Traveling solo to Japan to take a break. Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/OJISAN – enter promo code OJISAN for 83% off and 3 extra months for free!
Join me as I join my high school friend’s wedding, trying delicious food in Tokyo, exploring Shinjuku, Yokohama, and Akihabara and staying at Robot Hotel. Did I spot Singaporeans? Unfortunately, not. But I will, probably the next time I visit. JAPAN FINALLY ACCEPTS INDIVIDUAL TOURISTS WITH NO VISA! (from 11 Oct 2022)
Chapters
00:00 Why I Came to Japan alone
01:55 Ex-colleague’s Thoughts on Singapore (Yokohama)
03:29 Friend’s Thoughts on Singapore (Tokyo)
04:18 College Friend’s Thoughts on Singapore (Tokyo)
05:23 Shinjuku Vlog
07:26 I got discriminated in Japan?
12:50 Staying at World’s First Robot Hotel
14:51 Food in Tokyo I Recommend (Ramen, Curry, Beer)
Thank you Surfshark for sponsoring this video.
🍿 BEHIND the scenes & EXCLUSIVE Content on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ghib_ojisan
Follow my adventure!
👤Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ghibojisan
📸Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ghibli_ojisan/
♪ Tiktok https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSJn5LFhK/
🐦Twitter https://twitter.com/ghibli_ojisan
🎥Watch Next- I Tried Singing Insanely Difficult Hokkien Song
👕Ghib Ojisan Merchandise（アパレル）:
SE Asia | https://ghib-ojisan.secure-decoration.com/shop/category/T-Shirt?c=2731898
Japan | https://suzuri.jp/ghib-ojisan
Business Enquiries
✉️ghib.ojisan@gmail.com
You are welcome to send fan mails but I may not be able to respond to all of them. But I immensely appreciate your support. Thank you!
#Singapore
34 Comments
Edit about my discrimination (?). To be fair, It's actually considered a bad manner to have a phone call in a restaurant, so maybe that was what she meant. (Although she clearly said "due to covid", but who knows, maybe what she wanted to say was the manner part). I want to emphasize that most restaurants treat all customers equally, but from time to time, foreigners (even Japanese) might encounter something like this.
Oh by the way, there are some ramen shops that don't allow customers to talk or even look at their phones. I know it sounds funny, but they want you to focus on the food and thus made it a rule. Foreigners who cannot read Japanese can go inside these restaurants and not knowing the rules, they can get kicked out. The foreigners might interpret this as discrimination, but actually, it's just that they unknowingly broke the rule
So what I want to say is:
1. Most of the time, service is great in Japan (so please don't be scared!)
2. There are some restaurants with weird rules (and can be mistaken as discrimination, but it's not)
3. But yeah, sometimes, discrimination can happen (but honestly, this exists everywhere in the world)
Apologies if you felt uneasy watching this video.
I visited Japan in 2018 and did get discriminated a few times. I was polite and followed all the rules, but I either get stares or I had a few who would whisper to their friend/peer(s),”Chinese,” behind my back when I was trying to figure out how to buy tickets from a machine. I was reading the English on the screen and spoke English to my family. But with my Asian face and not speaking Japanese, I am immediately called Chinese. Another time I was in a dept store in Osaka to check out this cosmetics counter…this Japanese salesman came up to ask me if I spoke Japanese or Chinese. He asked me in English and so I answered,” I only speak English.” Then he walked away and stared at me from far away. I accidentally dripped a drop of the lip gloss on the counter top when I checked out this lipgloss and his co-worker came up to me, gave me a dirty look, wiped it off the table, then walked away. I left that counter and went to another counter with excellent customer service. They had an iPad to translate when working with me. So….yeah I am nervous to visit Japan again.
Had a bad experience @narita airport before travelling back to SG. We were queuing at the mcdonalds counter when I code-switched from english to mandarin with my family on which meal to order. An eldery woman customer just shoo us away (probably thinking we were from china). Its pretty insulting to my family. That leaves a bad note for my trip (we are frequent visitors). Overall franchised shops' customer service are pretty good, they are trained to handle foreign customers. Its just the out of the way, small shops/restaurants that react in this manner. Tip: quick meals at franchised restaurants, the food are good & affordable as well. This is how we stretched our yen with 2 weeks of travelling.
I was visiting Morioka with my friend back in 2019 and went to a Reimen restaurant (near the train station) that opens late for supper one night. The restaurant environment did not really feel welcoming the moment they heard us started conversing in english and the staff service suddenly felt much colder and we were deprioritized several times when trying to get the servers.
The place do look busy so I gave them the benefit of the doubt but that was the only place after travelling to Japan many times over the past few years where I had felt a little bit that I was being discriminated.
Hello, would love to see OKONOMIYAKI videos. Thanks !!
日本はコロナ禍で鎖国してから更に保守的になってしまった感があります。一部の人は海外から来て欲しくないと思ってるのかも。😅
円安で爆買い外国人に助けられると思うんですがね。
Tokyo restaurants saying full house when locals just stroll in without reservations. Nothing new 😂
Discrimination definitely exists in Japan but I don't think it's a national thing. I think it depends more on the individual and those individuals don't represent the entire country or company's stance but it does leave a bad after taste. I also think it depends on what type of foreigner you are. My friends who have browner skin tend to receive ruder service or get ignored. One bank staff from a large Japanese bank outright lied to my friend and said they don't allow foreigners who don't speak Japanese to open a bank account even though a native Japanese had gone with her to help with the paperwork. She eventually opened an account at another branch without any problems. My friends who are white from US, UK, Australia, tend to get better treatment. On the other hand, East Asian foreigners, including those from Western countries like American-born Chinese or Japanese, sometimes get weird looks for not speaking Japanese. My Japanese-American friend got yelled at by a random old uncle at the supermarket for being a shame for not speaking Japanese. But these are really just a handful of stories I have heard from friends or witnessed over the past decade of living in Japan and they don't encounter these every day.
This is disappointing and very shocking! I've always treated Japanese living, working or simply visiting as tourists in Singapore with respect and friendliness due to the good impressions I had every time I visited Japan as a tourist. My visits were all done pre-covid though, haven't been there since late 2018.
After watching this video, maybe I have to count my blessing that I did not meet with any discrimination during my visit to Kyoto and Osaka in 2018.
I’ve been to Japan 5x and so far I haven’t encountered any discrimination that I know of. I don’t speak Japanese so even if they talked bad behind my back I wouldn’t have realized it anyway. But what I love to do in Japan is go to Onsen. Mind you, I’m not skinny. I guess I just have thick skin because I’d just be completely nude at Onsen and enjoy my time there. Those ladies being Japanese probably tried very very hard not to look at me and snickered hehehe. Also, I did get a body scrub treatment at Onsen. The old lady who did the treatment was very nice. I guess I lucked out. I love Japan. It’s a beautiful place for an introvert and timid person like me. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to be mindful of manners and social etiquette too while I’m there.
Its always been like that. So when i am in Japan with my family, we respect the locals since we are guests. It does feel a little stifling. Just a little
I once went to a tofu restaurant but they stopped me at the door, saying they were full. I could see the inside and it was all empty!
Another time, I went to an upscale sushi restaurant for omakase and only the new assistant made my sushi. The chef didn't even look my way. Near the end of the meal, I called the chef in Japanese, and showed him that I had his old namecard from when he first opened his restaurant. Only then did he become friendly. Sigh… I think in future, I will make my reservations under a Japanese name too, so that I don't face discrimination.
コロナ禍だから起きる、間違ったさじ加減ありそうですね、、
それか注意する個人の問題で、例えば外国人やファミリー（子供）に別のところで悩みがあるのかも、、、
（姪っ子たちと外出すると、変な事言ってくる人よくいますw）
オジの観光動画すきだわ〜ww
You are so right, I brought my mum and sis to Tokyo back in 2018. This was pre-covid. We were at the old fish market and visited one kaiten sushi store. I could understand Japanese but speaking was bad. The sushi chef at the bar counter ignore the 3 of us while taking orders from other and said something that was not nice. I spoke in Japanese and then he attended to me and started paying attention to our order. I wonder how the experience would be like for those who can’t speak the language.
I was at Yokohama on Friday~! 時間があれば、食事を行きましょう。
2:33 lmao, that "walao eh, aiyo cannot cannot cannot" came out so naturally
The unfortunate truth is – foreigners get discriminated in many many countries. Singapore is probably one of the only places where in terms of restaurant and service-related activities (like shopping, etc), we see a lot less discrimination of foreigners. I think it still happens in Singapore but personally I think we are more welcoming than a lot of countries, as long as the foreigners respect our social norms. For example, I have experienced outright refusal to serve me in Paris and racism in Australia and U.S., and also felt unwelcomed in Japan. I think because we live in such a small and densely packed place like SG, we have to practice a lot more tolerance. Sorry to hear you had that experience. Edit: I do want to add that I have met a lot of very kind Japanese people who would totally go above and beyond to help a foreigner like myself when I was in Tokyo.
Can you try out the food they sell at shopping's basement eg Daimaru, Taka, Hanshin, Hankyu?
You are right!! Japanese are super sensitive!
Can't wait to go back to Japan!!!
haha., your first words when entering the cold room is wah lau eh
Japan is a really weird, insular culture. Many Japanese travel abroad, and know that they aren't discriminated against at restaurants because they can't speak the language. Really strange that they can't grasp this concept at home. It's not like Tokyo is some tiny backwater city.
I had an experience back in 2017 where the chef shouted at me for not speaking Japanese. I fired back an insult by returning my oyakodon uneaten at the return counter and promptly walked out of that place!
The robot reception guy reminded …..child's play..creepy Ningyō
I'm a Malaysian and I visited Japan a few times. I was turned away before and they gave me the excuse as there was no English menu but it was clearly easy to order because there are plastic models of the dish to order.
Your experience and the stories in the comments are discouraging. I've never been to Japan and have been planning to vacation with family there. I'm afraid such experiences can spoil the mood of the whole vacation.
I guess I can sort of understand why. They're slower to open up and their attitude towards covid as a nation seems to be more like Singapore's 1-1.5 years ago. Maybe would be a bit better to wait until next year to visit when the nation's mindset towards covid changes.
Having soup curry during winter in Hokkaido is the best!
Since spending a year as an exchange student in Tokyo back in 1999, I have been visiting Japan every year on holidays (except covid times) and have watched with dismay at the growing tension in the tourism sector. I think the underlying feelings were always there in some Japanese restaurants but until the tourist boom from early 2010 onwards, the tourist numbers were relatively manageable and did not overwhelm the service sector……also, as the type of tourists grew, there became many more instances of conflict between arrogant tourists (my money makes me king/queen attitude) ….I suspect that the break given by covid may have made those weary of difficult tourists, decide to formally show their xenophobia.
Even in Singapore, there are restaurant or bar that said "Japanese only", not that Singaporean/Foreigner in SG care as they can just go other places.
As a Singaporean I tend to stay at places where there are many Chinese such as Ikebukuro and Ueno. I’ve been to Japan like 60 times and has never encounted discrimination.
While it is not uncommon to hear from some Okinawans that they have faced discrimination from the mainland Japanese. Some gaikokujin (example, Japanese-descent of a different nationality) and Hāfu have also experienced racism in Japan. And there are categories of Hāfu, those that have half of European or westerner side vs the darker skinned Hāfu. Regrettably there has been this mindset within the society regarded by some that “gaijins” are less refined and seem dirty.
Try less to see human beings as very different from one another, it can be very surprising when we look at the similarities.
It does get rather unimaginable when other nationalities stereotype another nationality as polite, hygienic, hardworking, etc and etc. and then get their rude awakenings later on.
From my experiences with having many Japanese neighbours over a decade, some have been really wonderful, kind, humble and good people, as well as the less desirable ones. Basically they are just human beings like you, I and the people we see around us.
On a side note, It is refreshing to be able to have unfiltered/unconventional topics being discussed,and hope Ojisan could feel less excusable and go easy in his clarification. And hope more viewers are able to embrace unusual topics and not get offended even though it can be disconcerting just to be truthful within ourselves that the ugly sides of a society or a person do exist, and there are also the existence of the other beautiful sides.
Magic Spice looks good man..
I always like hokkaido soup curry, i feel that the taste is very suitable to south east asian palate..
I don’t understand why the Japanese soup curry chain (Sama & Suage) is failing in Singapore.. now it so hard to find it in SG..
The only one i can find now is only at GWC Meidiya Food Plaza and there is only one variety 🙁
シンガポールドルも100円超えましたからね 今の日本人は呑気に海外旅行なんて行く余裕ないんですよ いつまでも続くマスク生活、外国人にばかりに甘い政策 差別というなら私たち日本人が国内で十分に差別されてますよ なぜ私たちの税金で外国人に生活保護あげたり、留学生の渡航費出したりさせられる？ 今の日本では真昼間から酒飲んでる観光客をもてなす余裕なんかありませんね 銀座あたりは中国人観光客がいなくなりせいせいしたとの声もよく聞きます 文句があるなら総理に言ってくださいね 気に入らないなら来なくていいし