Hello Readers! The title means, "your order please". Today I completed JapanesePod101.com Survival Phrases lessons 12, 13, & 14, and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese lessons 11 & 16. The bulk of the material was about fast food, which is what I want to expand upon today. So far, the fasuto fudo (fast food) I have been to just happen to both be American chains; Subway and McDonalds. These are photos of a McDonalds located next to the JPod101 HQ. Can you understand the Kanji on the banner? Subway was fantastic! In America, we "eat fresh" with tuna, turkey, ham, and roast beef; just to name the staple items. At the restaurant here in Japan, you can order egg salad, shrimp and avocado, and veggie dogs for... Show more

Have you ever heard of a capsule hotel? I hadn't until I starting reading up on Tokyo, and was reminded of it again this week in JapanesePod101.com's Survival Phrase lessons 9, 10, and 11 and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese lessons 9 and 10. This is a photograph of the entrance to where I'm staying. Kapuseru hoteru, or capsule hotel, is not like any hotel people are used to in America and many other western cultures. While I have yet to stay in one, I hear they're quite the experience and am looking forward to the day I get to try it out. Here in Tokyo, the metro system stops at midnight and starts again at five in the morning. Taxis are usually very expensive making the metro the overall transportation of choice here.... Show more

Konbanwa nihongo speakers! I've just finished lessons 6, 7, and 8 from both JapanesePod101.com's Survival Phrases and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese. The main focus of my day's lessons were how to ask, "do you speak English?" and "how do you say this in English?" Respectively, these phrases are "Eigo ga hanasemasuka?" and "Kore wa eigo de nanto iimasuka?" This is just a quick photo of an escalator in the subway that I mention. Notice the people standing on the left and scaling on the right. A lot of the talk was about the Japanese people's ability to speak English, though they shy away from doing it. I, for one, did not realize just how much the Japanese are required to study English in school. I was shocked that most study... Show more

Now that I have finished SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese's restaurant phrase series (numbers 12, 13, 14, and 15), I know that "o kaikei onegai shimasu" means, "check, please!" With these lessons under my belt, paired with the earlier JapanesePod101.com Survival Phrase lesson number 3, I was feeling confident enough to test my skills out in the real world (not to mention, Peter wanted to test me some too!) So off we went for lunch into a traditional Japanese cuisine restaurant. Sorry for the poor quality; the photo is from a cell phone, but I wanted to get a picture to show you what negitoro-don looked like! The pink part is the tuna. Just as mentioned in the SurvivalPhrases.com podcast, the Japanese hostess said,... Show more

Hello fellow Japanese learners! Emily here, and I've just made it through lesson five in both JapanesePod101.com's survival phrases and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese podcasts and PDF files. I learned about Japanese restaurant phrases, Japanese basic greetings, and about the magical "wa". This is an example of one of the high-tech toilets I have seen. In this case, the operating system is on the wall. This one was neat in that the toilet lid opens automatically when a sensor catches you coming in. It also makes the sound of running water to help you out. Perhaps the most interesting was the overlap between the lessons. In basic greetings, we learned how to say good morning, afternoon, and goodnight in Japanese. In the... Show more

Shibuya Crossing at Night It is easy to get distracted by all of the lights, sounds, colors, and people at this large intersection. This photo gives you a good idea of the beginning of my Tokyo Adventure! Hello JapanesePod101.com listeners! My name is Emily, and I'll be interning at JapanesePod101.com's Headquarters in downtown Tokyo for two months. I will be visiting and staying in Japan for the first time. While I'm so happy to be here, I have a big problem... I don't speak Japanese! Now, while it may seem like I'm in trouble, I've already come up with a solution. I'm going to learn survival Japanese using JapanesePod101.com's Survival Phrases and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese. As I'm only here for 2 months, I need... Show more