But I'm speaking your language...
(Everything I said was in Japanese; everything "Tanaka-kun" [generic Japanese name] said was in his best English.)
I was at a used goods store to buy a Nintendo Switch and the person at the counter took one look at me (I'm whiter than rice on a paper plate in a snowstorm) and said, "Get Tanaka-kun, he speaks English."
I said, "I want that one," pointing at one that had all the bits and no scratches.
He said, "Okay," got all the bits, and said, "This way, please," gesturing to the duty-free counter.
I told him that I can't do duty-free because I live in Japan, but he gestured harder, so I just follow him.
We get to the duty-free counter and he tells the clerk there to ring up my stuff. Clerk 2 asks for my passport, and I tell him I can't do duty-free because I live in Japan. Clerk 2 very politely asks why Tanaka-kun brought me to him when I live in Japan and said so very clearly in Japanese. Tanaka-kun apologized and went to find something else to do.
I asked Clerk 2 if he could understand my Japanese, and he said, "Yeah, no problem."
I shurgged, paid, and left.
I understand that Tanaka-kun might not have expected to be put on the spot like that, but that shouldn't turn off the part of his brain that understands his mother tongue...
Posted Aug 25, 2019, 3:00 AM UTC
I used to live in Japan, I speak Japanese, not perfectly but good enough for day to day situations no problem. It was surprising how many Japanese people seemed to get so confused at hearing me speak Japanese they forgot to listen to the words coming out of my mouth.
Best one was when I took a domestic flight (Kansai to Nagasaki from memory) and tried to use the self check in services. Now my reading ability is much better than my spoken ability, I was fine checking in until I had to scan my passport, which the machine didn't recognize, a box on the screen told me I needed to check in at the desk.
I assume it's because my passport is not a Japanese passport (and this was a budget airline that largely does domestic with some short haul flights). So I went to the desk and told the lady working there that the machine wouldn't scan my passport. She decides "the machine says I need to check in at the desk because it doesn't recognize my passport" means "I don't know how to use the machines because there is no English language option" and decides to go through the entire check in process using my printed out boarding info sheet, I know this information already (things she needs to look up like my name) so I am faster than her and press all the correct buttons and she starts to realize I can read the questions. Then I scan my passport and it doesn't work. At which point she says "oh it's because you have a foreign passport I need to check you in manually at the desk" which is exactly what I said 20 minutes earlier.
I love Japan, and most Japanese people I met were very helpful but a significant minority seem to loose their ability to understand their native tongue when spoken by a foreigner. It's strange.
If you have a surgical mask on as is the fashion there, hiding your mouth and lip movements, does that make a difference or can’t they see beyond skin colour white = English.