I always stand by the idea that the best Japanese study is centered around a good textbook, program, or class. But making some small changes in your life can make the learning process go even quicker. If you are like I was and want to learn Japanese and quickly as possible, it’s important to always look for ways to maximize your study time. Here are a few ideas that worked for me and expanded my study time beyond the hours at a desk with a textbook and homework.

Install the Japanese language

There are a countless number of ways you can use the internet to aid you as you study Japanese. The first step is installing Japanese onto your computer. This is free and doesn’t even require you to download anything from the internet; it should exist on your computer already. From here you can find a Japanese pen-pal, join a Japanese chat or message board, or keep a diary. All of these things can aid you as you study Japanese.

Name everything you see

One way to keep your mind running in Japanese mode is to constantly name everything you can in Japanese. When you are in your room or crossing the street, try to name everything you see. You will realize there are some words you don’t understand and some you need to study harder and when you get a chance you can check these words and review them.

Carry word lists/flashcards everywhere

This method added an extra hour or two of review to my Japanese study every day. At night I would make a list of new words (20% review) and during the next day I would take it out and look at it about 500 times a day. I took it out while I ate, on the train, while I was walking to class, while playstation was loading, in the doctors waiting room, at red lights (be careful), and even in the bathroom and the shower. If you can stay motivated and remember not to substitute your serious study time, this can be a brilliant way to expand your vocabulary. Try making use of it while you study Japanese. Here’s a start for beginners!

Think of words you want to know

This might seem obvious but thinking about doing it and actually doing it are two different things. Think of things you might want to say and then find out how to say them in Japanese. Write it down and study it along with your regular study plan. You will tend to learn these words and phrases rather quickly because they are things you can use in daily life.

Use your own methods

Every person has their own way of studying and so you should be able to come up with your own ways to maximize your time studying Japanese. Try to make good use of your time and find studying methods that fit your individual lifestyle.

One of the hardest things about studying Japanese is understanding politeness levels. While English has polite words and phrases, there are entire grammatical forms on top of vocabulary that make a sentence more or less polite that you need to remember when you study Japanese. It is important to study all levels of politeness because whether or not you use them, you are going to encounter all different politeness levels. Some curriculum teach the plain form (ru, da) first and some teach the polite form (masu, desu) first.

Politeness Levels

It is difficult to say which to start from. The plain form is much more casual and often sounds awkward without proper use of ending particles (like yo, ne, na). On the other hand the plain form includes the base form of verbs which is used grammatically even in polite speech and which makes conjugation easier to understand. While some people worry about using the plain form out of fear of sounding not polite, it is necessary to learn when you speak Japanese and you may find yourself using it very often.

The polite form is, however, the most “safe” way to speak Japanese. You can speak politely to your boss, your best friend, a stranger, a family member or a kid. It is the fool proof way to avoid offending people. That doesn’t mean it is always the most natural way to speak. Many people who study Japanese rely too heavily on it and their Japanese tends to sound less natural. Sticking to masu and desu all the time can sound very rigid.

Mixing the Politeness Levels

I find myself using a mix of the polite and plain form in most conversations. With my close friends I use about half and half. I find it really difficult to make a joke and mess around using the polite form all the time. With older people or strangers and coworkers I tend to keep my use of the plain form down or use a lot of more complicated cushion words (such as deshou, nan dake do, etc.). I do not eliminate my use of the plain form though because as a casual person it allows me to be myself a little bit more. The best thing a Japanese student can do is first to listen to how certain kinds of people talk to other kinds of people and imitate the people they feel the most similar to. It is also important to take into account what kind of person it is you are talking to. If your boss is a really casual kind of guy, it might be better to relax a bit with him/her and worry more about being understood than about desu and masu. On the other hand, if you are talking to someone who is very proper and businesslike, you might want to stick to as much polite language as you can, even if you meet them in a drinking environment.

Honorific and Humble verbs which you will hear sometimes, should generally be saved for business situations excluding one on one conversation. You will probably only need to use them when talking to clients or customers, giving a formal speech or at a serious business meeting.

Learning how to use politeness levels, while not necessary in order to be understood, is crucial to sounding natural when you speak. As you study Japanese, please pay close attention. This is one of the ways that a new language can give you a new outlook on communication so enjoy it as much as you can while you study Japanese.

There have been quite a few memorable moments throughout my time studying Japanese; realizing I had conquered 100 kanji, successfully remembering 200 words in a day on a JLPT study binge, failing the JLPT, passing the JLPT, reading my first novel. These are all notable events. In one moment, however, the Japanese language became significantly less intimidating and I began to study Japanese with much more enthusiasm.

Denki Jisho

The moment I bought a Denki Jisho, or electronic dictionary, I felt like I could read anything. In the few seconds it took to draw a few lines, almost any unfamiliar word would be translated for me. I jumped into novels right away. I looked up characters I saw on the train or on the street. I thought of all kinds of English words I wanted to know how to say in Japanese. I never turned my Denki Jisho off. I felt like my time studying Japanese had been a waste without it.

But if you’re thinking that you can just pick one of these up and benefit from it fresh out of learning kana, you might find yourself wasting a lot of money. Not only are Denki Jisho expensive but they also take a fair amount of knowledge of kanji before you can even start using them efficiently. One way to search for words is typing in the pronunciation. This might work if you hear a word that you don’t understand, but if you see one you don’t understand, it won’t help at all. The better Denki Jishos have a function to compensate for this; a touch pad where you can draw characters. Some of my friends, after a few months of studying Japanese, tried to pick up my electronic dictionary and type in a word but the wrong character would keep popping up. They were ready to dismiss the machine as a piece of garbage when I told them that you need to use the proper stroke order. It takes some time to get used to proper stroke order. You may need to study 300-400 kanji before you get a hang of all the common radicals and how to draw them properly. Until you study Japanese long enough and have a solid background with kanji, a Denki Jisho might end up being less convenient than a simple paper one.

Paper Japanese Dictionary

A paper dictionary also has its merits. During the time it takes you to search a word, you are actively thinking about it throughout the process. When you find it, the sound of the word will echo in your mind much more than if you type in a few unfamiliar sounds. There is also a certain kind of diligence which you will practice and become accustomed to with a paper dictionary. That diligence may also bring you to write down unfamiliar words and study them harder.

For a long time, I found myself relying too much on my Electronic Dictionary. I’d bring it out with me when I hung out with friends and I’d end up pushing pause on the conversation so I could look up a word that I could have easily understood from context. After 3 or 4 novels with a Denki Jisho, I realized that half of my time was spent dissecting the book and I wasn’t really enjoying the story much. It was hard to focus on what was going on and I wasn’t even remembering most of the words I looked up. I understood everything but I was not interested anymore. Once, when I couldn’t find my Denki Jisho, I started reading a book without it. There were a fair amount of words that I didn’t understand, but for the first time, I felt like I was actually reading. I couldn’t put the book down and I finished it in less than a week. While I did look up a few reoccurring words, I was focused on enjoying the story. I realized my Denki Jisho had become a crutch as it does for many people studying Japanese. Denki Jisho can become a powerful tool to aid you as you study Japanese but it’s important to wait until the right time and not become too reliant on it.

There are several reasons to learn about Japanese culture while you are studying Japanese. Some of these reasons are very obvious and a few are not so obvious. Of course it can be interesting and learning about the history and customs of a place makes it easier to travel there. In fact I would say that the number one way to avoid culture shock is to properly educate yourself about the lifestyle of the culture whose language you are studying; in this case Japanese. I spent two years studying Japanese before I first went to study for a summer semester in college. I found myself having a much adjusting to Japan and Tokyo than a lot of my classmates. The main reason for this, I think, is that I created an immersion situation where true immersion was impossible, as I mentioned in a previous article. I became as familiar as I could with music, movies, television (which I barely watch otherwise), and other forms of media.

Japanese Media

Media alone couldn’t have protected me from culture shock, as many western Otaku may come to realize when they first come to Japan. Drama is a caricature of daily life, it doesn’t reflect perfectly. I read all kinds of articles; Japan’s English newspapers to learn what issues were currently being talked about, tourist books, studies on cultural phenomenon and aspects of culture (including the salaryman, NEET, gender issues in Japan, suicide, hikokomori, dialects, and so on). I didn’t limit myself to one outlook and always looked for another perspective from both natives and foreigners and most importantly, never assumed I understood very well, even after reading extensively. I also made sure to stick to textbooks which provided cultural information as well and learned about gift giving, in and out groups, ancient culture that has survived modernization such as tea ceremony and flower arranging. I did my own research on all of these as well.

Japanese Culture

Culture is like a giant web that you get more and more entangled in. The easiest way to get a grasp on culture is to build on what you already know. Here is an example. When I first decided to study Japanese, I would compare what different kinds of people said about different places in Tokyo and in Japan. I recognized the name Ikebukuro as a town my friend lived in when I heard of a drama called Ikebukuro West Gate Park. I watched the drama and became used to the way the town looked and experienced a dramatic representation of it. Then I did some of my own research, asked a friend how much was realistic about the show (much was not) and when I first went to Japan went to see it for myself. From this show I also became familiar with many other cultural issues, notably subcultures. After doing my own research on subculture and labels that people use for different kinds of people in Japan, I learned of the term salary-man and found the concept interesting and from there I learned a lot about the working culture of Japan.

When you just study about culture it doesn’t have any real meaning to you. It’s all facts. Rather than just studying a guide book from front to back, read about the places and topics you already know and start with topics that interest you. From there build on your knowledge with related issues and topics that you encounter as part of your Japanese study.

Learning about culture puts the language in context but it also gives you more to talk about. Some Japanese students who come to Japan even with good conversation skills find themselves stuck in very basic conversations. Aside from international issues and world-famous media, they have nothing to talk about. Japan obviously has a very rich culture and Japanese people bring up some aspect of it in every conversation. The same way your American friends may bring up South Park or the democratic or republican party or local diners, a Japanese person is likely to bring up Downtown, Shuushoku Katsudo (the process of looking for a job in Japan), or Fami resu. If you know what they are talking about, the conversation continues smoothly, and if you don’t but make a note of it, it will next time. You can create a much more dynamic and fun experience when you study Japanese if you let yourself enjoy about all the different aspects of culture.

Everyone who chooses to study Japanese hears horror stories about the complexity of the Chinese characters known as Kanji. These characters are supposed to represent some kind of meaning but at first glance, most of them look like abstract scribbles. It is often said that fluency means mastering 2000 kanji. On top of that, many of them have multiple pronunciations. In order to balance out all the dread you may be feeling about all this, here are 5 reasons why Kanji rock and should be embraced rather than feared.

Even native Japanese forget Kanji

I have corrected Japanese friends on how to write Kanji on numerous occasions, even before I could be considered fluent. Even simple words, like cafe (喫茶店), can contain characters that rarely occur in other words (喫, for example）. It is not uncommon for Japanese to make mistakes when writing these, especially in the digital age. It’s important to realize that even your native language isn’t perfect. Language is extremely complex and varies from person to person and between communities and forms of print. If you don’t recognize a character, don’t fret. Sure you’re Japanese is lacking but in all likeliness, so is your English.

2,136 Kanji fluency is subjective

2,136 is the official number considered necessary for fluency but the matter is much more complex. Sure you may need all 2,136 and then a few more in order to read a scientific report with 100% understanding but, as I suggested above, how many native speakers know every word thrown at them? When you study Japanese, it is important to realize that not all characters are created equal. The first 100 presented in most textbooks and curriculum are worlds more important than some others considered “necessary”. The first 1000 is, without a doubt, much more important than the next 1000. Once you learn a few hundred kanji, you should be able to navigate your way around basic texts and may even be able to jump into novels or manga. Taking out your dictionary every once in a while is not a bad thing!

Simplify Complex Kanji

The most complex characters are often just a mix of simpler characters. These parts are called radicals and they can even give you hints about the meaning and pronunciation of the Kanji. If you develop a basic understanding of these, complex kanji begin to look much simpler. A 20 stroke character will become a combination of 4 characters that you already know, making it much easier.

Kanji work like the root of a word

Studying Latin and Greek will give you a better understanding of the English language. You may understand the meaning of an English word just from the prefixes and suffixes. Kanji works in a similar way. Once you break 1000 and start to approach 2000, you start to guess the characters used in words you’ve never heard before and have a much easier time understanding the meaning from context. In addition to this, you may understand the meaning and pronunciation of a written word you’ve never seen before because it’s characters are ones you are very familiar with and paint a clear picture.

Kanji are actually fun

Characters work very different from alphabets and the learning experience is a very interesting one. On top of this, there is an artistic aspect and they also give you a way to benchmark your progress as you study Japanese. Sure, that 2,136 mark is not completely objective but it gives you nice goal to measure yourself against. Use this to motivate yourself to continue studying Japanese and reach fluency.

So you’ve decided to study a new language and narrowed it down to one with characters; the most obvious being Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. Some people might claim one is more difficult than the other but the fact is, language is not so black an white. Some aspects of one are easier and others are difficult. The good news regardless of which you decide to choose is that if you decide to study the other later, you will have an advantage over people who do not speak either.

Learning Chinese

Chinese is a language that you can begin speaking after just a few weeks or months of study. The words have very exact meaning and grammar is not very complicated. Some people make the mistake of saying that Chinese has NO grammar. This is, of course, is not true but the grammar is simple and so one can start speaking much faster. On the other hand, there are about twice as many characters that you must learn in order to be considered literate. What is difficult about Chinese is the pronunciation. Not only the tones, but the sounds used are very different from western languages and can be difficult to get used to.

Learning Japanese

Japanese on the other hand is a language where each word does not always carry a definite meaning but when the words are put together, the sentence as a whole carries various meanings. A sentence is often made up of more grammar than words that carry exact meaning. These words, by themselves tell you nothing but when you string them together, the meaning becomes apparent. This makes it more difficult to grasp the meaning and so when you start to study, you might find it a bit challenging. On the other hand Japanese has extremely easy pronunciation, and may be one of the easiest languages in the world to pronounce. Each Hiragana has a phonetic sound that never changes when combined with other Hiragana so there are less than 50 sounds in Japanese. Compare that to the thousands of sounds that result of mixing letters in many other languages (English included). That’s why Japanese people have such a hard time pronouncing other language. This will work to your advantage when you study Japanese. There are also fewer kanji that are commonly used.

Language Difficulty

While Chinese is a language which is easy at first and more difficult as you progress, Japanese is a language that starts off difficult and gets progressively easier, the have some things in common. The most obvious thing in common are the characters. Since Japanese writing is based off Chinese they often use the same characters. Chinese uses a simplified version so sometimes they may be a bit different and Japanese tends to have more characters with multiple pronunciations. Many people say Chinese grammar resembles English because of the word order but some aspects resemble Japanese as well.

I chose to study Japanese first and I am happy with my decision. I find that their complex grammar gives way for a way of communication that is unique among languages and find myself thinking very differently when speaking Japanese. As a speaker of both English and Japanese, I find that learning Chinese is going much quicker than some of my English speaking and Japanese speaking friends. Languages are more than just words, they provide you with a new way of thinking so enjoy studying Japanese, and perhaps Chinese as well.

A common question among students who begin to study Japanese is “Where do I start?”. I am of the opinion that the best study is based around a textbook that fits you. Different textbooks work for different people but there are certain things to keep in mind. First, you should decide if you want to 1: Enter a class, 2: Get a tutor, or 3: self-study. Some people say that you need to enter a class, or go to Japan to learn Japanese. While I do admit these are more efficient methods, I also find that people get too comfortable when someone else sets their schedule and some classes move at an extremely slow or extremely fast paces. As a person who likes to move at my own pace, self-study was the obvious answer for me and I am living proof that you can excel with minimal help as long as you set goals, stay diligent, organized and use various methods of studying Japanese.

Japanese Textbook

If you decide to self study, the next step is choosing a good textbook. Be aware of the difference between supplements and textbooks. For reasons that I do not understand, most American book stores do not sell real textbooks, rather they sell lots of supplementary books with titles that use the words “Easy” “quick” “in (some short amount of time)”. Books that make learning a language sound very easy tend to be rather unorganized and I have yet to meet anyone who has excelled at Japanese without either a textbook, a class, or living in Japan. Also be wary of extremely expensive methods. Anything priced above $50 or $60 US should be questioned and there are some good resources for as little as $20-30. I recommend using these books as extra study if you find one that you like. University book stores and the internet (or big book stores in Japan) are where you find the better selection of material to study Japanese.

If you are serious about learning Japanese, try to find a book that eases you into the writing. A book that sticks to romaji (roman characters) may be good if you are looking for some travel phrases but they rarely give you a foundation for becoming.

Some textbooks work better for self study and some work better for classes or with tutors. The extremely popular “Minna no Nihongo” may work for classes but I find it less useful for self study. As a fan of self-study, I have had good experiences with most books published by The Japan Times and 3A. Genki 1 and 2 were my textbooks of choice to start (I tried many) and 3A’s Kanzen Master series is great for JLPT study. There are other great textbooks out there though so I urge you to look into it and find one that works for you.

Other Supplements for Learning Japanese

Whether you take a class or self study, it’s also good to find some supplements that fit you. Whether they be books (Kodansha, for example publishes some decent supplementary books), online vocabulary lists, or podcasts, try to find one that includes things that are lacking in your textbook (no textbook is perfect). Movies, music or comics also make for good supplements that also motivate you to study Japanese harder and make the process more fun. Making Japanese friends is also a good idea and it’s fun.

I have met some people who claim that the most productive thing you can do when you study Japanese is to practice reading aloud a fixed amount of sentences every day until you nearly memorize them and make sure you understand their meaning. I have tried this method and while it can be tiring, it is extremely efficient. If your textbook has reading practice and grammar examples (most good textbooks will) it’s a good idea to read them aloud until you’ve nearly memorized them.

Language involves reading, writing, speaking and listening so make sure you incorporate all four into you Japanese study!

Everyone has different goals when they decide to study Japanese. Some people may just be looking to survive while traveling while others want to read newspapers and novels. Some want to have a good time talking at a bar with locals and others want to understand TV programs. At first, you may not feel like you need to read and write Japanese and romaji (Japanese written in English letters) might work for you but if you are hoping to achieve anything other than the very basics, it is not only a question of goals, it may be more practical to learn hiragana, katakana and kanji when you study Japanese.

Basic Japanese Writing Systems

First let’s go over the writing systems. Kanji, are Japanese characters that were taken from Chinese and represent a meaning and can often have multiple pronunciations. These characters can show up everywhere but are not all there is to Japanese writing. Hiragana and Katakana are both phonetic alphabet-like systems that are collectively called Kana. Kana makes up all the writing in between characters. Anything in Japanese can be writing in Kana because it is phonetic and based on all the sounds used in Japanese. That means that if you don’t know the kanji for a word, you can use Hiragana or Katakana instead. Hiragana is used for words of a Japanese origin as well as conjugation and Katakana is used for words of a foreign origin and a few other kinds of words like many animals, onomatopoeia and some slang.

Learning Hiragana, Katakana, or both?

So the first question when you decide to study Japanese is “Do I learn Hiragana and Katakana?”. I think that most peoples goals make it practical for them to learn Hiragana and Katakana. The sounds are very simple so you can remember them in less then a week if you put the time in. It is also much easier to learn correct pronunciation when you can quit romaji. Even if you use romaji, you will have to remember how to correctly pronounce it and you may find yourself falling into the trap of sounding out the letters the way you would in English.

Kanji

The next question is “Do I learn Kanji?”. This is all up to you. I encourage everyone to try. The way people learn to write is interconnected with the way they speak and there is culture in the writing. Not only is it fun but the characters can work to your advantage the same way learning the roots of a word could in a western language. The same character can show up in multiple places and knowing it’s meaning and pronunciations can help you remember other words. A random example of this is the word for perfume. The kanji give you an endless amount of mnumonics to work with when you study Japanese. For example, I had a hard time remembering the word for “perfume”, which is 香水. But then I looked at the kanji and realized that the two characters (香水) represent the meaning of “aromatic” and “water”. Water has two pronunciations but it almost always takes the sound of “sui” in kanji compounds. That meant I just had to remember the sound “kou”. This will continue to help you learn new words and remember some of the less common words that you will come across as you study Japanese and learn about Japanese culture. お焼香　(oshoukou) are incense used in religious places and you will definitely come across them if you are sightseeing in Japan. When I learned this word, I saw the character for “aromatic” that also shows up in the word “perfume”, I knew the pronunciation was “kou” and it immediately made it easier to remember the word. 自転車 (jitensha or bicycle) contains the characters for self, roll or turn, and vehicle. The same characters will show up and often have the same pronunciations to give you hints while you are remember words. This will also shed a little light on the way people think when they speak Japanese.

When I starting studying Japanese, I never planned on learning how to read and write fluently. That decision came later. Take things one step at a time and enjoy studying Japanese at your own pace.

A lot of my friends ask if Japanese eat sushi every day. The answer is “No, of course not”. There are so many varieties of food, and many of them are not raw. Japanese restaurants abroad seem to capitalize on sushi-hype and neglect some other wonderful dishes. There are a few foods that are as, or even more popular than sushi and almost every dish in Japan has endless variations. As you study Japanese, exploring food is a great way to better understand Japanese culture.

Popular Japanese Noodles

The first common food that comes to mind is soba, or thin buckwheat noodles, which can be served in various different ways. Soba-ya or Soba resteraunts are everywhere and popular among the older generation and among working people looking for something fast, cheap and healthy. It is also a popular meal to make at home. You can order them cold with a dipping sauce or soup (mori-soba, zaru-soba) or in hot soups (tanuki, kitsune) Many Soba-ya also offer Udon, a very thick noodle as an alternative and some stores specialize in only Udon.

Ramen is another obvious answer. Aside from a billion varieties of instant noodles, there are also many famous chains and local shops serving fresh Ramen. Despite being far too greasy to call “healthy”, this is much more of a balanced meal than the instant counterpart. The standards are Soy Sauce, Miso, and Salt but there are a thousand styles with many shops specializing in a certain kind. Some of my favorite specialty ramens have been kaku-ni (soft fatty pork), goma (sesame) and garlic. You can also pick your own toppings so if you want more bamboo shoots, it’s no problem.

Other Common Japanese Foods

Many of my friends who study Japanese are surprised by this but I insist; Curry is very popular in Japan and sometimes more readily available than sushi. If you are a fan of local cafes, you know this very well. It feels like almost every cafe in Japan serves some form of curry (and/or spaghetti). There are Japanese curry shops and pre-made curry packages. Indian and Thai food is also very easy to find in and around Tokyo.

One of the dishes I always have fun introducing people to is Okonomiyaki, which falls somewhere between a cabbage pancake and a pizza. You can fill in with almost any meat you’d like (although I have never seen chicken). Popular choices are squid, pork, and shrimp though my favorite is pork, garlic and kimchi, which can be hard to find.

The “family restaurant” is also very popular in Japan. These serve a variety of Japanese and Western foods (ranging from authentic to extremely unauthentic). The easiest way to imagine these is a mix of a chain-diner and a Japanese version of Chili’s or Friday’s. In fact, Denny’s, with it’s very localized menu is considered a “fami-resu”. Japanese style Hamburgers, Port Cutlet, Spaghetti, Udon, and Omu-rice (Omlett over rice).

Department stores also have a huge variety of western and Japanese deli-style take out to explore. Some of the western food is very authentic and some of it is not at all but still very delicious.

While you study Japanese it’s important to understand the culture and food is a big part of the culture. It’s also delicious so いっぱい食べてください　(Please eat a lot!)。

When you go to a new country, you want to try new and interesting foods, right? Japan has an endless variety of food and while you are studying Japanese, it can be an interesting way to learn bits and pieces of Japanese culture. Japan has a very rich food culture that both stays true to it’s roots and embraces endless variety of foreign and fusion styles. In this series, I’ll talk about the eating and drinking aspects of Japanese culture.

The Meal

The most important thing to understand about food in Japan is that the concept of a meal is very different in Japan. A meal is supposed to have some sort of meat, some sort of vegetable and either bread, noodles or rice. Subtract one from the mix and it may not be considered a meal for some. I’ve seen Japanese eat endless amount of vegetables and meat and still claim to be hungry because there is no rice, but as long as they have all three, they seem to be satisfied whether it’s portion made for a monster or for a mouse. The main dish is considered to be the rice, bread or noodle part. Everything else is side dishes, even if it’s the smallest part and even if you are anticipating it the least. The nice thing about this is that most things come in sets and you can find some really cheap lunch specials.

The one time this “main dish” rule does not apply is when drinking with co-workers or friends in a party like setting (and these settings are very common in Japan). At izakaya (or a cross between a restaurant and a bar with private seating), people forget the rules of balance and often beer becomes their starch of choice while they slowly eat all kinds of side dishes and share everything.

Drinks

Ordering a drink is almost understood at a Japanese. Of course no waiter or chef will get angry with you if you don’t drink alcohol but since food is often set at very fair prices, a lot of places make their money from drinks so depending on the price of the meal, at a local place, you may want to consider ordering at least an ice tea or coffee to keep the place running. The soft drinks are often close in price to the alcohol so some people find themselves drinking a lot more alcohol, trying to get more bang for their buck. I am certainly guilty of this. I usually check the atmosphere first to see if I can get away with not ordering a drink. If everyone around me is drunk or in a group or if the food is dirt cheap, I take it as a cue to get a drink. If it’s all families or if the dishes seem priced to make a profit, I skip the drink. Since I live in cafe’s, I am often ordering a drink though. We’ll talk all about drinking culture and the Izakaya in a future article.

Portions

There is a common complaint among some foreigners that portions are too small in Japan. I think this is a matter of expectations and if you don’t compare it to your own country, you may find yourself quite satisfied with the portions. Remember, it is considered polite to finish your entire meal and a chef may even feel a little pinch of sadness when someone doesn’t, although you should never force yourself. It is also very uncommon to take leftovers back with you may even get a confused look if you ask. In contrast, in the States or on trips to China, I find many people leaving a good portion of their meal for the garbage can.

As you study Japanese, don’t forget to enjoy the culture in one of the most fundamental and primitive ways possible: eating.