TOKYO GUIDEBOOK takashifromjapan.com/tokyocompleteguide

YOOOOO you are probably like one of the first KZfaqrs to ask a Latino person about their experience in Japan.

That Ecuadorian girl is crazy good at languages! she is super fluent in english and Japanese. The Mexican guy sounds very good in Japanese too. All these guys have 3 languages in the bag, vamos latinos!

I'm a Latino in Japan, but who grew up half my life in the States. The one thing Ive noticed that is so extremely apparent for me, is that I dont hit as aggressive or over the top racism here. If anything, people have been so warm and welcoming. Theres one person I met, who is Japanese but speaks both English and Spanish, so when we run into each other in the bars, we overwhelm the people around us by just combining all three languages to communicate. It's really fun to do. I've all but lost reason to go back to the states anymore. Ill go back to my home country some day, but otherwise, Im loving it here. 5 years and going!

I'm a Latino living in Japan for about 15 years and The half peruvian half Japanese guys explanation is VERY spot on. Many relationships are hallow in Japan. You can't really open up or form deep connections with people because of the way Japanese culture and society is.

Whenever I visit Japan, I find myself always speaking Spanish with other foreigners so that I can get directions, ask questions, or have conversation. One clerk lady (Peruvian) I spoke with at a gift store almost cried, because she had not spoken her native language in many years.. it was tears of joy for her. :)

I believe one of the last statements was very true. Many people even outside of Japan only really see South America and Latino countries as very poor. But the gap between the poor and the rich is tremendous. I do hope things get better and the gap shortens.

Being a Mexican-American person and hearing them speak Japanese gives me hope to be as fluent as they are. I will work on learning Japanese

I think big factor that doesn't get discussed is that Latinos vary in skin color a lot, if you're clear enough people can perceive you as being European, and that changes your experience a lot.

Japanese here. Mexico and Spanish have always been one of my favorite countries and languages since my early teens, the late '90s. Me and my friends didn't know much about Latin American or foreign countries back then because there were no smartphones. We were living in the Stone Age like the Flintstones. Joking aside, Clifton Collins Jr. and Robert Rodriguez's movies sparked my interest in Mexico and Spanish. Also, I was a fan of Delinquent Habits, Kinto Sol, and Buena Vista Social Club when I was in my twenties. I'm sorry I'm still not familiar with other Latin American countries, but one thing I can say for sure is that whoever you are, wherever you're from, you're beautiful. I see Latin Americans as the morning sun.

When the Mexican girl said, "I am never going to be Japanese" that really struck a chord within me because it really does feel like that. I feel like if you come from a Latin American country that is especially hard because we tend to welcome foreigners as if they were family. Like, you become one of us. Japanese people do make a distinction between "us" and "them" (foreigners) and it is pretty marked. When I was in Japan the realization that it was happening sometimes felt like a slap in the face. It's one of those cultural differences that you don't really know are bothering you until you really sit down to think about it. Very interesting!

The one that mentioned the vowels between Spanish and Japanese - as I learn both languages, I've had that same exact thought. The vowel sounds are nearly identical and I thought that at least that part of it would be easy to transfer. As opposed to English, where it's said we have close to 20 vowel sounds. Also, I like how most of the interviewees are at least trilingual.

It takes a smart person to ask questions nobody would even think to ask. Good video.

As a latina, I really appreciate these interviews that help to demystify misconceptions and prejudices with our countries and our culture. South America and Latin America in general has so many good things the world could see. Great job, Takashii !

I'm Mexican-American and I really resonated with the differences in how culture and relationships work in both countries. Latin Americans value closeness, warmth, and openness so much to the point where people can get nosy and offended if you don't share everything with them. And it seems like Japanese people value autonomy, personal boundaries, and harmony to the point where it can feel a little cold and unfriendly towards others. I think of Latin Americans as like dogs while Japanese are more like cats, but I love both! Ultimately though, we both have a strong sense of ourselves as part of a society and a culture and we value things like politeness, hard work, and hospitality. We have a lot in common despite our differences!

As a 27 year old in South FL; born of both Colombian parents and deeply raised in my culture/traditions, seeing these Latinos thriving in Japan gives me hope. Have always wanted to go since I was about 17. Now I believe that this year I can seriously start making my moves. Thank you so much for this video 🙏

As a Latino who has lived in Japan, I can say that Japanese people did not know much about Latin America except for the things they may have seen on TV or similar. Once I tried to explain where I was from and the young Japanese lady had no idea! I was confused because I thought Japanese people were more "cultured" per se, but they were genuinely curious to learn, which is why it didn't bother me as much when they didn't know about Colombia (where I was born). I lived in Okinawa and the people are different from mainland Japan, as they are more warm and inviting! Latin America is not all negative! In Colombia and the rest of Latin America, we have some of the most intelligent people in the world! We are not just "poor" people! We are rich not only in finance, but also in culture, family, unity, friendship and can't fail to mention, beautiful people inside and outside! Japanese people have to learn that Latin America is so much more than just Peru and Brazil. We have an immense amount more to offer the world! I will say that I ❤️Okinawa until the day I die, but my soul and spirit will always be Colombian!

I'm a foreigner living in Tokyo for 20 years. These interviews were very insightful. In particular, the man from Peru's comment about friendships here being somewhat shallow really struck a chord with me. This is so true. People will be a friend to play tennis, or a friend while your kids are at the same kindergarten, or a friend to have lunch with and practice English. But it is shallow, never goes anywhere, and I crave so much more.

I'm Japanese.Gunma,Shizuoka and Aichi prefectures have a lot of South Americans, especially Brazilians and Peruvians, living in japan difficult for south Americans.too cross cultural.if you can't get used to life in Tokyo, Okinawa is recommended. This is because people in Okinawa are frendly than mainland Japan,and there are many people who are not strict about time and are at their own pace, I think people in South America will like it because have a bit of South America personality and the climate.

I was stationed in Tokyo Japan as a latino, and the biggest thing i noticed is that everyone is so intrigued with my culture and the differences in both appearances and style. Still have a lot of close Japanese friends that are stationed there and I am looking forward to going back again real soon

Hace 4 años, conocí a un par de japoneses que trabajaron en mi país Costa Rica por 2 años, pero ellos no querían regresar a Japón porque les encantó Costa Rica y sobretodo nuestra cultura latina. Ellos me pidieron que les enseñara español para prepararse para el examen DELE. Yo me comunico con ellos muy a menudo y espero algún día volverlos a ver. Los extraño mucho!!

All of them speak at least 3 languages, this is amazing!

You’re interviews are so interesting!! Thank you for doing them and showing what it’s like for people who aren’t Japanese living in Japan

I enjoyed this so much!!! It was such an interesting take on living abroad. loved listening to their different experiences!

What she says about the pronunciation is really true. I speak Greek which has the same pronunciation as Spanish and when I get to speak Japanese words are natural to pronounce (the majority)

I am Japanese from Hamamatsu city. Which there is a lot of south Americans like Brazilians and Peruvians. I had a lot of good time with them during primary school and middle school. They spoke Spanish Portuguese and Japanese, which is very impressive. I learned some Spanish and Portuguese from them which made me love latin people. Someday I would love to visit latin countries. (Brazilian can double jump)

This video is so inspiring in so many ways. The people you interviewed are very smart.

I'm surprised that no Brazilians were interviewed, considering what a large population they have in Japan, due to the nikkei immigration allowance. Anyway, this was a great video! As a gringo I naturally spent many hours searching for Mexican restaurants during my months in Tokyo. Saludos y abrazos desde los Estados Unidos

Movies and the media have influenced the stereotypes we have of people outside of our own country. That's why I love "Takashi from Japan" videos. He gets to the facts!

I'm a chicana when I visited Japan I had a lot of people coming up to me asking what part of the United States i am from and called me American. In California I'm very use to people telling me to go back to Mexico even though my family has been in California for hundreds of years. It felt nice to be noticed as an American and as a chicana in Japan. I got to hangout with a lot of people in the Chicano scene and share my experiences being raised in the culture.

It was an interesting interview, Thank you so much for making this interview

Your concept and subjects of interviews was amazing

The part where the girl said: "I had to accept I was never gonna be Japanese" hit home for me. Realizing that myself when I went made my whole trip there better.

The one common theme in most of the interviews is the sense of feeling alienated by native Japanese even when lots of these people are half Japanese.

Thank you very much. Your interviews are very well balanced and one can guess actual attitude and situation in Japan. I was born in Italy but I live in Paraguay. I study Japanese online at Shinjuku Nihongo Gakko and it is very helpfull although I am so old and I came to Japan first time in 1974, and so many more times after that. I wish you much success and once again thank you very much.

You are a very good interviewer! It's really good watching all your videos no matter who you talk with. Best wishes and continue posting. 👏🥰

I studied in Japan for 1 month back in 2018. Even though I was only there for a short amount of time, I could relate to most things being said. I was really proud to display my roots and culture. Everyone was super nice and welcoming 😊 It was really refreshing to see their surprised and amazed reactions when I would tell them that I was from Mexico 🇲🇽 I did get one reaction like that first girl where the man said "oh mekishiko-jin sexy". But other than that, I loved my experience there. I've never felt so safe in my life. I've lived in Mexico and I've also lived in the US for most of my life. I never had the intuition to look over my shoulder or walk faster or avoid a certain person or just have my guard up. I LOVED Japan so much. I will go back to live there someday

I've been living in Colombia my entire life and I remember when I started studying Japanese back in 2016, our Japanese teacher told us about the time she send to her friends in Japan a picture of how Bogotá looked from her window in her flat. Her friends replied with “Oh, so there are buildings in Colombia!”. I remembered this with the Chilean girl’s comment.

I just found this page 1 hour ago and I am addicted. You do a very good job!

LOVED THE VIDEO! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Hii! Thank you so much for watching I’m planning to make a video about the budget for moving to Japan! So you can calculate how much you need for it. Recently people recognize me on the street in Tokyo, and many of them just came to Japan, So I was thinking maybe finally it’s time to come to Japan for you guys Stay stunned!

I am an American married to an Ecuadorian who has lived in Ecuador for many years. The things the girl mentioned at the start are very similar to what we have always heard whenever we go back to the States; I have always wondered if many of the same misconceptions exist in other cultures as well. It's interesting, to say the least.

Your great takashi. Thank you for your videos ❤

Wow!! This is so interesting, LOVE IT. Keep up the great work!!!

i love to see latin people speaking japanese

Being Spanish myself pronunciations do sound so familiar in ways and it’s so cool seeing Latino/as speak Japanese and pronunciate so well. Keep up the good work on the videos! I’d love to see you interview other cultures as well! Or, even show us stores or restaurants that are themed in a different culture such as Spanish restaurants.

just found your channel an hour ago , and i love it ! keep up the great wortk ! Love from Germany

I like that you actually seem interested in knowing rather than just asking half assed questions. I subbed 👍

Having Peruvian Japanese representation in this video did it for me, love that there’s people like me, I unfortunately haven’t been able to experience my Japanese side of my family at all but I will experience hopefully soon!🇵🇪🇯🇵

This was so interesting! This is something I’ve been curious about for a long time. As a Latina who loves the Japanese culture, this was so informative and satisfying to watch. Looking forward to more interviews with other cultures.

Hi Takashi!!!! I love your videos and I am actually planning to move to Japan (5 years from now). I have been learning Japanese on the Duolingo app and I am loving it so far! Just like the girl said, Spanish and Japanese sound very similar. So for me, it has been easy to learn the pronunciation of words, etc. It would be great if you could do a video of how foreigners can work in Japan, the legal process of living there, and other tips for people looking to move there. Thank you so much for the videos!!!

Thank you for covering this perspective!

I feel like culturally, Japan and South America are polar opposites. Yokoi Kenji Diaz, a Colombo japanese speaker, emphasizes on that and ussually says that both cultures could learn a lot from one another

I think one of the biggest misconceptions regarding Latinamericans is that we're all the same. Like similar to the meme/joke about Americans just dubbing anything south of the US as "Mexican" and thats it. There are a lot of cultural differences between Latinamerican countries, like for example there are huge cultural differences between Argentina and Colombia even though both are in South America. Even between neighbour countries like Chile and Peru there are huge cultural differences so it's really appreciated when foreigners don't put Latinos or South Americans "in the same bag" just because we happen to live on the same continent or share the same language. It's similar to how different Japanese locals see themselves compared to neighbouring countries like s-Korea and China. It's nice to see Japanese interested in learning about different Latinamerican cultures similar to how some of us gained an interest in learning about Japanese culture.

Un saludo a los latinoamericanos en japon, en especial a los que aparecen en este video, coincido con lo expresado por la mayoria de ustedes (dicho o sugerido), sobre apreciar nuestra cultura y no olvidarla, asi como apreciar y valorar la cultura de otros paises. un abrazo!

This so awesome,great video! Keep up the good work my man your doing a marvelous job!

Omg as a Latina (Mexican American) that studied abroad in Japan, I appreciate this interview soooo much! Thank you 🥺🙏🏽

You’re doing great Takashi. I’d love to see an episode on Indians in Japan!

@TAKASHii from Japan Thank you so much for your channel and great videos! You are an amazing interviewer..and you clearly care about the people you are talking to and learning from them. I hope you never stop making these videos and I look forward to more of your content! 😉👍

Great video! I would love to see the restaurant one! Good job!🎉

As a latino moving to Japan in a couple days this helped alot thanks Takashi!

That Mexican guy is a KZfaqr 😆 as well, what a coincidence!! I'm a Mexican living in Japan too 😊 , hope to meet those fellow mexican guys someday 😃 . There are plenty of mexican restaurants in Tokyo but not all of them are good enough, so I hope you can visit a good one. 😀

Great idea about interviewing Spanish restaurant owners. Can’t wait to see it! 😊

As a Mexican who want's to visit maybe even move to Japan it was lovely to watch this video. Thank you.

The one girl trying to change herself and being ashamed of her culture, low self esteem, felt sorry for her. Love seeing you interviewing different Latin cultures and getting their perspective.

OMG THANK YOU! Finally some latino representation in 'foreigners' videos. This was fun and very insightful for me since I'm planning to move to Japan.

Thank you for this video!

Absolutely loved this Video !! Greetings from Texas ✌️

Takashi you’re such a good interviewer man, you asked really interesting questions and got interesting answers as well ! As a Mexican I’ve always wondered how would it be to be in your country, seeing this just makes me wanna visit so bad someday !! great video, man :)

This interview series is amazing. Really provides the world insight on some of the hard truths of making your new home somewhere you're a non-native. Thank you and Japan for your openness.

Awesome I love these videos. Inspired me to start to learn japanese so I could visit one day

Very informative channel, thanks 😊

Some people were requesting these interviews, thanks for creating this for them

I’m honestly REALLY surprised Japan isn’t as informed about Latin America as they are with other parts of the world. I think Japanese people would be REALLY surprised that the family ethics among Hispanics are VERY similar. The food is AMAZING, the people are very loving, and they speak the language of romance for pete sakes lol. I honestly encourage every Asian person to educate themselves about these cultures because they’re missing out big time!

I binge watch your videos lol they're so entertaining

This is so awesome thank you for sharing this with us, as a Latino I appreciate you making this video!

Let’s gooo what I’ve been waiting for. Thanks🙌

With Mexico so close to the US, knowing about Mexican culture is fairly common for many Americans, but the further south you go into South America the less people will know about the countries. I still don't really know that much about countries like Chile or Argentina. In my mind it's just lumped into a big "South American" group of stuff I kind of know about that part of the world. For people in Japan, I honestly would not expect them to have much experience with many people from those countries or to know much about them unless they happen to have researched stuff on their own.

When I lived in Japan I used to teach English to Japanese and I loved how they were fascinated to learn about my Mexican culture. Eventually I was teaching them English and Mexican culture through our conversations. It was lovely experience. ❤

偶然見つけたTAKASHIさんのチャンネルでした。たいへん興味深く、飽きずに何本か拝見しました。

Takashi-san, Thank you 🙏🏼very much for this video. It was very interesting to hear how Latin American residents feel about life in Japan and the cultural differences. The idea of a video interviewing restaurant owners is excellent- food culture may be a good way to show a more insightful depiction of cultural exchange beyond language. Well done 👏🏻

Takashi you've grown better, i really love watching you grow. As always you look great in black ❤️. Hope you have a great day. Stay happy healthy. God bless 🙏

This is a very interesting and cool video, thanks a lot!

2:48 “yeah I know” …. Very humble gal 😂lol wow. 🤦‍♀️

By far my favorite video since I’m Hispanic and I want to move to Japan this helped a lot. ありがとうございます😊

I'm so glad you share this videos with us

I love your videos Takashii, keep going brother, love all the way from the US 🫶🏾

A new subscriber ☺️.. I think interviewing foreign restaurant owners will be awesome and one I look forward to especially with the questions you have in mind. Very curious about their pov.

Yo the first girl was spitting facts when she said Japanese and Spanish are similar to learn

The way you talk about other cultures is very impressive! You never make a mistake

Interesting! Thanks for this video!

super interesting interviews! one suscriptor more right now!

Latinoamérica loves japan, specially the Otaku/weeb side of it, animanga is a culture over here, plus we have a soft spot for your culture in general

I just found your channel 10 minutes ago and watched one video, after that i go to look for a video with this exact topic and boooom. It was meant to be 🙌

I love watching your videos’ content they’re very fun and interesting 🫶🏻

Dicen que se les hace más fácil a los hispanos hablar japonés por su parecido fonético... de alguna forma eso me da más ganas de algún día intentar aprender japonés (aunque sea de forma autodidacta), y digo "Algún día" porque actualmente intento aprender inglés y apenas puedo ver series con subtítulos en ese idioma.

I'm Salvadorian, and I'm actually planning a trip to Japan in a few years. I like that other Latinos suggested learning Japanese to connect more with the people and culture. I do appreciate the respect Japanese people have towards personal space and boundaries, that's something I wish we had more of here in the US.

I'm really happy to see this kind of content talking about latino people in Japan, well I'm also latino and is my biggest dream is to live in Japan someday and watching this makes me believe somehow is possible to accomplish that dream. Thanks a lot for doing this, is really helpful.

This came up in my newsfeed and I was intrigued and interested. I love how he interviews people from different countries, very respectful, and professional. I saw many videos of Japan and Korea the bad side of the countries that you don’t see in the news or anywhere. I subscribe to Takashi YT videos. Also someone should interview Taskashi how he feel about interviewing the foreigners and how he feels there so much forefingers visit his country. He should Q and A question. Thank you Takashi for you interesting videos! I subscribe to your channel.

thank you for this Takashi