doing so. As she left the store, she said Arigatō (Thank you) and I responded with Dōitashimashite (You're welcome). She was happy and smiled at me. I was happy I learned a bit of the language on my own, but I would love to take it in University. I want to visit Japan one day because I love their culture. I also want to visit the Ramen Museum. :3
i have some real close japanese friends since ive been born so yea it was always normal for me and even picked up some japanese from their parents which helped me a lot learning japanese recently
first time i encountered a japanese person was actually this january. i started to go to a Danish thing called "højskole" where there was 1 person joining from japan as well as several others coming from febuary to march. this is the first place i could take japanese lessons and is the only place like it in Scandinavia. the place is called Bosei and has good connections to Tokai university(where the other japanese students came from)
In the town I’m from (in Texas, USA) there aren’t many Japanese people at all. The first (and only so far) time I’ve met a Japanese person was when I was eating at a Japanese restaurant. He was making sushi, and I heard him speaking in Japanese so we talked about how he was from there and stuff, but I was too scared to speak to him in Japanese because I’ve never really practiced it with anyone before! He was really nice. I’ve met MANY foreigners in my life though because America is absolutely full of them. Even in my small town I’ve met people from all over the world.
Sensei Nakimura was the first Japanese person I met and spoke with, when I was 4 and living in West Germany. I didn't get to experience culture outside the dojo,, until I moved to Okinawa when I was 18. Sensei did teach us some of his culture along with some of the language, but it helped a great deal when I actually lived in Okinawa and visited Japan (it was just prior and after the King turned over all rights and title to Okinawa to the Emperor). I also discovered slang shouldn't be used as some words translate over very badly, earning me a well deserved slap once. For the most part, I found Japanese people are very forgiving with foreigners so long as one doesn't make a gross cultural error. I learned a great deal of the history and how it became embedded into their lives. One of the things I learned and admired from the Japanese was how they can hold on to their history and tradition, while accepting and integrating new ideals and technology. I am amazed at some of the old craftsmanship practices are still being reborn with newer technologies and being used by other cultures, such as the historic temples being earthquake resistant for centuries, yet only recently being used in modern construction in the West. Keep up the great videos! I always enjoy seeing what you post, though I wish I could find more time to enjoy them.
I met my first ever foreigner in preschool, she had just moved with her family but she couldn't speak any English, I played with her all the time and recently my mum told me that her parents had thanked me because I helped teach her a bunch of English
The first actual japanese people (as in lived in Japan and not Japanese-race from California) I met was a group of girls on tour in Germany, they wanted to pet my dog. We managed to communicate with our mutually spotty German. I'll admit they were so adorable and polite that I pretty much was tripping over myself the whole time.
The first Japanese person that I've had a small conversation with was last year when I was in SF's JapanTown. My cousins and I were sitting on a bench to take a photo, and a Japanese elder came up to us and spoke Japanese. She was pointing at us and basically said that we look cute and such. So I responded with "thank you" in Japanese, and she was surprised & asked if I can speak Japanese (in Japanese). Then I responded back (in Japanese) that I can speak alittle. She gave me the biggest smile, and walked away while waving bye to us.
The first Japanese person I’ve ever met was this girl named Caitlyn. She was half Japanese and she was the sweetest and most prettiest girl ever. Idk if she was born in Japan but I met her here in America
My first Japanese person I ever met was a wonderfully sweet woman named Yuriko who cut my hair for most of my life as a young boy ( I wanna say I was about....10? between 10 and 14) and she had known my Father for a very long time, having cut his hair when he was a younger man as well. She owned her own business and she was always happy to see me.
Lunatic _ exactly. They don’t want to use the foreign languages in japan basically, that’s what we feel uncomfortable while speaking with them in English. If you’ve ever planned to come to japan then Learn few of the Japanese phrases that will make you much confident while having communication with them all.
From what I understand, they don't get a chance to practice these phrases in the real world much. And when they do, they are embarrassed about not speaking correctly and second-guess even trying. This happens in America also, I see lots of people take Spanish in school, and when they meet a native speaker, go "Uh... hola. That's all I know."
@@ColumineMiette I think that is common to all cultures feeling embarrassed about your pronunciation of other language when you are going to talk to a native speaker, I'm Mexican and i've seen a lot friends get freeze when a american ask them a direction (Sorry for the poor english XD)
The first Japanese person I met was my Japanese language teacher when I was in Highschool. I was really shocked by the language when I first heard it spoken in person. I didn't feel entirely comfortable my first week there but I learned some basic phrases after having taken that class. She was generally bombastic and not reserved like some would expect. I later met another Japanese teacher my second year, he taught us how to write some kanji on the traditional rice paper and I thought the unit on Japanese fashion was funny.
I think there was an exchange student from Japan in another class when I was in middle school, but never really talked with him. I’m from a small town in Chile, we didn’t really deal with a lot of foreigns back when I was a kid to be honest, so my first interaction with one was when I got abroad myself.
I met a Japanese person for my first time (that I was aware of) not long ago. She goes to my city's running track where everyone nearby goes when they want to exercise. There's a Zumba club there and I was joining every week with my mom. Then we noticed an East Asian lady (they're not very common here), and my mom spoke to her. She said her name was Maki, she's Japanese, and she's married to a man from our country, Puerto Rico. I think she said she was from Yamanashi in Japan, can't remember right now. She's a bit quiet, but everyone in the club loves talking to her, she's pretty friendly! She says everyone in Puerto Rico have big and pretty eyes lol. Although, I find her eyes pretty as well. She's still going to the Zumba club at the running track every week!
I’ve never met a Japanese person, sadly, but I did go to a school when I was younger with someone who is from Vietnam and one of my friend is from Tahiti.
I only met my first foreigner once I came to Europe when I was 7. (I came from a rlly isolated place) I talked w one in broken English around 9? The more time passes the more foreigners I see specially in bigger cities. I think it's so cool to see people from other countries and hear them talk! I hope one day I can make a Japanese friend. Since I'm learning the language they could help me w it and I'd teach them English or Portuguese
I've come across some Japanese people for sure but I've never heard them talk. There's mainly Chinese people here. I can easily tell if someone is Japanese, Chinese or Korean if I hear them talk but I wish I could tell just by looking at their faces. It's a normal thing. I wish I saw more foreigners. They're so interesting honestly.
first time i talked and interacted with a Japanese person was when i was going to a conventiontion with a couple of friends here in Sweden. We often get groups of tourists like that, and they heard us speaking japanese on the train. Then 2 men came towards us and asked very politely if the could ask us some questions and take pictures. this was maby 2002 or 2003 so i was 17 or 18 years old
Typically, the closest I've come to interacting with Japanese (they might have been Chinese or in any case didn't speak English) was serving them at the checkouts. I like them. They get all quiet and hastily let me do my stuff, don't really get the social norms of shopping in England where the shopper packs the bags. End up handing me a £50 note for a small shop. Love it. (Yes, I gave change.) On another note, Asians just look so adorable, cute and beautiful compared to western folks. Never been to Japan, but I'd like to go.
I grew up in NYC so I've seen people of all ethnicities since I can remember. It never occurred to me that some people have never met a person outside of their race. It's kind of bizarre.
Massoud Abdel I know I never thought of those things before
Its crazy
never read comment like this, can you explain what does "i've never seen gaijin" card means?
i think it's different "saw a foreigner" vs "met a foreigner"
Seeing a gaijin and meeting one are two different things. Some Japanese have probably seen foreigners walking around but never interacted with them.
“She also let me touch her face”
Ahh the classic “foreigners look like dolls, I must touch them” attitude
Cathy’s reaction and the camera cutting out were perfect XD
Imagine a white person asking to touch a black persons face or hair. I dont think it would end well
John R they do....well, hair at least
i had people wanting to touch my hair a lot.... or my boobs XD
Because racist
Actually, I think this is a totally normal reaction. Think about it.. its a culture that has basically no genetic variety. s of cource people will be curious to feel a persons hair... I think it might be somewhat curious, but definitely not racist
.
I met my first Japanese person when I was 11 or 12. She was a 16 year old high school student from Japan. My family hosted her for 2 weeks in the US. I remember seeing her at first as this amazing, mysterious princess-like being from a far away land. After a day, it was normal, and like having another big sister. We didn't speak the same language, but somehow we communicated and understood each other. Maybe plus side of being kids. I remember the day she left we were all sobbing, her especially. TBH, I don't know what happened to her. I live in Shiga now, I remember she was from Kyoto. Maybe we've passed each other on the streets and not even known it.
April Israelson damn.. it's almost like an anime
April Israelson top 10 anime incest romances
what?! LOL
Maikoe HHAHAHA IKR
Kimi no wa except this the bad end :l
The russian word she said was "Hello"
You can also translate it as "Good afternoon!". "Hello" is just a common translation for "Zdravstvuite"
Привет!
It's formal(respectfully) version "hi" in russian - здравствуйте (zdravstvuyte). Unformally form of hi is привет (privet)
mostly all language has a formal and informal way to say hello. That isn't anything special
Sousuke82108 my first answer have little irony... Ehh, common guys
Why are you so serious :(
Some of these people seemed to be having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that they were being questioned by a foreigner fluent in Japanese.
Was anyone else hoping they'd say "you" !
legit, me XD
Me
"It's you, Cauthy Caut!"
I was waiting for someone to say it, but I think a few people might have had their memory jogged about an earlier time, or they made it up to not be embarrassed by saying she was the first.
i feel like the Japanese people who are being interviewed rarely give a detailed answer right away. Cathy has to continue on asking them questions to actually hear the whole story/opinion. it seems (to me, at least) very different from the western way of talking, when people first give a short answer and then expand it further without additional questions [from the person asking]. maybe it's just a wrong impression of mine though.
No you’re spot on. This is a common type of thing in Asia. It’s derived from how they’re taught in school iirc because asian schools teach memorization to pass a test (usually entrance exams). So a common thought process is to remember or answer with what is relevant information rather than expounding on an answer.
In the west we’re taught to use more critical thinking skills when answering questions, and so the idea of reasoning naturally follows up an answer to a question.
This is broad and probably overly generalized but I’ve experienced this first hand as a former ESL teacher in America.
TLDR: you’re right and it comes mostly from differences in education.
That is because we have an opinion on everything.
Atleast she's doing a god job at it and respectfully too
@@caladbolg777 Wow, that's really interesting. I can see how this plays a part differentiating western vs northern culture.
"never been to art school" love the random English shirt they wear
"Never Don't Give Up" 😂😂🤦🏾♂️
As a german I got a queasy feeling as I read that she hasn't been to art school
@@theeater8906 beat me to it
My first memory of meeting a foreign person was when I was in kindergarden. My family hosted a Japanese girl for 2 weeks during the summer. She brought us a lot of Japanese toys for children and they were so different from anything I had ever seen. I had no idea how I was supposed to play with them but I enjoyed making my own game out of the toys. The amazing thing for me was how nice and polite they were, it really helped shape my perceptions growing up. Seeing how polite this Japanese girl was as opposed to all the Americans I saw on a daily basis.
My family hosted a lot of exchange students from lots of foreign countries over the years. I remember stories about all of them but one I'd really like to share is about a boy we hosted from Yugoslavia. There was a war going on while he was with us and when his family would call they would whisper because they had to be quiet. I remember my Dad watching the news and I'd see tanks rolling around blown up cities... it meant nothing to me until I saw this 17 year old cry and say "That was my neighborhood" and when he would try to call his family he couldn't get through (they were okay thankfully).
The first encounter with foreigners that I clearly remember was on a motorcycle trip about 25 years ago. My dad and I pulled over at a rest stop in Colorado, and ended up parking behind a bus full of Japanese tourists. They asked to sit on our bikes and take pictures with us, so we obliged. They were some of the friendliest people we me on that trip!
I had met a foreigner fairly early in my life, I believe it was when I was around 5, maybe 4 I know I didn't go to school yet so probably 4 or 5, it would be unusual to see a foreigner in my country, I don't remember the place or where the hell that was but the moment of meeting a person who looks very different from others somehow got burned in my memory. Anyways it was an Asian dude (I think he may have been Chinese cause they were selling Chinese items, plus his eyes were really squinty and I mean it, there were lots of toys and I even asked my parents to buy me a plastic guitar thing, it was pretty basic and made of plastic but it was fun to use, if I remember correctly it broke after a few months. The dude had a very short haircut, he was almost bald and spoke with a funny accent, he even had a female which was also Asian looking and when I inquired him about his strange looks and the way he talked he said something to his female employee (relative? bride? Idk really) something in Chinese and she replied with something to which they both made a laugh. The stuff they sold was pretty cheap too. it was around 2004-2005 I believe
1:31 "She also let me touch her face" wait, what ?
I had that same reaction lmao!
It's from an inquisitive person. And she now has a positive attitude towards foreigners all because that girl understood it was that person's first time and that person was innocently naive and found her interesting, rather than shouting, "You're racist!" as is common in the West. I'm glad that the foreigner was tolerant towards the Japanese. That created a much better relationship without the grief that has washed all across the West, where you can't do anything without being hated by people who love to hate.
you wouldnt wanna touch a cute russian girls face?
Rationalific some people don’t like to be touched. So it would’ve been the Russian girl’s right as well to say “um no thanks, don’t touch me.” Even if it was Japanese girl’s first time seeing a foreigner. Japanese people themselves don’t have a touchy culture and don’t like hugging, touching, PDA etc. they can’t expect others to let them touch all over them when Japanese themselves don’t like it
I was reading through the comments and suddenly remembered the first time I met a Japanese person and had such an omg moment I thought I'd share.
I think I was probably 19 or 20 or something like that and at the time I was super obsessed with anime, manga and all the likes (the term weeaboo did not yet exist, i'm old) and while on the bus to visit my dad for the weekend, i noticed the girl next to me was asian and reading what was obviously a guidebook about Canada. with all my weeaboo skills i was pretty sure that her book was in Japanese and got really excited. I really wanted to talk to her but i was too scared so i decided to pull a manga out and that maybe she would start talking to me since it was something from japan. that was a really dumb thing to think but it worked! we started chatting and she told me that she was on vacation and touring Canada in 10 DAYS. she didn't really have a plan for where she'd stay in Quebec City either so I was like "I'll ask my dad if you can stay with us!!" lmao... ( it's a good thing no strangers ever offered me candy on the street as a child...) so anyways, I did and she spent the weekend with us and we went to do tourist things with her the whole weekend. it was fun! on monday morning my dad even drove her to the airport super early...
I've totally lost touch with her though. internet was a thing but it wasn't like it is now and she was pretty much a workaholic. I remember she had a really cool phone that was much more advanced than what we had at the time, hahaha... I wonder what she's doing now?
hi
@@mirbazhussain7529 hi
I was 12 when I met my first Japanese person. It was at Epcot at Walt Disney World, so it was the cast members that worked at the Japan pavilion. When I was in high school, I had a penpal from Japan (this was before the internet). We were the same age and when she went on school trips she'd send me postcards from where her class visited, like Kyoto. When she visited Tokyo Disneyland she sent me a souvenir park map (which I still have somewhere) and when she did a school trip across Europe, she sent me postcards from each city she visited. I remember she wanted to be an interpreter/translator when she finished school. Her written English was really good and she taught me how to write my name in Japanese, which was really cool.
2:52 imagine being so determined it makes japanese person of all people think they must try harder
In high school we had a Japanese exchange student, Haruka. Unfortunately she was in a different class than I was. The family she stayed with ended up not being nice at all and she didn't feel welcome, so she ended up moving to the house of one of my friends. Since my friends and I were already quite interested in Japan, because of anime culture, we asked if she could teach us a bit of Japanese. Through that we also found out that our English teacher had taught English in Japan too, so she knew Japanese too. And so every Wednesday after school we'd meet up with our teacher and Haruka and together they taught us Japanese. Now, about 10 years later, I still have the papers of those lessons. I found it difficult, though, and I guess I liked hanging out together more than learning, because I already had a huge load of work from doing extra classes in school. However, the friend who let Haruka stay at her place really was into learning. She already knew some Japanese and studied really hard with the help of these lessons, and did extra work too! After high school, that friend ended up studying Japanese at a university. I have the feeling those lessons were the kickstarter for that.
ah, I’m one of those who smiles and engages even in conversations at stores and such. after all, being open and having a good attitude makes the day go by faster.
11:32 German girl speaking English with a Japanese accent
makes it easier for them to understand
nah thats just her not changing her pronounciation for a single word.
Lol
This is so much better than watching TV. Great channel, very interesting to see Japanese people and culture. Really cool!
The first Japanese person I met was my Aunt. My uncle married a Japanese lady and then moved to live with her family. I got to meet her when I maybe 10 years old, when they came to visit England.
the girl in the purple and dark green windbreaker was cute asfff so was the girl that was talking about when a foreigner smiles at them it makes her heart beat faster she was really cute too
I’ve never met a Japanese person, but I did go to high school with someone from Taiwan and worked with someone who is Filipino. That was pretty cool.
Seven Clues I'm...fairly certain you've had to have met at least one Japanese person before, but if not....it's not too late?
i think the issue is whether or not u recognize they were japanese. im asian and i cant tell between chiense japanese or korean. sometimes its noticeable but most of the time i dont pay enough attention to figure out where they from
I'm from Spain and the first time I met Japanese was in USA while I was studying. They were really shy and not very confident sometimes (specially the girls), but always kind and they always wanted to help me if I had problems. They told me I spoke so loud and sometimes I was so direct. They also said I liked the party too much and I was friendly, because I didn't have any problem to talk with extrangers.
After two months with them they started to be more open...
Out of curiosity, do you Spanish guys can understand Italian language? Perché io posso tranquillamente capire quello che dite ma non so se per voi è lo stesso...
@@aristolov23 Yes, it's so similar!!
De Madre patria . Los españoles son la ostia conocido para entre amigo y Amigas u guy's so expressive joder tio
Spaniards liking to party too much? I can't believe that
Mas será que você consegue entender português manito?
Cathy Cat! Whats really great with the channel is that you show such a positive image to japanese people, among which some.may still in 2018 be biaised about foreigners or just awkward. And they getvto speak in japanese with a non japanese. Thats great. Thanks for all the foreigners that ll come afterwards in tge country xD
Whoah, I remember that dude!
What dude?
@@Swept1 The guy at 7:16 who's talking about the first foreigner he ever met. He's talking about me. :)
@@bobbyjudo wow I wasn’t expecting you to reply lol bc your comment was 2 years ago. That’s cool though
@@Swept1 RUclips notifications. FtW
@@bobbyjudo oh gotcha
I love your beautiful look! You are a very good interviewer. So nice!
Cathy cat always so cute
First Japanese person I met was called Yuki. Yuki was a roommate to a friend in University I had at the time. My first meeting and interaction with her was being asked to escort her back to her house by my friend one night, as Yuki was sacred to walk through the bush (across a dry riverbank and the trees and bushes which grew there between the university and where she was staying). We didn't really talk, but I walked beside her pushing her bicycle until we reached her house, then I went back to the University.
First Japanese I ever met was an exchange student at my boarding school. He lived with us at home half terms and occasional weekends, going back for holidays. He was an active sporty type, played American football back home, but adapted to rugby very well, ended up liking it more in fact. He was 6' by the time he left,so he must have been a real giant back home. We used to joke it was all the western food.
4:34 its so hard to interview these girls ahhaha poor cathy
It's like they weren't sure if she would understand XD
More like the girl on the left, she gave really short answers.
Niels I think she was really self-conscious and nervous lol if you see the expression on her face. She was feeling awkward. Probably a shy one
I was 35. I met two Japanese ladies on a subway train. They were asking what station they should exit to visit Hollywood. They were very, very shy, and reserved.
Before the pandemic, I worked at a hotel and we had a few Japanese people stay from time to time. At first, I thought of speaking Japanese to them, but I still haven't mastered the language. I am thankful to my coworkers who encouraged me to break out and try and when I did speak Japanese, they complimented me for it. I know it was just them being polite, but I felt happy that I connected with them.
I tutored a Japanese student in Computer Science at our university. Her name was Tamaka Tagaki. She spoke fluent English and played on the college tennis team. She was a part of a pair of Asian tennis players our school brought over. Her doubles partner was Sonja Hahn from Korea. They played doubles together and were quite good. I remember her mother called me one time (before cell phones). She was concerned that Tamaka might be having an American boyfriend. I didn't know who she was dating, I just knew that it wasn't me. I enjoyed tutoring the athletes.
I saw many Japanese tourists growing up and people in restaurants, but the first nihonjin I met was my sensei for Japanese language class in high school. Despite an interest in the language and anime, the big Asian community in my area was Korean and I had many Korean friends and we’d watch dumb teenage boy shonen like DBZ. It was probably many years later when I worked with a Japanese professor and I trained him a bit for our work, but I didn’t get to know him well. Thanks everyone for sharing your stories in the comments!
such a great reporter, kept asking questions when interviewers gave short answers.
Never met any Japanese, but I did have two teachers from the Philippines during my first year of High school.
Asian population is pretty low here, and from who do live here, are mostly either Chinese Americans or Philippians.
Filipinos you mean
I took some japanese classes last year, so my teacher was the first japanese person I met.
She could speak Dutch (i live in Belgium) , english , japanese and chinese. She was a little cute lady, maybe in her mid 40’s 🤗
I was around 16,at highschool whn I met a Japanese girl. I THINK she was an exchange college student who came for a culture event at our school their college was a part of(but she coulda been a HS senior too..) Her name Hana. And she was VERY glad I pronounced her her name correctly w/o needing to be taught.
She actually gave me her FB account at the time to become friends n I was allowed to ask her whatever I was curious about of Japan. Sadly,I lost the paper the next day and opportunities were missed TT3TT
I have a Japanese friend named Kevin that I met back in 3rd grade. He was born here in the US but his dad is from Japan and they're both great people! Going to school with him was great even though he wasn't your traditional Japanese person. We'd always make jokes and get in trouble from time to time actually lol and he'd always bring me Japanese from when he'd visit his family.
Omg her outfit is so cute at the very end!! 全部青い！
I live in America so I met people of different ethnicities as far back as I can remember. I may have met Japanese kids in school but most of the asian kids were Vietnamese, Chinese, or Filipino (I’m from San Diego, CA).
The first time I met Japanese people from Japan was back in high school. I was taking a Japanese class in high school and separate from that class, one day I found out there were Japanese exchange students who were at my school for a day.
During lunch I went over and got to talk to a girl there, but I was so excited that I was saying silly things like “bet you can’t pronounce my last name because it’s 12 letters long” (it backfired).
So I got to talk to a girl who was far shorter than me as we walked around during lunch period. Not much came of it.
A few years later my parents and I hosted a Japanese exchange student from Osaka, and he lived with us for a year. It was great and I learned how to be a better person when living with a roommate of sorts (I was an only child so I never had a brother living with me).
College. Think he was exchange student. Saw him sitting on a bench, and I walked up and gave him my best "higemimashte" and he said it back plus a bit more in Japanese. Of course, I speak next to no Japanese at all so we chatted a bit in English. Never really hung out much after that, just different circles and activities and such, and soon he was gone but we connected on FB and are still FB friends today.
Thankyou! The Japanese people which you interviewed gave heartfelt and beautiful testamonials, "responses", to the questions that you presented to them! "Reizend " ,
"lovely"!
Personally, I love Japanese people!
When I first came back to my country from studying in the U.S. I got a part time job as a tourist guide while studying, so I was asked to give a tour to a Japanese, so I did, and he was very polite, he gave me, my first tip, now I find that amusing, since later on I discover there is no tiping in Japan. 😄
Здравствуйте (ズドラーストヴィチェ）は丁寧な挨拶の言葉です:3
The first Japanese person I know that I *really* talked with is my friend けいと. I've had to talk him through some stuff, so no happy happy fun time friendships really. But he's a really great guy and I play a fair amount of video games with him
*I met my first foreigner at 0
*She was my grandmother
Most european languages has at least some mutual intelligibility, so listening to these casual conversations without understanding anything else than loanwords, brings me a lot of joy
Yes, Recently I met one Japanese girl of 20/21 age in Shinjuku. I was speaking with her in Japanese fully but she didn’t speak Japanese back to me.However, I started myself to talk in English very fast later on that moment she didn’t understand what I said. I did it because I wanted to learn some Japanese with her but eventually she got me Wright and had a good time with her that day . Catty cat I wish I could meet you someday in Tokyo. Loved your hard work and dedication in japan.
I like the blue on you! Your make-up is really well done as well.
As fro my first time meeting a Japanese person (that I knew was a Japanese person) was High School. I thought her fashion style was a little different from other students so I sat next to her on the first day of class and said hello. We became good friends from that day on. She moved back and I was very sad, but I have since met her in Japan and am living here now too thanks to learning about Japan from her. We only meet once every several years, but it was a good meeting. :)
I was 11 years old in 1969 when I went to Japan for the first time. Now, I have regular contact with people who live in Canada but remember Japan is their birthplace. Each time my life is made better through those contacts and exchanges. On a personal note: should you read this note - thank you for the “Ask Japanese” cultural insights. Perhaps one day you might travel here and add to your video library on Japanese influences in this amazing place.
It's always nice to see videos about foreigners in relation to Japanese. I don't remember the first foreigner I met nor do I even know of the first Japanese I met. Saying that, I'm 70% sure I haven't met a Japanese person yet. I've probably walked past a lot before I cared for Japan.
1:35 she says "Zdravstvuite", it means "Hello".
The first Japanese person I ever met was one of my mom's friends. I can't remember the first time I ever saw and spoke to her, but it was in middle school. She gave me some Japanese things like bento boxes and anime. She also let me recite a few lines to her that I remembered from Japanese songs, and she then translated them for me. I really liked the way the Japanese language sounded. It seemed really cool, fast, and difficult. One time when she invited my mom and her Korean friends over for a "non-American" dinner, I got to try some Japanese food she made since we all prepared food from our country. (My mom and I brought German dumplings) The funny things was that all the guests brought their husbands and children. All of the dads were American, so we children were mixed. So it technically wasn't a "non-American" dinner. (lol) But meeting a Japanese person was really cool since I got to ask some questions I had about Japan :)
I am from Philippines, the first time i meet a Japanese when my relative brought her Japanese boyfriend and introduce to us.If i'm not mistaken i was only in Elementary that time, He is so kind, down to earth and Of course his good in math he teach my brother in his assignment. Even though he cant fluently speak in Tagalog (our language in Philippines) and he doesn't speak fluently in english too, i appreciate him how he communicate to us a little by little. I hope i saw him again his from osaka, even though he and my relative broke up long time ago, His so kind anyway that's my experience about meeting a japanese people for the first time.
The first Japanese person I met was my Japanese teacher in college. I was horrible in the class but she liked me a lot from my out of class interactions. She knew I played in a rock band so she asked me to come and play a Japanese song for the class. My band mates were taking the same class so we sang it together hahaha!
My close friend brought a college roommate to camp and hike in the desert of Utah with us. He was an exchange student studying in Washington State. His name was Uta and came from Tokyo. His English wasn't very good but he was a kind person. I remember that he was over 6 ft (183cm) tall!
When I was in middle school I met my first japanese freind around 12 she was awesome and so much fun to be around but she went back to Japan I tried my best to speak Japanese and I’m still learning today “fighting”!!
Hard to say exactly as we had lived in Hawaii for a few years but I was in the 1st and 2nd grade. BUT my first Japanese person when we moved to Japan was in the base BX. She was very nice and suddenly I was hearing Japanese in person. NOT TV or the movies.A few days later my dad took us into the local small village and everyone was just so polite. IT was my first person to person with the woman who ran the tailor shop and my dad got my half a dozen tailor made shirts. Later we went into the city where my mom did some serious damage to the credit card.
Unfailingly polite and friendly and all smiles My dad had come to Japan three weeks ahead of us to secure housing on base so he was already familiar with things.
We were at the military base in Fukuoka and suddenly it was total immersion. I loved it and was a bit scared too. Not of the people just the sudden culture shock. Every store we went into they were all so nice and polite and in our first Japanese restaurant was the first time we had hot towels and lemon water to clean our hands with. This was back in the late 60's early 70s and I don't see that anymore.
AND of course being young teenagers first Japanese words we learned were all the dirty words and curse words. We picked up the language to a small extent, enough to get around by cab and in some stores you could still dicker. You don't see that anymore from what I know. They were always surprised to see a couple of 13 and 14 year olds talking to them in Japanese (albeit badly) and then they were even friendlier.
Then months later we were transferred up to Tokyo and that made Fukuoka look like a country hick town. We went to the Ginza and that was mindblowing. WOW.
Well I could go on but that was my first experience with Japanese people. Hawaii then Japan. Wish I could move back to Japan. I can easily afford it but thanks to a stupid move, my record says I will never be allowed back even though it has been 43 years.
The first time I meet a Japanese person was when I was in 9th grade, she was a foreign exchange student, we became good friends, she spoke English very well, I miss her!!! It's been 2 years
My first real friend was Japanese. It was during pre-school in the U.S. (so age 4 or 5). My parents always said his parents were very nice. He moved back to Japan shortly there after. I'm visiting Japan this winter so I'm hoping to see him then. It has been over 20 years since I've seen him (I'm feeling old haha).
I am from Mexico, and I haven't met any japanese people, but I remember when I was 14 and my little brother was 1 or 2 years old, honestly I don't remeber well, but we met a chinese mom and daughter (the girl looked like 6 or 7 years old), and they didn't seem to speak any english or spanish. My mom and I were so distracted with the stuff we had to put in the car that we were surprised when we saw the girl making my brother laugh and playung with him. Her mother noticed it too and we smiled at each other and then they left to pay their stuff.
It was the first time I met a foreign person, and I always smile when I think about that day.
As a 6 year old Australian kid, one of my school mates went to Japan. He told us there was a road bridge from Australia to Japan.
The guy at 5:58 it took him 1 second from who was it to knowing exactly who. that's some quick thinking.
11 when I first met a Japanese person she is so sweet!
The first japanese foreigner I met was a japanese teacher and interpereter. He taught me some japanese and etiquette, plus translated some car accessory pamphlets, and I helped him get some nice tires for his Prius.
The first Japanese persons I spoke to were fellow Babymetal fans in the queue at Wembley in 2016.
Very happy, energetic people who were just glad to be able to connect with foreigners due to the same interest.
The first Japanese person I met was in High School, there was a foriegn exchange student, but I never had any classes with her and we didn't speak. My Second was in college when I worked in the International Relations Office. One of my co-workers was Japanese and he would bring us treats from Japan to try. Many girls had crushes on him but I don't think he had any idea!
I was born in Japan but moved when I was two. So I've just seen the pictures. But I had a Japanese nanny and my parents have some good stories. Beautiful culture. I guess they liked my blonde hair.
The first Japanese person that I met was on France. I went for a cultural exchange over there (I'm from Argentina), and he had previously stayed with the host family I was in, but after he had finished his own cultural exchange he had come back to France to study. By the time I was there he was around the area so he decided to visit the family and me as well. he was pretty cool but didn't actually know that much English, so I had to actually use the little french I knew.
I was told by the host family that they've had problems with him when he stayed there, he wouldn't follow directions from females. The exchange company had representatives on the area that would organize events, one of them told us that it's very frequent for them to face problems with young Japanese males, since they come from a very patriarchal society they don't usually get along with the host moms. It should also be taken into consideration that Asian societies are very different from western ones, so it's not only the Japanese that experience problems, other Asians such as Chinese or Taiwanese experience severe difficulties when adapting to the language and the social customs.
*Also to answer the question in the video: I don't remember the first time I spoke to a Japanese person. It was probably when I was too young to remember. She was my dad's ex and is still his friend, so it makes sense.
Im peruvian n meet japanese people isnt frequent because they appertain to another social class n here is less likely meet to someone there for that reason.
However some years ago i was working for "nikkeis" (sorry, i don't know the english name for japanese decendents in english) n unfortunately wasnt good experience. They r very hard workers nothing more.
Greetings ✌🏼 🇵🇪
3:16 - Chosengo should be the same thing as Kankokugo, that is, the Korean Language. "Kankokugo" comes from "Hanguk" (a word for Korea). "Chosengo" comes from "Choson" (another word for Korea). If anything, "Chosengo" might be a North Korean variant (as "Kita Chosen" means "North Korea"), but then again, it might not be.
I met my first Japanese person when I took Japanese classes. Tanaka Keiko sensei!! Ichiban sensei desu!! ^-^ /
That is really surprising. It takes until they're adults to meet a foreigner fairly often. Even one from elsewhere in Asia.
I'm Scottish and I couldn't even tell you when I first met one. It's so common, people that own shops, or food places, or teachers or class members or whatever else.
For Japanese people though, I have never met one as far as I know.
I don't remember meeting any Japanese people in person aside from going to Epcot and trying out phrases like "Arigatou." I remember they said "Enjoy your shopping!" which not many people say. It was nice.
I live in Canada. So it's very culturally diverse. The city I live in even has a yearly event where we celebrate different cultures and get to experience them. They often have food, drinks, entertainment, dance, and merchandise from their cultures you get to experience. However, I only recently met and spoke with my first Japanese lady who came to my workplace one day. She had two cute kids and I recognized that she was speaking Japanese to them. She was very kind and I wanted to make sure I was correct. "Are you speaking Japanese?" She told me yes. I told her that I recognized it because I watch a lot of anime and learned a bit of the more basic phrases from doing so. As she left the store, she said Arigatō (Thank you) and I responded with Dōitashimashite (You're welcome). She was happy and smiled at me. I was happy I learned a bit of the language on my own, but I would love to take it in University. I want to visit Japan one day because I love their culture. I also want to visit the Ramen Museum. :3
i have some real close japanese friends since ive been born so yea it was always normal for me and even picked up some japanese from their parents which helped me a lot learning japanese recently
first time i encountered a japanese person was actually this january. i started to go to a Danish thing called "højskole" where there was 1 person joining from japan as well as several others coming from febuary to march. this is the first place i could take japanese lessons and is the only place like it in Scandinavia. the place is called Bosei and has good connections to Tokai university(where the other japanese students came from)
In the town I’m from (in Texas, USA) there aren’t many Japanese people at all. The first (and only so far) time I’ve met a Japanese person was when I was eating at a Japanese restaurant. He was making sushi, and I heard him speaking in Japanese so we talked about how he was from there and stuff, but I was too scared to speak to him in Japanese because I’ve never really practiced it with anyone before! He was really nice. I’ve met MANY foreigners in my life though because America is absolutely full of them. Even in my small town I’ve met people from all over the world.
Sensei Nakimura was the first Japanese person I met and spoke with, when I was 4 and living in West Germany. I didn't get to experience culture outside the dojo,, until I moved to Okinawa when I was 18. Sensei did teach us some of his culture along with some of the language, but it helped a great deal when I actually lived in Okinawa and visited Japan (it was just prior and after the King turned over all rights and title to Okinawa to the Emperor). I also discovered slang shouldn't be used as some words translate over very badly, earning me a well deserved slap once. For the most part, I found Japanese people are very forgiving with foreigners so long as one doesn't make a gross cultural error. I learned a great deal of the history and how it became embedded into their lives. One of the things I learned and admired from the Japanese was how they can hold on to their history and tradition, while accepting and integrating new ideals and technology. I am amazed at some of the old craftsmanship practices are still being reborn with newer technologies and being used by other cultures, such as the historic temples being earthquake resistant for centuries, yet only recently being used in modern construction in the West.
Keep up the great videos! I always enjoy seeing what you post, though I wish I could find more time to enjoy them.
I met my first ever foreigner in preschool, she had just moved with her family but she couldn't speak any English, I played with her all the time and recently my mum told me that her parents had thanked me because I helped teach her a bunch of English
The first actual japanese people (as in lived in Japan and not Japanese-race from California) I met was a group of girls on tour in Germany, they wanted to pet my dog. We managed to communicate with our mutually spotty German. I'll admit they were so adorable and polite that I pretty much was tripping over myself the whole time.
GRACIAS Francisco Javier.
The first Japanese person that I've had a small conversation with was last year when I was in SF's JapanTown. My cousins and I were sitting on a bench to take a photo, and a Japanese elder came up to us and spoke Japanese. She was pointing at us and basically said that we look cute and such. So I responded with "thank you" in Japanese, and she was surprised & asked if I can speak Japanese (in Japanese). Then I responded back (in Japanese) that I can speak alittle. She gave me the biggest smile, and walked away while waving bye to us.
The first Japanese person I’ve ever met was this girl named Caitlyn. She was half Japanese and she was the sweetest and most prettiest girl ever. Idk if she was born in Japan but I met her here in America
lol kyun~ so cute!
My first Japanese person I ever met was a wonderfully sweet woman named Yuriko who cut my hair for most of my life as a young boy ( I wanna say I was about....10? between 10 and 14) and she had known my Father for a very long time, having cut his hair when he was a younger man as well. She owned her own business and she was always happy to see me.
That one girl couldn't recal "nice to meet you" , I guess english is really that irrelevant in Japan lol
Lunatic _ exactly. They don’t want to use the foreign languages in japan basically, that’s what we feel uncomfortable while speaking with them in English. If you’ve ever planned to come to japan then Learn few of the Japanese phrases that will make you much confident while having communication with them all.
From what I understand, they don't get a chance to practice these phrases in the real world much. And when they do, they are embarrassed about not speaking correctly and second-guess even trying. This happens in America also, I see lots of people take Spanish in school, and when they meet a native speaker, go "Uh... hola. That's all I know."
@@ColumineMiette I think that is common to all cultures feeling embarrassed about your pronunciation of other language when you are going to talk to a native speaker, I'm Mexican and i've seen a lot friends get freeze when a american ask them a direction (Sorry for the poor english XD)
well she was taught by a guy that looked like steve jobs. just let siri do the work now
The first Japanese person I met was my Japanese language teacher when I was in Highschool. I was really shocked by the language when I first heard it spoken in person. I didn't feel entirely comfortable my first week there but I learned some basic phrases after having taken that class. She was generally bombastic and not reserved like some would expect. I later met another Japanese teacher my second year, he taught us how to write some kanji on the traditional rice paper and I thought the unit on Japanese fashion was funny.
どうも皆さんこんにちは😃
日本人です。
I think there was an exchange student from Japan in another class when I was in middle school, but never really talked with him. I’m from a small town in Chile, we didn’t really deal with a lot of foreigns back when I was a kid to be honest, so my first interaction with one was when I got abroad myself.
I met a Japanese person for my first time (that I was aware of) not long ago. She goes to my city's running track where everyone nearby goes when they want to exercise. There's a Zumba club there and I was joining every week with my mom. Then we noticed an East Asian lady (they're not very common here), and my mom spoke to her. She said her name was Maki, she's Japanese, and she's married to a man from our country, Puerto Rico. I think she said she was from Yamanashi in Japan, can't remember right now. She's a bit quiet, but everyone in the club loves talking to her, she's pretty friendly! She says everyone in Puerto Rico have big and pretty eyes lol. Although, I find her eyes pretty as well. She's still going to the Zumba club at the running track every week!
The Japanese people are very beautiful and very intelligent and very lovely 😍
I didnt meet a japoneses yet. 😓
I met my friend while in high school. She was an exchange student from Kyoto and was staying with one of my friends.
I’ve never met a Japanese person, sadly, but I did go to a school when I was younger with someone who is from Vietnam and one of my friend is from Tahiti.
I only met my first foreigner once I came to Europe when I was 7. (I came from a rlly isolated place) I talked w one in broken English around 9? The more time passes the more foreigners I see specially in bigger cities. I think it's so cool to see people from other countries and hear them talk! I hope one day I can make a Japanese friend. Since I'm learning the language they could help me w it and I'd teach them English or Portuguese
I've come across some Japanese people for sure but I've never heard them talk. There's mainly Chinese people here. I can easily tell if someone is Japanese, Chinese or Korean if I hear them talk but I wish I could tell just by looking at their faces. It's a normal thing. I wish I saw more foreigners. They're so interesting honestly.
first time i talked and interacted with a Japanese person was when i was going to a conventiontion with a couple of friends here in Sweden. We often get groups of tourists like that, and they heard us speaking japanese on the train. Then 2 men came towards us and asked very politely if the could ask us some questions and take pictures. this was maby 2002 or 2003 so i was 17 or 18 years old
2nd grade. A couple of girls were adopted and moved to the states.
Typically, the closest I've come to interacting with Japanese (they might have been Chinese or in any case didn't speak English) was serving them at the checkouts. I like them. They get all quiet and hastily let me do my stuff, don't really get the social norms of shopping in England where the shopper packs the bags. End up handing me a £50 note for a small shop. Love it. (Yes, I gave change.) On another note, Asians just look so adorable, cute and beautiful compared to western folks. Never been to Japan, but I'd like to go.