My First Experience in Japan
It was a Saturday, but I had extra classes at school in the morning.
After work, my coworkers and I went to a Japanese restaurant near school for lunch.
It had some pretty good reviews on Google Maps, so it was our first time there.
The food was reasonably priced and reasonably tasty, so we were satisfied. We went to the cashier to pay.
The staff member was clearly not Japanese, but she demanded a price that was significantly higher than the actual price of our meal.
The price was completely different, so I initially explained it in Japanese.
However, she didn’t seem to understand Japanese at all, so I explained the difference in price and my disapproval in English.
Her attitude suddenly changed when she heard me speak English.
She looked at me and said, “You’re not Japanese,” then clicked her tongue with a disgusted look on her face.
My coworker, who was standing nearby, was shocked and speechless.
They must have been ripping off Japanese people for a long time.
It was a terrible restaurant.
When I explained the situation in English, she gave up and charged me the regular price.
From the way she clicked her tongue, I could tell that she had been deceiving quite a few Japanese people up until now.
I will deliberately not reveal her nationality here.
Even though I only spoke basic English to her, she immediately concluded that I was not Japanese.
I think she had assumed that Japanese people cannot speak English at all.
As an English teacher, this left me with very complicated feelings.
Although the food was delicious, this incident left us with a very disappointing experience, and my colleague and I both agreed that we would never go to that restaurant again.
I travel abroad often, so I’m well aware that there’s a common perception among people overseas that Japanese people are not good at speaking English.
Because Japan’s English education curriculum is flawed, I think it’s difficult for Japanese people to become good at speaking English.
