I always felt welcomed and the staff members usually tried to speak whatever English they could. I’m grateful for people’s kindness because it just helped me learn Japanese better.
You’re ordering food, not applying for a Harvard scholarship.
You point at the picture, do a bit of mime, a few grunts and ummms…. and badda-bing…. they bring ya some gyu-don.
*Looks at the menu, this looks good! *Calls staff, kore!
Went to an Okinawan izakaya by accident that had none of the usual Japanese izakaya food that I was asking for. Never ate Okinawan food. I couldn’t read the menu so I just looked at other people’s food and pointed
I used to travel often domestically for work in my early years here. When going out to eat in small towns, I would usually choose a restaurant that had familiar meals: ramen, yakitori, sushi, etc. So it was easy to just order that from the written selections on the wall/menu and a beer/tea. If I couldn’t find any, I’d find a local supermarket or convenience store for obento.
Just point “kore” to any photo on the menu
No picture menu.
“Fish, Sakana, no no. Nani *thumbs up*?”
Uma ok? *horse riding motion* kore *points to cheek*
“ok. Please”
I don’t know where the fuck I was but thanks that lady. I learned I like horse cheeks.somewhere on the way to shirakawacho
tasty experience facilitated by pointing to neighbor’s table in a “I’ll have what they’re having” gesture.
A bit tempered when realizing after that I was eating ホルモン焼き and that てっぽう = rectum
I’m not sure I’ve ever had quite that experience.
The first time I went to a restaurant on my own was Denny’s (so not particularly hard – picture menu etc – nowadays most family restaurants have ipad based ordering or whatever so totally simple).
The next was an okonomiyaki place which I’d never encountered before. It was quiet. A really pleasant teenage member of waiting staff came and explained how to do everything (including how to make monja) and chatted to me. They were really patient and repeated things and spoke slowly. That was nice.
But this was all in Okazaki which is hardly a small town (by my standards).
More recently, I was exploring over the hill by my house and came on an udonya that seemed popular with truck drivers. But I had practiced (with help from a friend) self-service udon and knew what to yell at the servers as I went past. Things were arranged in a slightly different order than ones I had been in before (they always seem to be) but I managed reasonably well. (My current cho has a population of 25,000 which may not be “small” but it is quite large and this was a small settlement within it).
But I know how easy it is to get panicked. I don’t eat meat, so I am more cautious than others might be. In an izakaya with a menu in grass script (or whatever) it is not at all easy.
The only fact that I was trying to use japanese made them smile and I think they were even kinder with me than with the other customers. Which is something I often experience now as a cashier in a convenience store too (part time worker). I get a lot of ‘がんばってください！’, big smiles and it always makes my day. One other thing I have observed is that when I am extremely polite like ‘御箸は要ります？’ or ‘スプーンお付けしましょうか？’, they immediately get extremely polite too and it’s very clear that they appreciate such effort from a foreigner. The second time I meet them they are already all smiles from the beginning.
I moved out to the inaka after about 3 days in Tokyo, so there have definitely been awkward moments. Honestly, though, getting local recommendations from friends and eating out with others helped a decent amount. Still the occasional struggle, but pictures (and some Google translate) will help you get by.
The staff freaked out told me there’s no English menu. I said that’s ok and made my way in. Then I had no idea what the menu said
Just go to a Macdonalds and be done with it.
one of the first restaurants was a yakitori with all the items packed in ice.. I just pointed.. owner was super nice
I’ve found that the staff want to talk more than I feel comfortable talking. Otherwise, it’s pretty straightforward. If it’s a small enough place you’ll want to make sure you can read hiragana and katakana or already know what you want since, as mentioned by others, there may not be pictures on their menu.
15 comments
I always felt welcomed and the staff members usually tried to speak whatever English they could. I’m grateful for people’s kindness because it just helped me learn Japanese better.
You’re ordering food, not applying for a Harvard scholarship.
You point at the picture, do a bit of mime, a few grunts and ummms…. and badda-bing…. they bring ya some gyu-don.
*Looks at the menu, this looks good!
*Calls staff, kore!
Went to an Okinawan izakaya by accident that had none of the usual Japanese izakaya food that I was asking for. Never ate Okinawan food. I couldn’t read the menu so I just looked at other people’s food and pointed
I used to travel often domestically for work in my early years here. When going out to eat in small towns, I would usually choose a restaurant that had familiar meals: ramen, yakitori, sushi, etc. So it was easy to just order that from the written selections on the wall/menu and a beer/tea. If I couldn’t find any, I’d find a local supermarket or convenience store for obento.
Just point “kore” to any photo on the menu
No picture menu.
“Fish, Sakana, no no. Nani *thumbs up*?”
Uma ok? *horse riding motion* kore *points to cheek*
“ok. Please”
I don’t know where the fuck I was but thanks that lady. I learned I like horse cheeks.somewhere on the way to shirakawacho
tasty experience facilitated by pointing to neighbor’s table in a “I’ll have what they’re having” gesture.
A bit tempered when realizing after that I was eating ホルモン焼き and that てっぽう = rectum
I’m not sure I’ve ever had quite that experience.
The first time I went to a restaurant on my own was Denny’s (so not particularly hard – picture menu etc – nowadays most family restaurants have ipad based ordering or whatever so totally simple).
The next was an okonomiyaki place which I’d never encountered before. It was quiet. A really pleasant teenage member of waiting staff came and explained how to do everything (including how to make monja) and chatted to me. They were really patient and repeated things and spoke slowly. That was nice.
But this was all in Okazaki which is hardly a small town (by my standards).
More recently, I was exploring over the hill by my house and came on an udonya that seemed popular with truck drivers. But I had practiced (with help from a friend) self-service udon and knew what to yell at the servers as I went past. Things were arranged in a slightly different order than ones I had been in before (they always seem to be) but I managed reasonably well. (My current cho has a population of 25,000 which may not be “small” but it is quite large and this was a small settlement within it).
But I know how easy it is to get panicked. I don’t eat meat, so I am more cautious than others might be. In an izakaya with a menu in grass script (or whatever) it is not at all easy.
The only fact that I was trying to use japanese made them smile and I think they were even kinder with me than with the other customers. Which is something I often experience now as a cashier in a convenience store too (part time worker). I get a lot of ‘がんばってください！’, big smiles and it always makes my day.
One other thing I have observed is that when I am extremely polite like ‘御箸は要ります？’ or ‘スプーンお付けしましょうか？’, they immediately get extremely polite too and it’s very clear that they appreciate such effort from a foreigner. The second time I meet them they are already all smiles from the beginning.
I moved out to the inaka after about 3 days in Tokyo, so there have definitely been awkward moments. Honestly, though, getting local recommendations from friends and eating out with others helped a decent amount. Still the occasional struggle, but pictures (and some Google translate) will help you get by.
The staff freaked out told me there’s no English menu. I said that’s ok and made my way in. Then I had no idea what the menu said
Just go to a Macdonalds and be done with it.
one of the first restaurants was a yakitori with all the items packed in ice.. I just pointed.. owner was super nice
I’ve found that the staff want to talk more than I feel comfortable talking. Otherwise, it’s pretty straightforward. If it’s a small enough place you’ll want to make sure you can read hiragana and katakana or already know what you want since, as mentioned by others, there may not be pictures on their menu.