Also, I love all the tiny little shrines here.

I was going to start the day at the airport, but airports, hotels, stuff like that are kind of given that there's going to be somebody who can speak english.

So we're just gonna head right into the city because a really simple example, most chain hotels like this, like to hear your staff speak english just a little, thank you so much, they'll likely always say just a little, so speak slow and simple in that case.

But do you speak english?

Where is Akihabara station this way?

Excellent, thank you so much.

Have a nice day, have google maps don't need directions, but you might not have data or you might run into trouble and need to approach somebody and if you're trying to figure out who to approach super easy, the biggest pro tip I can give you is look for somebody who makes eye contact.

Not only does it make it way easier to approach them and say hello and everything, but for some reason they tend to speak english.

Trust me on this one, this one works.

I've been using this since long before I could speak japanese, what I love about it is that it works almost every single time.

Probably one of the best pro tips I can give you now, if you make your way into little spaces like this, there's gonna be a lot less people who are likely to speak english, but I'm telling you google translate if you keep it simple has gotten really really good.

So also this is where the amazons shop used to be and it is just it's gone now.

Well it's not gone but it's not gone.

That's a story for another time.

You already noticed that the signs are filled with english and most train stations across Japan are going to have Japanese and english if you get way out in the countryside and they don't.

The formula is pretty simple, it's just google translate and really simple questions.

That's it and you're usually good.

Even a lot of the announcements are now in english but every now and then you may run across signs like this that don't have english on now.

Instead of trying to figure out where you're going you can just get these cards like a Sika or a pass mo card.

These work really well, they're just prepaid transportation cards that you touch and go I have mine on my phone but there's also things like this covers the JR lines and the subway lines and it has english as well just go the next station is okay that's right this train he's on a test run.

That's cool now when my sweet card on my phone runs low, I can charge your credit card or I can come to one of these machines and do this but there's actually a thing here that I really love, do you speak english, a little english come on, you can't tell me that's not the coolest thing in the world.

They're covered with plastic now.

But they actually used to stick their heads out and this entire thing opens up and they can stick their whole body out to work the machine with you and it is just the coolest feature and she spoke english.

So the tourist in Japan is making its way back.

This is the cocoa market.

Very nice market.

Anyway, no, the um, and um, Yoko originally stood for american market because this was the place to get like foreign and american goods back in the day.

But it's now become, it's still kind of holds up but it's now become a lot of food and snacks.

It's got everything.

See Yoko all the american army surplus store.

This area is filled with so many hidden spots and secrets.

I'm gonna grab some food today.

Maybe a nice meal somewhere.

But before that there's a quick stop that I want to make this epic rooftop trying to hit in the middle of the market, which we were actually able to see from the trains by the way is not what I want to show you we're going is actually underneath.

You know, let's just so this shop here is a snack store and it actually continues right under the shrine here.

This is basically a supermarket just for snacks.

I did a whole video of it on the early days of youtube this place has almost every type of japanese snack available, even stuff that I've never seen or heard of before.

It's my go to for whatever we want to bring gifts back for friends and family.

So I'm gonna need just a minute to do some shopping of my own.

But while we do that, why don't we give some love to this week's sponsor which is Tokyo treat and Zakharenko also, we are up on an Akihabara rooftop right now, these are my two favorite subscription snack boxes.

Tokyo treat gives you as many as 20 limited edition exclusive and seasonal.

We'll look at that in a second and focuses heavily on authentic traditional and artisanal snacks and teas while partnering with local japanese snack makers to help carry on their traditions passed down over 100.

Each box also comes with a little booklet that explains everything.

It has amazing themes this month.

Tokyo trade is Akiba adventure, which is perfect considering we're on the rooftop of my studio here in Akihabara.

So we'll look at that one second.

We'll start with a box here which is deemed the colors of koyo koyo is the changing leaves.

We're gonna get a lot of false stuff in both of these boxes.

I love soccer because you'll always notice there's doubles of a lot of the stuff so it's really great for show Actually.

I love these little moments cookies and I'm always looking for this box always comes with a little piece of table ware.

But I want to try out this moment.

G Manju, There's always a really nice tea as well and this month it's a beautiful game Micah.

But I'm super curious about this Akiva adventure because some fall flavored kit kat, What is this mystery blue?

One of my favorite things Ever are these cuts.

Can we take a second to admire just how many snacks are coming out of each one of these boxes.

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So that is the end of the sponsored segment now, back onto our adventure.

Alright, so mission complete on this end.

My bag is now filled with snacks.

I'm famished.

So let's see if we can head to the area of socks and grab ourselves some good food.

I can already see the ads for food everywhere.

So now we're in Asakusa which is one of Tokyo's most traditional areas.

I'll be one of the most touristy areas.

But it's a space that I love.

I lived right here in Asakusa for over a decade.

One of the greatest pulls to the area is this coming a Demon gate and the connected Senso ji Temple that's down here.

But there's this giant, always overcrowded shopping store right here in the middle called Nokomis Dori.

All the actually good stuff is gonna be on the side streets off of the main street.

There's a nice little restaurant right there.

Like look at these little backstreets here now this is only two streets over from where we just were and not only other abundance of little restaurants and mom and pop shops and stuff like that, but it's so much quieter.

Just get off the main streets, just get off the main streets into the back streets, you will not regret it And speaking of not there's something I want to show you over this right here so I can't speak for now.

But back in 2019 I was highly recommending people to avoid shops that had English available English menu available because there was a lot of cases of overcharging or adding table charge and stuff like that so proceed with caution if you see signs like this right here was by far my favorite restaurant in Tokyo.

It was a shamisen restaurant called kiko and unfortunately it is gone now.

So the past couple of years have not been kind to us.

Hi my name is where you guys from Germany, have you guys had any communication trouble since you got here.

They really try to communicate with you.

So that's very nice.

What's been the hardest I think the hardest went into the rural areas around Mount fuji that gets quite difficult and try with a google translator, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, so it's after 1 30 right now and I am starving but around the corner here there's an old Japanese cafe or kiss attendance they're called, I don't know if they have english, I've never tried to go there using only english.

So let's give it a shot.

This is the place here and as I suspected, very traditional Japanese old cafe, not a bit of english anywhere english.

Okay, okay, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Cash on name.

That's okay.

Thank you.

This place was actually one of my biggest worries because one of the oldest cafes in all of us but english menu cash only can I get be set with a hot sandwich.

Okay, hot coffee.

Thank you.

See if you keep it super simple and just point this stuff it goes really really smoothly.

I always get the same thing by the way, but the salad comes with some yogurt and there's a corn beef hot sandwich and I really, really enjoy the coffee.

Thank you very much.

Have a nice day, genuinely, so surprised that they had an English menu and we're able to use English.

I thought that was gonna be the one spot that would 100% have no English and kind of throw me for a loop in the day but it didn't, which is great.

I probably should have hit the washroom while I was there.

One of the questions that I get really often weirdly is what happens if I need to find a washroom in Japan department stores are going to be your go to every now and then in the countryside convenience stores.

Or amazingly enough, you can quite literally just google for public toilets.

It's not going to show them all, but in a pinch it can be helpful.

I think the closest one to here is probably gonna be here at the Don Quixote or here at the shopping center below the Richmond.

They have a little floor map hidden back here for florida's.

Some people say they're worried about not being able to like read the congee and whatnot.

However more often than not to be labeled just like this, it's actually really rare that they're not marked with these.

Also since it's in the same building, it's worth mentioning that major chain restaurants like size area here are almost guaranteed to have english on their menu and a lot of them, especially since the pandemic hit just have little tablets that you order your food on.

So it makes ordering generally pretty simple.

I've had tons of friends and family come and visit and I've never once had any of them have trouble with restaurants and food actually except for this one case.

Sorry mom, I'm gonna throw you under the bus.

My mom went to one of those tiny old cafes, like the one that we went to, but they didn't speak english.

My mom doesn't speak japanese and it was a bit of confusion over coffee but in the end it all worked out beautifully.

Nobody died taking a look at the little Backstreet or side street local bars like this.

I understand a lot of people are worried about whether or not they're going to be able to order, talk to locals and these are actually really full of considering is not even three PM right now on a weekday and these things, these things are filling up but there's always going to be a local who wants to speak to you in english.

It's almost guaranteed thing.

Also you can just point at stuff or use simple words like beer or whiskey and also I know I said I wasn't gonna use any japanese today but I absolutely love the name of this show stop right here which is our story is too delicious and they sneak in the word nice at the end.

It's like the most recognized.

Also love how these streets just in so many directions.

But what if you need to take a taxi or make a phone call or if you have an emergency or any of those.

Well let's, let's go find out taxes are pretty easy.

Most of them have Gps so you can just give them an address or you can just tell where you want to go to station please.

It's good thank you thank you, yep, seat belt.

Okay thank you.

Are you from Tokyo you like?

Yeah, I love Japan.

This is your notebook.

You like driving?

Yes, very very like driving.

It's fun.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Have a nice day.

Bye bye.

That was cool.

We got a really awesome taxi driver.

None of this is planned by the way, like the cafe didn't expect them to have english and they did and then the taxi driver actually had a little notebook with, let's go see how phone calls.

Yeah, that was completely a red light right there.

Uh yeah, sorry is english?

Okay.

No they're sorry.

No english.

Yes.

Okay thank you.

Okay admittedly I wasn't prepared for that at all.

I've eaten, this is kaya so many times and the staff, there may be just the guy answering the phone was not in a good but we'll try another place.

Sorry is english?

Okay thank you.

Hello, may I help you?

I would like to make a reservation.

Yes that is a lot closer to how that was supposed to.

I didn't expect that first one that's a real reservation by the way so now that that is done and dusted.

I want to cover a few questions because I'd open this up to my Patreon to ask them what they were afraid of if they didn't speak Japanese in coming into Japan and one of the ones that want to box off right away.

The japanese only establishments in all my time in Japan.

I've only actually seen one of these, the media and social media makes these look much more common than they actually are and more often than not if it's labeled that way, it's probably because it's some kind of suspicious activity, chances are you're not just going to walk into a random bar and then be like get out, this is japanese only, I've never had that and I haven't met anybody who has had that situation.

Now one of the questions that came up lot very understandably is the fear of getting lost.

Now in 2022 as I record this, a lot of us have smartphones but even if you come and you don't have that or within a station and lost, there's two or three tips that number one is make time to get lost and I don't mean like leave a time buffer in case you get no the very first time that I went from Sendai to Matsushima, I got wildly lost and it led to some absolutely incredible adventures and some of the best memories I had on my first trip in Japan make time to get lost, embrace it.