In this EarthMate talk, Aaron and Dan talk about Aaron's recent trip to Japan.
- Dan: So Aaron I heard you went to Japan recently.
- Aaron: Yes I did.
- D: Um. What did you go for?
- A: I went to see the Tokyo auto salon.
- D: Cool. You like cars, huh.
- A: Yes I do.
- D: Now is this your first time to Japan?
- A: Yes it was.
- D: What did you think?
- A: I had a great time.
- D: What really struck you as being the weirdest thing that you saw?
- A: The fact that there was absolutely no litter.
- D: So it's a clean place.
- A: A very clean place.
- D: Now do you speak any Japanese?
- A: Not at all.
- D: You must know a couple words.
- A: Uh. Arigatoo.
- D: Ok. So how did you survive without knowing any Japanese?
- A: Um. I was very amazed that all of the places to eat had picture menus so if you wanted to eat something you could just point at it or actually some of the people actually spoke a little bit of English so it was pretty easy to communicate.
- D: You know why those pictures are there? Those started after WWII when the US GIs were living in Japan and couldn't read anything so the restaurant owners would put the pictures out. Yeah it's pretty interesting huh.
- A: Yes it is.
- D: So um based on your experience over there having trouble speaking Japanese what would you say to Japanese people living in the US trying to learn English?
- A: That it's easier to go the other way around. I wish we had picture menus here.
- D: Ok well um me too. Speaking of picture menus I'm getting kinda hungry.
- A: Yes me too.
- D: Okay, let's go get some authentic Chinese food.
- A: Yes.
- D: Thanks for listening.
- A: Bye bye.