It's crazy how sora tends to talk to himself just to make us all outside of Japan know what's happening on Japan, this guy must've putted a lot of effort into this.

The reason Americans ask about the train station a lot is because our train system back home is so bad that almost no one uses it. In comparison, we think Japan has some of the nicest trains in the world. So experiencing the trains in Japan is a a tourist attraction to us that also conveniently helps us get places.

I love how when you go "Japanese guy" mode it's the most Chuunibyou shounen avatar you can muster without popping a vein.

At my American university, (about 8 years ago,) I met a foreign exchange student from Japan named Yuuki, and she mentioned how in Japan she was unpopular for being an otaku but in the US everyone seemed to love her for being a Japanese person who is into anime. She even mentioned that her father would tell her during their phone calls to keep her otaku tendencies to herself while abroad so she could make friends, and she'd had to inform him that being an otaku from Japan actually made it a lot easier to make friends here. And it's true, she made friends pretty easily, because all the anime fans in the US were excited to here a Japanese perspective on anime, and everyone that wasn't into anime figured it was pretty normal for someone from Japan to like Japanese cartoons. It's weird how the same thing can happen in reverse, where a weeb from the US can be unpopular here but make friends easily in Japan. Maybe it's a sign of the times? (Or, like in the video, maybe it's just that the *way* people engage in their interests makes them popular or unpopular depending on where they are. And when people move to new places, they get judged by different standards.)

2:04 I believe Sora experienced this reenactment when he was talking to someone in English, & the Japanese local mistook him for American!

Befriending -gaijin- foreigners Expectations : "Nice to meet you" Reality : "Ah..uh...ah...uh" *cue vomiting due to anxiety*

wait wait wait. 2:30 he said 日本語を話すイコールアメリカ人と思う日本人がかなりいる。 which means "japanese people tend to assume people who speak JAPANESE are american." but english subtitles is correct. which means At last, he forgot how to speak japanese.

I am an American. I have never been to Japan but we use the word “friend” pretty loosely. If you ask an American to be your friend they probably won’t say no. That would be rude and unfriendly. Plus, like I said, friend can have many implications for us. From someone we randomly meet once and hang out with a few times called an “acquaintance”), to someone you know and talk to on occasion, all the way to someone you confide in, depend on, trust, and hang out with all the time. I am assuming the the last one is what you consider a “friend.” Honestly this is what we consider a “real friend” too. But can often use the word “friend” rather carelessly and broadly.

The entire friend process is quite long. First, you need to submit an application form with hanko and submit it at town hall-

I’m starting a new in person Japanese class on Saturday. So, I want to sound like an authentic Japanese person, so I am going to talk like the characters in your video.

1. "Matte, Kento. Torein stasion izu noto zato wei!" LOL 2. People don't really legally change their names to their nicknames. It's rare, at least. I've never met anyone who's done it. 3. Maybe the reason so many Americans ask for directions to the station is because that's a common phrase to learn, and they are just trying to practice their Japanese?

@ 3:23 "We saved an American" LOLOL

if you think anime gang is dangerous wait til they see The Anime Club

As an American I would say that if someone from America really did change their legal first name to “Goku” they are really weird. You should run!

The effort to continuously produce skits like this. Thank you for educating and giving us laughter at the same time Sora!

I may be in the minority but as a native American, my thoughts are: It's easy for an American to make an "acquaintance" but not so much a "friend". We have sort of 2 levels of "friendship" if you want to call it that. An acquaintance might be someone you only see at work or at school, so the "depth" of your relationship is pretty limited. You don't "hang out" with them outside of specific places. But if you started to have one of them over for dinner or to go do things outside of, say, work, then you both might become real friends. I have a number of acquaintances who I genuinely like being around, but they aren't really friends, in the sense I noted above.

I knew a guy that kind of talked like Sora as the American. Dude really spoke like an anime villain, I had so much second hand embarrassment from him, I couldn’t deal with it. But I respect that he just went for it, not giving a shit about what others think. Hope he’s doin okay, where ever he is, and I’m kinda curious if he still talks like that, I’d have to guess he probably doesn’t. I hope.

Hey Sora, I really enjoyed this video. I especially liked the part where "learning English in Japan" was trendy and the part where you tried to go out to "make friends with. an American". I thought that was pretty neat because I'm American and those things make me feel cool. Good work.

Takya and Kento look eerily similar. Are they twins?!

A funny thing about New Zealanders: when we say "See you later" (or more colloquially, "See ya!"), there's a 95% chance we mean it literally. We actually want to meet you again. It's not a pure manners thing. Scary, isn't it?

i am japanese girl thats raised overseas most of my life, my dad is raised in the us and we both like to help foreigners not only americans in japan since they seem to have difficulty understanding any japanese. I am very international person haha ^^. im more than happy to help with anyone confused of train stations cos as a japanese im also very confused with it. and idk whats up with tokyo people being so anti social man, like my foreigner friend waved to a japanese baby but the baby and the parents backed away from her 😭😭

Sora fans are officially now a part of the anime gang, which makes Sora the Anime Boss

Sora does a great job of toning down how dramatic conversations are in Japan.

Dude, that’s damn funny writing, along with the snappy editing. Nice work.

Never ceases to amaze me, Sora. Great job here.

This is so funny 😂 loved it!

Thanks for educating us while entertaining us at the same time😂

I am totally going to print a t-shirt that says Hori Shito in katakana! 😅

Alot of Americans who study Japanese use Japanese names with each other. It is a common practice in some cultures for people to have different names in foreign languages. I know several Chinese people in my city who have English names. So many weebs may not think it is strange to have a Japanese Name.

Your videos are always educational

😄 Sora you are a comedy gem. Love your videoes. You will always have a friend in Denmark (Scandinavia) :) I hope you have a wonderfull weekend

These videos have made me understand Japan better, so I can be a great visitor.

And now Kento's Channel is showing up in my Recomendations 😀

I don’t think Americans change their names that often. Do you mean LEGALLY changing their name or just calling themselves something different or a nickname. LEGALLY changing your name in America requires a ton of paperwork as you have to change all your legal, financial, and identifying documentation. It’s a big, time consuming hassle to LEGALLY change your name. It’s usually only done by women when they marry so that their last name is the same as their husbands.

This is your best video Sora

and thats the story of how Takuya & Kento became friends with Jack aka Goku, until Goku decides to have tattoos in Japan which it's a mistake.because Goku will be mistaken for a gang member!

As someone who's lived in the US before I will need to make some corrections. While Americans can become friends with people quickly we don't immediately consider them our best friends. Just like the Japanese, to call someone their "true friend" it takes about 2 months. And to call someone your "Best friend" it will a year or even longer. If a friendship can last past the time it takes to enter and leave high school (around 4 year), you an truly call someone your best friend without a doubt. Though I say the average to be come a best friend is probably about 1 year. Being a friend, being a true friend and being a best friend are all completely different to Americans. The thing is rather than starting soft Americans go in hard to quickly learn someone's personal space an then it takes a while to truly learn if you can trust that person. It does take a while, but we try to be really friendly and put effort into maintaining friendships from the get go as friendships take a lot of work to prove to be trust worthy and keep together. Americans don't "easily" become people's friends, Americans just try to get close to learn as much about a person even when being open as if you end up clicking with the person, it can still take a quarter of a lifetime to learn about somebody.And as people age they are always changing. Someone who keeps their feelings and thoughts shut off or hard to read makes the process longer. it's better to act straightforward in the opinion of Americans as that way our impressions and behaviors around someone won't be built on false premises. Americans can't read multiple implied meanings at once very well. Hence why Americans seem straightforward. There is a phrase Americans like to use. "We aren't mind readers so just be up front with me about your feelings."

When I met Sora he told me where the station was. He was instantly my friend. Yes, I am in an anime gang too.

I love it!!

THE TRAIN STATION IS THAT WAY! bahah nice. Salutations from Michigan. Resubbed haah. Man, your American accent impression sounds like an old school Californian surfer dude! 😅

I loved every second of this.

We spend 3 weeks in Japan this month (GW 🎉) and we have brief chat with japanese only two times: high school students in Osaka and barista in Tokyo 😅

Sora, I changed my name legally to my nickname. but my grandmother gave me my nickname, so I'm actually respecting my family MORE

As a qualified American, I can testify the simplicity of making friends here vs pretty much anywhere else.

i met a really nice old retired guy at the train station, who gave me directions and handed out fliers with station map on them, very friendly guy, since he was retired he was doing it for something to do and to practice English on foreign travelers.

Re #2, I'm not out there changing my legal name on forms and stuff, but I have several nicknames that I don't think twice about answering to. First one was born out of too many guys with my name in a college club, so we all got nicknames, lol The other comes from online friend groups. I'll get called by a character or game avatar and still be like "Sup?", no problem. It's even contextual. If I'm in my game Discord, I'll get called by my game character, but in a different friend-group Discord with mostly the same people, I get called with a different nickname. It's hilariously fascinating if I think about it too much.

“It’s not as simple to make American friends as this skit” Yeah, you’re right. It’s actually even easier than this skit. Just give us a smile! 😃 4:16

The miscommunication sends me 😂 I found your video your hilarious!!!

banger video as always

Okay, this was pretty entertaining 😂

Extending shortened nicknames like other comments, US is full of ethnicities and have variety of names from their culture, but if it's unfamiliar by local american ears, it will be mispronounced. It even happens within the country where spanish names and towns are common in west US, but it's uncommon in midwest, where they don't know pronouncing 'J' with an 'H' sound, so Joaquin might be pronounced like it's french instead. Other kids and some immigrant parents will give an english nickname to the child like Jack to avoid constant mispronunciations. Even in a workspace, nobody looks at official documents after being on payroll, bosses and co-workers go with preferred name. So I can see a Lauren or a Tyler changing their name abroad for practicality.

Japanese: "are you American? do you need to get to the train station?" me, American: *signal to pause while checking map app on phone* Japanese: "do you want to be my friend?" me: [oh no, someone's getting too close, how can I get out of this? oh, I got it...] me: "jeg beklager, jeg forstår ikke engelsk. jeg drar på den togstasjonen der borte, ha det" Japanese: "ehhhhh???" me: *quickly leaves*

In my experience in Japan, most Japanese understand English, but they cannot speak it very well, just basic words. But I’ve never had a problem understanding the person or me being understood by that person.

I am in Japan the first time for 2 days now (in Osaka, now Kyoto) and the subway thing is really. I know about 4 Japanese words and am winging it. And older gentleman helped me find an ATM, showed me how to use the machines for the subway, walked me to the track and gave me super specific directions for getting to Kyoto from Osaka. It was perfect. Another was a super georgous lady helping me understand a transfer and explaining more travel stuff. Their English was good, and I could tell that they were eager to practice, which is so very cool. Japanese people are ridiculously friendly and accommodating. Not a fan of crowds and lights and noise, but the Japanese people make it worthwhile.

We're taking over! It's too late y'all be saying howdy and yeehaw in no time! 🤠

I think asking for directions is just a universal tourist thing. Happened to me a lot. One very awkward encounter I remember at a train station near the airport, this Korean guy asked me for directions to a very specific small intersection. I asked if I could look at his map, he had his phone out with it open. Suddenly dude got super scared like I wanted to rob him or something. So I pulled out my own phone to look it up hoping it would ease his fears (can't blame him Los Angeles can be scary at night) yet this just seemed to make things more awkward. 😅 I hope that guy was OK.

As someone who has been recently to Japan, I can somewhat explain the "why americans in Japan ask where the station is a lot". In a nutshell, the stations are just too complicated for the first-time foreigners. For example, I had problems distinguishing between railway and subway stations because of how similar they were, not to mention finding out where the ticket booth was. P.S.: I'm not american, I'm portuguese, but of course whenever I had to talk to a japanese person, I would speak in english with some japanese words.

Question! I know about the tattoo matter in Japan for a while, but I was wondering if the majority of japanese people (so, not only oldsters) still believe foreigners with tattoos/who want tattoos are associated with gangs even if they are from another culture? I assumed they could separate their tattoo culture from overseas ones because of shows/movies/celebrities/information(?) etc

this video just sounds like that one side quest in Yakuza Like A Dragon of the American asking how to get to the station

Well, you could say that once you talk to someone you are no longer 'strangers'. And if you don't hate each other then you are also not 'enemies'. So that leaves only one option, you are 'friends'. Maybe not 'best' friends, but still friends. Or acquaintances.

I've only been to japan 3 times, and i still sometimes have a hard time looking for the entrance to an underground train station, say google map say to enter through A3, but you can only see A2 or A4 signage and you still trying to find A3 instead, and turn out there is no A3 signage or the signage is located underground too

I love this

“It’s not as easy as in this skit” As an American, it’s pretty close to that easy! If we go and hang out one time, yeah we’re friends now.

bros got one shirt, and it's that one

The train station is that way 👆👇👈👉

Americans probably ask about train stations a lot because they're not used to public transport. Considering that American cities are built for cars and that public options tend to suck...

Cant believe ur awake to post this...🙂

はじめてこのチャンネルを知りました。コメント欄を見て「類は友を呼ぶ」という言葉は、世界共通だと理解しました。

Sora what are your views on work-life balance in Japan and how it could be improved. Plz make a video on it.

Meeting Japanese people was easily my favorite part about being in Japan. I hope that when I next come more feel comfortable approaching to say hello. Its fun to make friends. 😊

Sora is so cool that OpenAI named their video model after him

Call me goku, you coward!! 😂😂😂 omg comedy gold. This whole video was funny af.

haha the subtitles I'm dying 🤣🤣🤣

LOL !!! 😊 Great skit. That was very funny !!! 😊

"The train station is that way!" lol Our favorite question

lol. in my recommended there's a video made by a yt channel called "KENTO", just like the character in your sketch

卵が好き

2:57 I'm American living in Japan and yes..... asking where the station is vital because sometimes the directions google maps gives can be confusing when the station is on like the 2nd or 3rd floor of a mall.

this man is like the ash ketchem of gaijin. he has to catch them all or at least help them all out. lol this made me wonder if it's only american english speakers that are popular there, and not uk or other tourists from other english speaking countries. like "ah an american!...oh you're from canada?...aw man..." lol

thanks for the laughs Ojisan

WHAT? anime gang was a real convo? we NEED the full story

Wait, is that a new song at the end of the video? I've never heard it before

Yo bro I came from the KJ video and I'm curious of something ; You have an excellent japanese anime dub talent and potential, I even feel like I have heard your or a similar voice in an anime before, why won't you work for mappa or any anime studio? Have you ever got a job invitiation from a japanese anime/dub etc. studio?

Gee thanks Sora, now I got "im afraid of Americans" by David Bowie stuck in my head, good one

I am Brazilian, and in theory the 1) is more extreme here depending on from you are (and to be more exact, I am from Rio de Janeiro that have this fame even compared to some other regions). But, I also think it's weird making friends that fast. About 2), yeah, this does seem something from USA. People do change their names here but is pretty rare, and I can just remember people from political or business area that add their nickname to their name (but don't change their name, just add the nickname) 3) Yeah, I think the thing with tattoo is really something specific to Japan and some other countries. We do have a specific tattoo associated with crime, thought (and probably is the same in other countries)

This guy is brilliant, felt.I was watching a short movie.Or a an american soap opera

These skits are funny! 😁🤣

American here who asked where the train station was. I've only asked once and it was when I first came to Tokyo by bus from the Narita Airport. For some reason the entrance to that train station was difficult for me to find.

2:58 Honestly, I have had zero problems finding a station, but finding the correct platform can be an issue, especially in really big stations.

Some cultural differences apply to my country as well. We certainly don't make friends that easily on the street, and we generally don't see tattoos in a very positive light either.

Is changing your name really that strange in Japan? I've found one of the more difficult parts in studying Japanese history is how historical figures seem to often name change their name for various reasons, so I figured something like that wouldn't be very shocking.

TOMO DARRRRRR CHeee had me dying lol

If I find myself in Tokyo and manage to see Sora doing one of his live streams. After a hearty "RASENGAN!" I'll probably ask him where za torain stasion izu, before asking him to be my tomo dar chee.

I know you talked about this on stream. Can you do a skit about recent "Pewdiepie vs Japanese Twitter" lol.

America Ya! :D

Thanks to Sora I now have the misconception that all Japanese really do talk like anime characters 🤣🤣 Just kidding great content as always Sora! Your hilariously over the top style gets me everytime!!

When is the next stream Sora?

This videos is awesomely epic 🤣🤣🤣🤣

これ日本人同士でも同じで何かで対立が起きたり恐怖を覚えるときってだいたい相互理解が不十分なことから来るんだよね 友達になる過程もそれぞれだったりするし（自分はわりと気軽な方）

I made some friends in Japan and invited them to eat as a group. I let them pick the restaurant, and they chose a place where you sit by yourself, far away from each other. LOL. I was dying of laughter. We had to regroup and re-strategize the plan to a more Western style. I personally love the cultural barriers and enjoy learning new things.