So you want to go to Japan but you worry you'll never figure out
the whole buying scheme because you don't have time to study enough
of it or you're just curious to know what it's like. Just like
anywhere around the world, you'll be using money (mostly) to buy
things but quite a bit of places particularly like Tokyo, debit and
credit is accepted with open arms but cash is still preferred in
most places.[br][br]Ideally you should talk to your bank or a
credit card provider to give you a credit or debit card that can be
used internationally without fees. Try not to get too much Japanese
currency outside of Japan, the fees are significantly higher
importing the currency to your native country than it is to get it
from Japan, but it doesn't hurt to have a hundred bucks worth of
it.[br][br]So now you're in Japan and you want to buy something but
everything seems to be written in big bold letters with a tiny
kanji or two next to it that makes no sense to you. Perhaps this is
how much it costs? It's got to be! But just to be sure, you can ask
the clerk one simple question while pointing at what you
want.[br][br]"Ikura desu ka?"[br][br]This means "How much is it?"
The clerk should be able to answer you with the amount like 200 yen
or 500 yen etc... Although this should be used as a last
resort when there's no obvious price because I'm about to teach you
something that will be really
beneficial.[br][br][img]https://www.jappleng.com/application/assets/jspot/images/hd/buying-somethin-9403b681e4254974.png[/img][br][br]The
number in green is how much it costs.[br]The kanji in orange means
in what currency, in most cases this should be 円（Yen）[br]Next to it
there's a plus symbol, this just means the same in English. Don't
confuse it with 十 (juu / ten)[br]After that to the right of it,
there's yet another kanji, 税 (zei) means tax.[br][br]A lot of times
you won't even see 税 appear next to the item, in fact you'll often
just see something like 200円[br][br]Another thing to keep in mind
is that Yen is pronunced more closely to "en" than
"yen".[br][br][b]Now let's recap in a scenario...[/b][br][br]You
enter a store, the store clerk will say something like
"Irasshaimase" which is basically a formal greeting to welcome you
in their store, and then you browse around...[br][br]Then you
notice something that catches your fancy but you're not sure what
it may be... So you say "kore wa nan desu ka?" which translates to
"what is this?"[br][br]The store clerk responds by saying "Sore wa
enpitsu desu" (That is a pencil) and in the back of their mind they
think you're the dumbest foreigner for not knowing what a pencil
is.[br][br]So in big bold letters it tells you how much it is but
you neglect to acknowledge this so you proceed to ask how much it
is and say "Ikura desu ka?"[br][br]The store clerk replies in the
most courteous manner as they can without strangling you "100 yen
desu"[br][br]You respond with Takai! (that's expensive!) and leave.
Okay, I'm kidding, you POLITELY either say you'll buy it by saying
"Kore wo kudasai" (I'll take that one please) or something like
kangaemasu (I'll think about it).[br][br][b]What if you want to
order food?[/b][br]Ordering food in Japan is a bit different. I'm
sure you may have seen those wax food displays before, they are
basically what you can order but immortalized in a wax sculpture.
You can't order the wax sculpture but you can order what they
represent like ramen or something (I tried, they laughed and
thought I was kidding but I was serious because those things are
impressively realistic).[br][br]So now you want to order, what do
you do? Well it depends on the store... Some places have a machine
that you poke around to confirm your order, some places require you
to order by word of mouth, and sometimes there will be a conveyor
belt that roams around the tables with food on it (usually sushi).
In the event it's a conveyor sushi, they may allow you to either
pick any plates that aren't specially tagged for a table or you may
have to place your order and wait for it to come around. Either
way, it's a cool experience and you have to try it! Just umm...
Avoid the slimy things that could be a sea urchin.[br][br]You get
full at eating at the sushi conveyor but you want to eat some place
else and this other place requires you to talk to people like at a
Mc Donalds, because you always wanted to try a Big Mac with mayo or
whatever strange contraption they're selling during that season
that exists only in Japan. [br][br]Obviously they will greet you
with their standard greeting いらっしゃいませ! (You should know this by
now) or so you think... Actually, what they actually said was
Otsugi no kata douzo which totally caught you off-guard and by
surprise and now you're frozen in fear not knowing what to do or
how to reply. This is the gaijin-oh-crap moment where there's no
way around it other than hopefully being prepared or improvising
what to do next.[br][br]But thanks to Jappleng, you knew what it
meant because as you reflect back to this forum post you remembered
that otsugi no kata douzo means "Next please!" and you move on
forward to the person calling you. Cha-cha! You're there and ready
to order...[br][br]So now the clerk will say something around the
lines of "tennai de omeshiagari desu ka?" or maybe "kochira de
omeshiagari desu ka?" and again, you know what these mean because
you were well prepared! Both of these translates to whether you're
eating in or out and you'll respond accordingly.[br][br]- koko de
tabemasu (I'll eat here)[br]- Mochikaeri de (To go
please)[br][br]There are of course so many different scenarios that
we can go through but we'll just keep it at that since this isn't a
formal lesson or anything. So for the sake of simplicity that's
what they said and that's what you said.[br][br]Now you have to
order in Japanese but you know NOTHING about Japanese counters and
unfortunately this won't help you at all because you are well,
screwed. There's no other way to say this so unless you know how to
properly count in Japanese, you're going to embarrass yourself at
this step but don't worry! Stupid gaijins are still respected in
Japan no matter how little they know because they are
trying![br][br]So you don't know how to count but you can at least
weasel your way into pretending that you do, at least enough to get
your message across. Use the basic Japanese counter system that you
most probably already know. 1 = hitotsu, 2 = futatsu, 3 = mittsu, 4
= yottsu, 5 = itsutsu.[br][br]To say the word burger in Japanese
it'll either be chiizu bagaa or bagaa and to order it just say
chiizu bagaa hitotsu. If you want fries with that and I'm sure
they'll ask you if you want them but for the sake of beating them
to the punch you can use the word "to" which is the equivalent to
"and" in english. chiizu bagaa hitotsu to furai hitotsu. If
you want to be really polite you can even add onegai shimasu at the
end of it. You could even use poteto instead of furai if you
prefer.[br][br]They may repeat it to you for clarification, if it's
correct you can say "hai" for yes. [br][br]Then they may think that
you want a combo because a cheese burger and fries is best eaten
with a drink so they'll probably ask you if you want to upgrade to
a combo "setto ni saremasu ka?"[br][br]You can say yes "hai" or no
"iie" but saying no in Japan is frowned upon and you probably
shouldn't ever do it. When you say no, you have to explain why you
say no to be polite. But you have the gaijin card to help you with
your limited Japanese so saying iie is okay I suppose. They'll have
to get used to it for the 2020 olympics anyway haha! But if you
want to be polite you could say "setto de" which just means a
single item instead of a combo or iie, kekkou desu which means "no
thanks"[br][br]The inevitable question that can often be difficult
to answer is what you want to drink. Just pick your drink and add
onegai shimasu after so coke onegai shimasu - Pepsi onegai shimasu
- Sprite onegai shimasu. There are Japanese equivalents but this
rapid lesson is already long enough as it is.[br][br]Now the clerk
will say "gochuumon wa ijou de yoroshikatta deshou ka?" And your
mind just exploded by how complicated this is. Don't fret, they're
just asking if you're done with your order. Just nod and say "hai".
[br][br]If they're cool they will confirm your order and tell you
the cost. Give them the money and follow their lead. IF they point
with their palm and tell you to wait somewhere for your order like
"achira no kauntaa de omachi kudasai", go wait there for your
order. If you hear the word bangou in whatever they are saying they
are likely saying they will call your number when it's ready
dekiagarimashitara bangou de oyobi itashimasu." So at that point
you wait for your number to be called, your number is on the
receipt. But sometimes they don't give you a number on the receipt
but instead give you a number to take with you, so take that number
and find your table and wait there.[br][br][b](Continued in the
next post)[/b][br]
