10 years ago, Chris drives past a toll booth without paying. Now foreigners are being overcharged for food and drink. Coincidence? I think not!

Regarding slow ambulance rides, apparently it's because the ambulance has to find a hospital that will accept the patient. I had a Japanese family member that happened to and it was mildly infuriating

About how to read kanji: the secret is neither time nor vibe. The secret is vocabulary! You would know if a kanji should be read in on-yomi or kun-yomi if you know the context in which it is used. Just read lots of Japanese manga and books for kids, they accompany all the kanjis with hiragana. As a rule of thumb though, you will find that kanjis used on their own are pronounced with kun-yomi (as in 食べる, where the kanji is pronounced TA) and those used in compound are on-yomi (e.g. 食事, where the same kanji reads SHOKU), but not always (like 竪琴, which is read with kun-yomi even though it's one compound word, but you'd know that if you knew the word "tategoto" 🙂). Another secret is the structure of kanji. You can almost always find a simpler kanji in the complicated ones, which is responsible for the sound of it. For example: the character 食 (shoku) is found in these characters 飾 and 蝕, which are also pronounced shoku. So if you come across a kanji and you don't know how to read it, try looking for a simpler kanji and it's most likely pronounced the same. Good luck!

Pete! Chris finally let you out of the dungeon, huh?

14:20 For years, restos’ English menus often had higher prices than the ones in Japanese. I would ask for a Japanese menu, and use my phone to translate it.

Recently been to japan. What i do is use my very limited japanaese knowledge to get a table and get the japanese menu and use google lens on the japanese menu which has been working wonders for me. I do know very basic japanese myself albeit.

Good program guys, well done!

I live in a tourist town in the US. Many local restaurants, once they know you are local or you become a regular, will offer a discount. Usually like 10% off the total (covers the tax). Or they might offer: buy a certain number of coffees and get one free. So it isn't that unusual. It is a way of appreciating locals, who keep you in business during off months.

Ah, yes. Our many five channels. Well put, Peppi Pete.

I can't remember if this was a Chris Story, or somebody else in Japan that I follow, but one time they found the opposite. The prices on the English menu were actually a lot cheaper. Turns out the owner had raised their prices and updated the Japanese menus, and had forgotten about the English ones as they were hardly used. :-)

Welcome back Pete.

Hi Guys, great to see Pete back and I love Toyota updates. 🤣👍 Re Flights with Air China /China Eastern, currently they are a lot better and go from Gatwick to Shanghai with short layover for under £500. This has enabled me to visit Japan 3 times in the last year and going again in 3 weeks just in time for the rainy season🤣. Ps Thank you for including my what not to do in an Onsen story. Still Chuckling👍. Thanks for all you do. Dom in West Sussex, Uk. 🙏

the goatee type thing pete is rocking suits him well

I’m like a quarter Japanese/korean and half Spanish. I visited Japan in February. Idk how, but for some reason I guess I have more Japanese features so I was spoken to in Japanese and was given the Japanese restaurant price. It was interesting to see the difference in markup they would give to foreign tourists. Some places was a couple hundred yen up to 1000

For economy flights I would say JAL and Singapore Airlines are the best options if you have the choice, both have world class economy classes and are usually affordable for what you can get. ANA is also great but I prefer JAL economy due to the seat layout being 2 4 2 and not 3 4 3.

hahah, lucky that of the many documents, I read menus the best xDDDD FOOOOD LOVE!

The goat is back

As an admirer of your main channel along with Conners, Joey’s, Pete’s and so on. I live in Oahu, and I’m sure you know we get a lot of Japanese and foreign the most part they’re very polite. But we also deal with the no tip culture, even though almost all Japanese people know about it and a small minority don’t tip or tip very little. So it works both ways. Cheers guys

If restaurants charge locals and tourist different menu prices, I think it is a problem. If, however, all customers are charged the same price, but locals are given a discount, then it is okay with me. It's like having a "senior discount" or "student discount". In Hawaii some restaurants have a "Kamaaina" discount, which is a discount for locals only. To get this discount you need to show a valid Hawaii ID. I'm surprised more restaurants have not increased overall prices to everyone, then give locals a locals discount.

Chur the bro Chris+ Pete,my first car was a Hillman Hunter yo😂😂

Speaking from experience, Pete's advice of getting stressed out to lose weight is spot on 😅

When I first heard & saw an ambulance in Japan; the particular sound of the sirens blaring from down the street gave me Ghostbusters (Ecto-1) vibes. I am curious Chris & Pete or indeed anyone else for that matter if you had that same feeling when you first saw/heard a Japanese ambulance?!

When I went to Italy, their restaurants tried charging us extra. We’d have gotten taken advantage of many times if we hadn’t been with a local.

Lol, our 24 yr old drives our old 2003 Subaru, she’d dead on wanting to get it to 250 thousand miles. I want her to have bells, whistles, backup camera, best air bags, etc. But she’s doing the right thing I suppose. Thank heavens she’s a great driver! But does she take great care of it? Not so much. Her dad is on her all the time about it, of course.

We experienced racism at a restaurant in Tokyo at the hotel near the Imperial Palace,where they sat us and then ignored us. We left and had lunch at another restaurant.

My first car was a gold Ford Escort station wagon. Dont remember the year it was, had to be early 90s. Roll down windows, what AC? Casset player.-mild disappointed, I wanted an 8track. But I loved that car, bought it myself for a grand off my step grandpa. The one thing I seriously loved was once it got going, it felt like it was actually floating! Had it a fair time, but then the breaks went(while driving) and I had to say good bye. Thing was a solid tank tell the end. Never had such a quality car since. The jeep and grand caravan I got after-man what nightmares thoes were!

Local discounts are common in US casino buffets but it requires signing on to a players card with proof of residence. Same for museums and other public places. I think that's fine for large establishments because locals can patronize on off-peak times, bring in outside guests, and can be repeat customers. But a small restaurant can get blacklisted and lose business especially if they are rumored as racist. Starbucks has their points on their app but their stock is tumbling, workers are unionizing, and their service is going down, so I expect closures soon.

Hi Pete, welcome back! The last time the UK won Eurovision was 1997, quite surprised Chris has forgotten the superstar talent that was Bucks Fizz, featuring Cheryl Baker, who won in 1981. I think we should really give up now, I really don't like Eurovision.

I think one way around it is to provide a discount if you present a Japanese issued ID. I've seen this in SEA at most tourist attractions and shops where discounts are given to locals. So it's not that you're charging more for the tourist just giving a benefit for the local tourist to encourage domestic tourism or consumerism. This is fine I think.

Huh, higher price for tourist in restaurants is not a surprise for me. Here in Malaysia we might not do it in our restaurants, but we definitley charge much higher price for foreign tourists when it comes to attraction tickets. The reason for 'local discounts' is to encourage domestic tourism.

Paunchy Pete is back with Crusty Chris!

Chris’ first car reminds me of The Inbetweeners.

I admire your honesty about the quality issue sir, I have a lovely little story about your book i will email your about.

What’s the name of the app or website you mentioned to learn Japanese.

Luckily for me, I dont think I have ever experienced this while in Japan. I actually sat myself in a single area alone. I didnt want to make locals uncomfortable, especially knowing it was a less common for tourists to go there. Went to another restaurant that only served food and you had to be standing, only old time locals were aloud in the second floor which I didn’t mind at all. The same restaurant owner showed his enthusiasm when I told him my reasons for visiting the restaurant.

Fun fact about restaurants. Their job is to make good tasty food, not healthy food. Eating at home is always going to be healthier and cheaper and you can figure out ways to make it tasty without adding in the extra calories a restaurant would.

I thought the suggestion of a loyalty card was a better approach than trying to figure out who is local or not by some arbitrary means such as being able to speak Japanese or look Japanese because there are so many different people who may be local but not speak that well or look foreign but be fully born and raised in Japan. I know what you mean though about point cards being such a hassle since every store has one. I wonder if there’s any way to create point cards that are electronic and sit in another part of your iPhone wallet? Then you can carry an infinite number of them and just do a search when you need one or have Siri find it. Know any people who can make that happen at Apple Japan?

Since they can be fly buy night, how easy is it to open a small business?

I went to a restaurant that was known for horse meat dishes like horse sashimi in September last year. A few moments afters I was handed the bill by an employee, the chef came to me and told me that they made a mistake with the bill. I actually had to pay 2000 Yen more than I had anticipated. Since I didn't want to make a big deal out of it and 2000 Yen isn't an amount to cry over for me, I just paid the bill. I went out of the restaurant and the chef came out and asked where I was from. That's when I realized I just got the foreigner tax slapped onto my face, which has never happened to me before. For the record, I've been to Japan 5 times already, one of them as an exchange student for a year.

Actually I had never heard of the Eurovision song contest until I came to Japan. Of course, it wasn't from Japanese people, it was from my fellow JET ALTs who hailed from the UK and Ireland.

Starting to learn Kaji- I needed to learn to read Hiragana and Katakana, now comes the new challenge. For over eating- do the 20/4 hour fast- every other day, and lift weights. You should drop 5 lbs a week easily. Eat what ever you want during your window. Too easy, people are addicted to food- you need to control your mind for overeating. Done.

I think a Tourist Visa fee at the airport upon entry actually makes the most sense. Then they can that fee to fix some of the over tourism issues. Honestly, anything 5000 yen or below probably wouldn't cause much a fuss.

golden kai: most of the time these bars charge table charges and some (not all) just increase prices for drinks and don't take any table charges

As someone from tourist town of Nashville charge tax on hotels. Could also charge more tax on higher class restaurant that may get more tourist. But doing a discount at restaurants by some subjective definition of overseas tourists is riddled with issues. As poited out someone who looks Japanese by born away.

@14:20 it is not the tourists' fault that yen is so cheap right now. It is Japan's own fault. You should be thankful tourists are going to Japan if not, Yen's value will dive even more.

Going down the road of blatantly having a two tier pricing policy may seem like a great option for local repeat business, but it really will not work in the long term, very poor business modelling I agree with Chris a point card is the better way to go.

Why don't restaurants just have a very nice discount card for repeat customers? Thats how everyone else does it...

Thank jebus Pete's back, you have to do a walk around of your car please, better still go visit one of our favourite uk car youtubers like MA, juice motors or mr Harry himself , thanks for great entertainment 👍

Since it's "all you can eat" I'm assuming it's because of that thing where foreigners and native Japanese handle "all you can eat" restaurants differently, Chris has talked about this before I believe. I believe it was like Japanese people treat it like "all you can eat, within reason" and foreigners are treating it like "ALL you CAN eat"

I saw that place that said if you don't speak Japanese don't come in. And then I looked at the menu and I thought... "meh not that good anyway so I don't really want to go in". There is supposedly a fee but I don't remember being charged it.

When is the cyclethon episode being released?

Ya should have bought a Ford Prefect hehe

You know your car is old when you turn the key and it coughs.

As a tourist I would have no problem paying some sort of fee to enter a country, if it goes towards improving infrastructure and/or conservation. It already costs so much to visit a few extra dollars at the point of entry is no issue.

When I had a Corolla, I took it in for a repair. After the repair, the engine light came on and stayed on. I took it back to the shop, and they told me that I should just ignore it. I asked them to fix it since I hadn’t had the issue until they had worked on the car. They then claimed the engine light was on when I brought the car to them.

The problem with landing fees/charging entry is that we go back to visit family, which is several times a year, we will pay as tourists. This puts a burden on those who have a Japanese passport (i.e are Japanese) but are living abroad.

Maybe I just managed not to go to the wrong places last time I visited, because I can't recall getting a fully English menu; I tend to check online first or eat at the type of place that posts part of their menu outside or has the menus already at the table so it was mainly dual-language menus. If you're posting prices outside, you can't exactly change them as easily. Of course, I don't eat anywhere especially fancy and I do know enough Japanese that I rarely need to ask for English service, and have lived there in the past, but I am far from fluent, am extremely foreign-looking, and can't read more than hiragana so it's not like I'm fooling anyone. (Definitely used Google lens at some places)

I was there a year ago and I thought the food was incredibly cheap and as a tourist I would have no problem paying 20-30% more, especially due to the inconvenience I cause by not being able to speak Japanese. My solution would be to raise all the prices on all the menus, and then have a sign in Japanese saying to ask about our discount.

Chris discovering diesel engines, lol.

I was refused change from my taxi fare in Kyoto last year as I had used the taxi from the "English "speaking taxi rank. When I queried it he barked "Tip" at me. I have been to Japan 13 times and was shocked. I went to the tourist office and mentioned it. The staff were horrified. They took me outside to the Taxi rank and made me show them which firm the car had been from. I would love to know if anything came of my dobbing him in. Has this ever happened to you Chris?

20:03 Instead of the landing fee charge, I would put a price in tourist visa when entering. If you are coming to spend, then pay 25 euro / dollars and use that to further boost Japan. It might as well serve as a dissuasion measure against the crappy tourist that might think "I'm not going to pay to enter a country where I'm already going to spend money".

Instead of charging tourists more, give locals a discount. Problem solved.

This is inevitable in a country with weakening currency. In Indonesia the discrepancy is so big that establishments dealing with foreigners are so expensive that no locals actually go there. At that point you’re not charging tourist more, you’re giving locals a discount. At the end of the day if you don’t act like a local don’t expect “local prices” 🤷‍♂️

Just do punch cards. A coffee shop I used to go to had punch cards for their sandwiches. Buy a sandwich, get your card punched, after 5 sandwiches you go one for free.

Love the comments about the indestructible Toyotas and refurbishing older vehicles as well as other appliances and such. So much is wasted by obsolescence and the throw-away-for-the-next-shining-thing mentality. Appliance repair used to be a viable business. Not anymore. Such a shame.

I feel really old when people talk about only having 5 channels in the UK back in the day, how about remembering only 3? And can anyone remember only 2 channels?

Ambalams go slow because they are on the radio negotiating which hospital will take the passenger. They also use lights and sirens as a matter of fact, both to attend and emergency and then to take the injured to a negotiated destination. They will even run their lights and sirens to take little Satoshi to hospital for his nose bleed.

If a car has been “totaled” by insurance company it will be a HUGE pITA to retitle and insure it…green?

Cathay Pacific is a better experience than Air China.

Just forget the explorer mindset and don't go to small shops if they don't want to serve foreigners, large chains have very good cost / performance in Japan anyway

If this restaurant in Shibuya was a buffet, is it possible since foreigners eat lots more food than typical Japanese people?

20:10 an entry fee to japan just makes it seem even more like a theme park lol. However id be ok paying a $100 entry tax if i knew the money was in fact going towards soemthing beneficial and not just wasted on bureaucracy

I agree that ambulances drive very slow in Japan and motorists dont seem to care to get out the way. I think they look at it as an inconvenience just as how commuters on the train see the su*ic*des on the lines as an inconvenience to them. The issue of charging tourists more is not a new phenomenon in Japan. It has been going on for years.

Tokyo ain’t the only place to do in Japan. Come down to Kyushu and you will find less tourists and more “fair” pricing. Kanto area gets too much attention. Japan is diverse and going off the beaten path is not only cheaper but will be more memorable.

I am afraid I am a bit of a philistine, Famichiki didn't do it for me. Tried it a few times in different cities to get a proper sample. It wasn't great, wasn't awful, just meh.

In regards to the diet question (coming from a personal trainer), exercise absolutely is key. Do not neglect it and just eat "healthy". Both are important, and you will not sustain a healthy body without exercise. More muscle = more calories burned. So technically speaking, if you keep the amount of food you eat the same but add resistance training, then you are already burning more calories per day than normal, which nets you in a caloric deficit. BUT you need to just make sure your eating the proper foods 95% of them. I've been training for 15+ years, work a standard 9-5, workout 1 hour for 5 days a week, I still eat a burger or two per week, and I am able to maintain an above average physique. So for the average person, it is completely doable to get a good enough physique. It's just about getting started and staying consistent. Getting in shape is very simple, but not easy.

I fly to China with AirChina and I've never had any issues with them.

In New Zealand, the insurance companies will charge you extra if anyone 25 or under is driving your car. Thing is, statistically, young drivers are actually LESS likely to get into accidents in general, even after taking the idiot 'boy racer' types (no idea why they came to be called that rather than any of the preexisting terms for exactly the same type of twit, but that's neither here nor there) into account. I remember there being a lot of complaints about the insurance thing for a while.

I mean you can call it whatever you want at the end of the day, but the different pricing for different people is one thing and one thing only. Racism.

Chris you pay Tourist tax at the hotels in Japan as is done in other European countries

Pete talking about economics is painful. A inflation is necessary for growth, and Japan's central banks policy to keep inflation flat to benefit old people on pensions has harmed the younger generations. B real wage growth for Japanese is only down 2.5% over the past two years, and you would think it was significantly higher listening to Pete. Unions in Japan have also been in negotiations for wage hikes, with Reuters reporting that some of the largest companies in Japan have agreed to wage increases of 5.28% for 2024, which is the largest YoY increase in 33 years.

eat less carbs , soba is buckwheatits good though 。 for the kanji learners learn first the chinese pronounciation only as those are regular. add than if it is a verb its most common japanese pronaciation. than you can gradually add diffrent pronanciation when you get you vocabs e.g the kanji 生 has 70 diffrent ounce... in fact the majority is for specific names.. speaking of name pronaciations you can learn some maybe the common ones like 佐藤　斎藤　渡辺 田中etc　 for male names the easiest 太郎　健太　etc for female 優子、愛子、桜 are also pretty easy to read　 as for ateji some of them you learn from benining like 今日 or 昨日　 aka ateji is not just things like 百舌 or向日葵

I used to play basketball with an ambulance driver in Japan and they said they envied American drivers because they are NOT allowed to break the law like going thorough lights.

I think discounts for locals is awesome. prices have risen everywhere in Tokyo for lots of reasons. I'm happy to accept a discount!

I live in a city with heavy tourism and this idea of over-charging for food reeks of nastiness. There are better, more nuanced ways to balance tourism for locals that doesnt resort to, and lets be honest, knee jerking xenophobia. Extreme as a label? Well, Would the Japanese like it if they came to Europe on holiday and get charged more for their food simply because they looked obviously Japanese? To me, thats racism pure and simple. Not only is this open discrimination unfair and nasty, but will lead to less tourists going - which if they are on hard times with inflation, isnt going to help the economy...or the reputation of the Japanese. Tourism is a global probelm, not just Japans - here in Europe, from Venice to Barcelona, its a similar sad tale, but there are many ways to combat it, or balance it before discrimination to foreigners. Never do something to someone else that you yourself wouldnt like happening to you

Chris, you and Connor will have put on weight during the cyclathon because you were building muscle, which weighs more.

Euro vision is corny😂😂😂

Inflation innit?

"A D-head in Japan"

From what I understand, the two-tier system elsewhere in various regions of Asia was implemented to protect impoverished 2nd world locals. People were raising prices on tourists and the locals couldn't afford it, so the two-tier system is to protect poor people from price-gouging, not as a means of just getting more money out of tourists. So the Japanese mind is running a little wild with this idea..they're a 1st world country and enjoy a high standard of living. Their wages need to go up. I think there is this perception that foreigners aren't struggling or something. Inflation in the US is way up. Just a flight to Japan is still over $600 more expensive than the last time I visited.

there are ppl, eating more than usual, when they are stressed out... we are the minority, but we exist.... 32:35

Complain about double pricing, but say nothing about tourist trap rip-off prices at tourist attractions. From my point of view, double prices are not that expensive, but the prices at stores run by Chinese owners at tourist attractions in Japan are about 5 times the normal prices. (Perhaps they are partnering with Chinese tourist groups to bring them in.) It's all over the news locally, but I wonder why this isn't picked up overseas.

I love how when Japanese are racist these two are very forgiving, but if the UK did the same there wouldn't be

Pretty sad if you’re a foreigner from a first world country and can’t afford a meal, especially given the current exchange rate.

Every tourist pays taxes, isn't that the case in Japan, besides leaving their hard earned dollars for the stuff they consume?

Sounds pretty discriminating. I can imagine being white and a resident and Just getting charged more cause of my skin color unless I gotta show my residence card. But since Japan is doing it, its okay right?

This is something I've been wondering a lot about how to navigate. I'm going to Japan next month with some friends, and when the topic came up last week, one friend suggested just asking for a Japanese menu. I'm torn here, though. Is that okay to do, or is it our responsibility to pay more because we aren't locals and we are adding an inconvenience by being there? I don't want to be a shitty person for trying to get around the system to pay less, or potentially hurt someone's business. Even if we do ask for Japanese menus, will they still charge us the foreigner price regardless, or does it depend on the place? Either way, I just want to do the right thing. Of course I want to spend less money where I can, but I also don't want to be causing extra problems on top of the one of me just existing there.

I think the no tips whatsoever culture has a downside for Japanese establishments where tourists can't give tips to express their appreciation for good service/food etc. I think if they had a similar tipping culture to here in Australia where tips are welcome but not generally expected it would help them benefit more from tourists. I guess a tourist entry tax as mentioned would also be helpful.

I'm fine with differentiated prices. Residents deserve priority and preference.

How about they learn how to accept tips