「米国では命の危険さえあるのに…」初来日のアメリカ人に日本の印象や驚いたことを聞いてみた【外国人インタビュー】【海外の反応】
So, thanks for taking this interview. My name is Hero. Nice to meet you. I’m Stephanie. This is Sydney. Oh, Stephanie in Sydney. So, where are you guys from? We’re from North Carolina. Raleigh. North Carolina. Oh, that’s cool. Yeah, that’s cool. From uh is this your first time in Japan? Yes, very first time. We just got into Japan yesterday. Oh, so this is second day. Second day in Japan. In Japan? Oh, how long you going to stay in here? Uh till Wednesday. Wednesday. So, 4 days. Yeah. We’re staying to or this night in Tokyo and then tomorrow we’re going to go to Osaka and then we’re going to go to Kyoto too. Ah, so after that you’re going to South Korea. Oh, South Korea. So you’re going around the Asia Asian country. Oh, so that’s that’s great. So what do you guys do for women in your country? Um, we work for an auto parts retail company. Ah, so you are both uh working same same company. Yes, that’s cool. That’s cool. So, so is that what kind of job is that? Um, it’s like business. So, I work in supply chain and she works in accounting. Yeah. Okay. So, why you coming to Japan? What what is broadening you to here? Um, I think it’s always just something I thought was like really interesting. Asian countries in general. Um, I’m half South Korean, so when I saw that there was an opportunity to go to Japan and the tickets were cheap for the airlines, I was like, we should just do both of them while we’re here in Asia. So, we might as well go to Japan. I don’t know if she’s different. And then, well, also, my friend just moved to South Korea, so we’re going to visit him when we go there, too. Oh, that that is great. That’s good. So, that helps. The yen is so weak right now, so do you feel cheaper in here? Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Yeah. So, everything like flights and hotels. Yeah. Well, I would say like there are some things that are more expensive here. Like for example, we went to a Hoca and it was like a little bit more expensive in the US, but for the most part, I would say that everything we’ve been to store-wise and food wise, it’s cheaper. It feels like we just went back to like 2015 prices. Yeah. Like in the US, in the United States, basically just like when decade when everything was cheaper. Yeah, that’s great. So yeah, it is yen is so weak right now. So this is a time to travel, right? So how about the uh tip wise? Do you guys do you guys have tip culture, right? Yeah. So in Japan we don’t we don’t tip a lot. So that was something that shocked me. Like I I was shocked that we didn’t have to tip people because it’s really just a US thing. Yeah. Because and I used to I I was a server when I worked um during college. So, I worked in restaurants where like my my wage was just tips um for like 4 years. And honestly, I really liked it because I made more money off of the tips than I would have if they paid me hourly. So, like I as a as a server, I did not mind the um that people had a tip. Um and that like cuz we got paid like $2 an hour. But I Oh, sorry. But that’s fine if the tips are fine. Yeah, the tips are good. Yeah, I will say like tip culture in the US has gotten a little bit out of hand cuz every place you go to now like even if it’s self-service like in the US we have like frozen yogurt where you go and you just you pour your own frozen yogurt and you put your own toppings on it and then afterwards they ask you for a tip and I’m like for what? Like I just made my own ice cream. Like why do I have to tip you? So, like, yeah. I mean, I do understand like when you go to a restaurant, it’s a service. So, like, yeah, I would tip there cuz that also makes me mad cuz as a server, I was like, I’m doing like this whole service for you for like an hour and a half probably like while you’re at this restaurant and I’m getting 20% and you expect me to tip you 20% when I’m walking up to the counter to order. Wow. Yeah. It’s not the same. So, like how many person that tips is like 20% and 20% is like Yeah. Ah, so you got you got taxes, right? Yeah, taxes is high in the states, right? Oh, taxes. Yeah, they’re pretty high. So, we have to pay taxes and tips. Yes. So, it’s going to be high, right? Yeah. So, it’s much cheaper in here. You don’t need to pay tips. Yeah. The tax is 10% in here. So, yeah. I think like two people going out to eat, like wherever you go, you’re probably going to spend like $50 to $60 going out to eat with tip, which is kind of expensive versus like I think we got dinner here and it was like 20. Yeah, like less than 20 maybe for the both of us. That’s Oh, yeah. 15 15 bucks kind of. Yeah, it was super cheap. There’s no way you’re eating two people. 15 bucks. Like that’s that’s unheard of in North Carolina. So, how about the the transportation like public transportation stuff? Have you ever take a train here? Yeah, we’ve been taking the trains all day today. How was it? Otherwise, I like that they have public transportation. Like where we live, that’s not really a thing. They have buses, but the majority of people just drive their own cars. Is there any difference between like United State United States train and Japanese train? Um, I would say I feel safer on a Japanese train. A feel safe. Uh, yeah. Like it’s just sometimes if you’re like riding public transit at night, it’s not like the safest thing ever, but like I definitely feel like my life’s not in danger when I’m on the public. Wow. Yeah, that’s for sure. Or it seems like if you go to like Chicago or New York and you’re riding around like there’s like there’s like some people yelling at you cuz I was living in Chicago. Nice. So I know all about that. So uh so about the safetiness, do you feel safer in general in here? Definitely. I would say so. So you can walk around at night? Yeah. Like I would say so like I wouldn’t go walking around at night near even where I don’t even live in like a bad area in Raleigh, but like I would still parts of Raleigh that are like a really sketchy. Yeah. You don’t go there at night and down. And it’s getting worse. Always getting worse. Yeah, cuz a lot of people are moving there and there’s Yeah, there’s just it just it’s just Yeah. And I think just like the culture around there is like you don’t walk alone at night, especially if you’re a female. Like it’s different. Like you can you’ll sometimes see men running at night, like getting exercise in. But that’s never something I would do. How about the What is the surprising things when you’re coming to Japan? Is there any surprising things? Um, I think it’s a lot more modern than I thought it was going to be. Um, but like we haven’t visited like the more I guess like historic parts of Japan, but just coming to the city, it’s like super super modern and I I wasn’t really expecting. Yeah, especially Tokyo maybe Shibuya Shinjuku with you know gigantic city and you know technology cities and and I’m honestly shocked to note that so many people speak like English here. I thought I saw something online saying that like you might need to like brush up on your Japanese because a lot of people don’t speak English here. But every place we’ve been to like they’ve they’ve Yeah, they’ve spoken English. So, it’s been like super easy. I was like sweating. I was like, am I going to be able to like communicate with people here? But like it’s honestly been super easy. So, is this your first Asian country? Have you ever been to any other Asian country? No, this is our first time in Asia. It’s my first time out of North America. Yeah. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. So, why do you why do you feel? I like it. Yeah. I think it’s awesome. I think it’s exciting. It’s something different. Like, I’ve never been to Asia again. So, it’s just been like a really cool experience to see like the culture and um the shopping’s obviously like great, too. Yeah. Yeah. Got some Japanese stuff. That’s cool. Oh, actually I got some quiz, some little quiz for you guys. Uh, how about this one? Uh, which of the following is not considered a a compliment in Japan? I feel like it’s got to be long legs. They like short people. No, no, long leg, good shape of head, small ears, small things or good shape and shape of the head. Long legs, honestly. But we can do this. Uh so number two oh was so it’s not it’s actually not not correct so it’s actually big compliment in in Japan good shape of head so which one was it h it’s actually my small ears small ears is that is that weird it’s not a compliment to have small ears so I feel like in the US like if you make fun of someone like like like fun of them Uh, so it’s not it’s not like, you know, it’s not a compliment for Japanese people. We don’t really care about like ear. You have small ears. So, how about in the in the States? Long leg, good shape of head, small ears, small faces, everything is compliment. Uh, I don’t know if having a small face would be a compliment or if telling someone they have a good shaved head really a compliment. Wow, you have a nice shaved head. You just people don’t really say that. Oh, just don’t say that. So, but it’s not it’s not a bad thing. No. Like if you if you say that to someone, you’re not insulting them. But I would never go up to like someone that I think is handsome or be like, “Wow, you have a nice shaped head.” Like that’s just not That’s not We’re the small facing. We not say that either. Wow. You got a small face. Oh, small face is not. Yeah. You know, all Japanese women want to have small face. Yeah. How about the uh this one? Which of the following features? The Japanese toilet not have automatic. Automatic cleaning. Automatic lid. Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. So, four. No, I think it’s 228. No. Oh, wait. Okay. Wait. I don’t know what that robot is. Yeah, I feel like the one in our hotel doesn’t have an automatic lid. That’s what I’m saying. That’s why Oh, do not have do not have Oh, maybe automatic lit. Okay, so that is actually not correct. What was that? But my you know, every turret is not having that automatic lid. But half of them have automatic clear. Okay. So, the correct answer is automatic ball cleaning. I don’t know who that guy is, but I thought it I thought Yeah, I thought it had some sort of cleaning thing. Mhm. But we we don’t have that yet. Yeah. But it’s probably going to come. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe in 5 years, something like that. Oh, yeah. But that was a trick question though. Yeah. Mhm. It’s actually many people talk about Japanese toilet. It’s awesome. Like the first as soon as we got here at the airport, we went to the bathroom and I sat down and I was like, “Wait, is this thing heated?” Oh, yeah. It was awesome. It’s hot. It’s hot, right? Yeah. But it’s awesome because Yeah. I got I confused you cuz it’s like honestly the worst when you get up to use the middle the bathroom in the middle of the night and the toilet seat’s cold. Especially during winter time and then you have to sit on it and I’m like dang. And all the toilets here have beds and that’s awesome too. Yeah, that’s the first time you’ve seen a bedet. I’ve never used a day before. We don’t have Well, we have them in the US but like it’s not common practice, I guess. Maybe in the hotel. I’m 22 and I’ve never used one before. So, it’s not very common. It’s like you’ll have maybe some people have them in their house but never in public. So maybe this is kind of all about it. Um uh actually I got gifts for you guys. Do you do you like sweets? I love sweets. Um I got like Japanese traditional sweets for you guys. Oh, thank you. Oh, so this is called doyaki. Doyaki. Doyaki. What’s in it? It’s actually basically two pancakes and red bean paste in there. Oh, I love red bean paste. So, Japanese traditional. This is really good. Cheers. Cheers. So, how’s that? That’s going Oh, you know some Japanese. So, you’re going to be you’re going to be thirsty. So, I got some tea for you guys. So, green tea. Green tea. So, so I’m uh Anyway, thanks a lot for taking this interview. Oh, yeah. So, say bye to everyone. Wait, how do you say bye in Japanese? We actually say bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Yeah. Bye-bye. Uh go. [Music] [Music]
今回は、インタビューのお礼として長崎の老舗カステラ職人が丁寧に焼き上げた杉谷本舗様のどらやきをお渡ししています。
ふわっとした生地と上品な餡の味を、ぜひみなさんもお楽しみください。
▼ 長崎どらやき花橘の詳細はこちら
https://shop.sugitanihonpo.co.jp/?pid=126010484
なお、視聴者様限定で、杉谷本舗オンラインショップの全商品が10％OFFになる特別クーポンをご利用いただけます。
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【このチャンネルについて】
外国人の方に「日本の印象」や「文化の違い」についてインタビューし、そこから見える日本の魅力や新しい価値観を発信していくチャンネルです。
ふとしたリアクションや言葉の中に、新しい気づきや視点がきっとあるはずです。
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【インタビュアーの自己紹介】
ヒロ
40代。高校卒業後、アメリカ・シカゴの大学に進学し、7年間音楽を学びました。
現在も海外のアーティストとの共演が多く、日常的に英語を使用する生活を送っています。
自身が「外から見ていた日本」と、海外からの旅行者が感じる日本のイメージにどんな共通点や違いがあるのかを知ることを楽しみに、インタビューに臨んでいます。英語が聞き取りにくい場面があるかもしれませんが、どうぞご容赦ください。
また、週1回配信しているPodcastの音源をYouTubeでも公開中です。ぜひチェックしてみてください！
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