Learn Japan in 30-second reels
Real phrases for the konbini, the restaurant, the train — each with romaji and English, ready to use the second you land.
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Survival
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The Machine Has Your Note and Keeps Spitting It Back. One Small Light Says Why.
tsurisen-gire · out of change (exact coins only)
Survival
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Japan Has Two Emergency Numbers. The One That Brings an Ambulance Is Not the One You'd Guess.
hyaku-jūkyū-ban, onegai shimasu · Call 119, please
Survival
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A Stranger Offers You a Half-Price Bar Upstairs. This Is the One You Walk Past.
machiawase desu · I'm meeting someone
Survival
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You're on the Right Train. You're in the Wrong Half of It.
kirihanashi · uncoupling: this train splits here
Survival
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The Ambulance Asks Where You Are. The Answer Is on the Vending Machine.
jūsho ga wakarimasen. · I don't know the address.
Survival
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Two of Your Four Shinkansen Seats Face Backwards. Nobody Tells You What to Do About It.
seki o mawashite mo ii desu ka? · Is it okay if we turn the seats around?
Survival
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No Eating While You Walk, No Bins. So Where Does the Skewer Go?
gomi, onegai dekimasu ka? · Could you take this rubbish for me?
Survival
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It Is Ten at Night, You Are Sick, and a Plastic Sheet Says Nobody in the Building Can Sell You That.
yakuzaishi fuzai · no pharmacist on duty
Survival
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You Won the Plastic Bag Argument. Now the Cashier Is Holding a Strip of Tape and Waiting.
tēpu de yoroshii desu ka? · Is tape okay? (instead of a bag)
Survival
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Some Ramen Shops Upsize Your Noodles for Free. They'll Never Offer It in English.
ōmori de onegaishimasu · Large portion, please
Beginner
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You Made It to the Japanese Clinic. Reception Opens by Asking for a Card You Were Never Going to Have.
nihon no hokenshō wa arimasen · I don't have Japanese insurance
Survival
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The Beach Was Packed Last Week. Today One Small Sign Is Keeping Everyone Out of the Water.
kurage chuui · caution: jellyfish
Survival
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The Festival Stall Still Has a Queue. The Little Board at the Front Says the Food Ran Out Ages Ago.
urikire · sold out
Survival
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Two Weeks In and Everything You Own Is Damp. The Machine Only Speaks Kanji.
kansou · dry
Survival
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Your Legs Died Ten Minutes Ago. They Told You to Stop Kneeling at Minute Two.
dōzo, ashi o kuzushite kudasai · Please, sit however's comfortable. You don't have to kneel.
Survival
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Everyone Says You Must Ask Before Reclining on the Shinkansen. The Railway Says There Is No Such Rule.
seki, taoshite mo ii desu ka? · Can I recline my seat?
Survival
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Japan Doesn't Hand You a Napkin. One Word Summons It
tishu arimasu ka? · Napkin, do you have one?
Survival
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You Grabbed the Melon Pan With Your Hand. Everyone Saw. Nobody's Going to Say a Word.
tongu o otsukai kudasai · Please use the tongs.
Survival
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You're Eight Minutes Late. In Japan That Is Not a Little Late.
okurete sumimasen · Sorry I'm late.
Survival
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The Cashier Scanned Everything, Then Pointed Behind You and Walked Off. You Haven't Paid Yet.
achira de onegai shimasu · Please pay over there.
Survival
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Two Date Stamps on Japanese Food. One Is a Suggestion, One Is a Deadline.
shōhi kigen · use-by date (the safety deadline)
Survival
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Japan Just Made a New Word for Hot Official. It Starts at Forty Degrees.
kokushobi · a brutally hot day, forty degrees and up
Survival
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Seven Bites on One Ankle. The Word That Fixes It Is Not Mosquito.
mushi ni sasaremashita · I got bitten by an insect.
Survival
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Your Tokyo Hotel AC Is Running and the Room Is Still Thirty Degrees. Read One Word on the Remote.
reibō · cooling mode
Survival
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The Yukata in Your Ryokan Room. Wrap It the Wrong Way and You Are Dressed Like the Dead.
gyaku desu yo · It's the other way around.
Survival
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Every Flower Shop in Japan Is Buried in These This Week. Buy a Bundle for Your Host and You Just Gave Them Grave Flowers.
shiragiku · white chrysanthemum
Survival
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Your App's Japanese for How Are You Is a Question You Only Ask After Months Apart.
o-hisashiburi desu · It's been a long time.
Survival
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You Finished the Cold Soba. That Pot of Cloudy Grey Water Is Not for Your Hands.
soba-yu · the water the soba was boiled in
Survival
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You Made the Last Train Back to Your Kyoto Guesthouse. The Front Door Still Won't Open.
mongen · the curfew, the hour the front door locks
Survival
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Every Line on This Japanese Menu Has a Price. One Line Has Two Kanji Instead.
jika · market price, whatever it costs today
Survival
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This Japanese Shop Is Lit, Open, and Completely Empty. It Still Expects You to Pay.
mujin hanbai · unstaffed shop, pay on the honour system
Survival
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Your Ryokan Looked Like a Bargain. One Word on the Booking Page Says Dinner Isn't Coming.
sudomari · room only, no meals
Survival
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Two Hundred People Are Waiting and You Can't See Where the Line Starts. One Sign Says Where.
saikoubi · the end of the line
Survival
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The Ticket Gate Slammed Shut on You in Tokyo. Two Kanji Fix It.
seisan · fare adjustment
Survival
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Everyone at the Shrine Is Tying Little Papers to a Rack. That's Bad Luck Being Left Behind on Purpose.
omikuji · a paper fortune drawn at a shrine
Survival
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The Waiter Came Back, Said One Short Phrase, and Is Now Just Standing There.
mada desu · not yet (I need another minute)
Survival
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Your Train Just Got Cancelled. One Word Gets Your Money Back.
haraimodoshi dekimasu ka? · Can I get a refund?
Survival
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Full Bars, Zero Internet. Here's Exactly What to Say.
tsunagarimasen · It's not connecting.
Survival
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You Lost Your Friend in a Festival Crowd. Japanese Has One Word for It.
tomodachi to haguremashita · I got separated from my friend.
Survival
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Money's In, You Can't Read a Single Button. This One Gets It Back.
torikeshi · cancel
Survival
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Fourteen Exits, One Giant Map, and You Can't Find Yourself On It.
genzaichi · you are here (current location)
Survival
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You Drank Too Much in Japan Last Night. The Drugstore Has an Entire Shelf Waiting for You.
futsukayoi no kusuri wa arimasu ka? · Do you have anything for a hangover?
Survival
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That Little Dish You Never Ordered in Japan Isn't Free
otoshi · the small dish that arrives automatically, and the charge that comes with it
Survival
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It Is Thirty Six Degrees and the Locals Are Walking Straight Past the Coolest Car on the Train.
jakureibōsha · the mildly air-conditioned car
Survival
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Japan Cancelled Tomorrow's Trains. It Is Sunny Outside and the Notice Is Already Up.
keikaku unkyū · planned suspension of service
Survival
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You Walked Twenty Five Minutes in the Heat. The Card on That Door Says Closed Every Tuesday.
teikyūbi · regular weekly closing day
Survival
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The Izakaya Is Full, the Lights Are On, and They Just Turned You Away at the Door.
kashikiri · privately booked, reserved for one group
Survival
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One Short Line Makes Japanese Staff Slow Down and Walk You Through It. Say It Before You Panic.
koko, hajimete nan desu · It's my first time here.
Page 2 of 4 · 175 videos
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