I studied some before I went and found that I usually knew the exact sentence I wanted to say but lacked one important word in my vocabulary and ended up just pointing and smiling anyway. Some questions you just won’t expect. For example, I was completely thrown when asked if I wanted my purchase in one transaction on my credit card. I had no idea what they were asking so ended up paying in cash instead. The second time it happened, a woman in line behind me with flawless English explained. That kind of thing just isn’t in the tourism phrasebooks, anyway.

I’m really enjoying your new site!

LOL, not at all.

And sorry if any “*I* speak Japanese!” sentiment was inferred, because it wasn’t meant at all. Just passing along what I’ve observed.

I have corrected the spelling on toire in the post – it’s too bad spell check doesn’t catch these type of things

As I said in the post, my Japanese skills are not the best so I appreciate your insight and I’m sure it will be helpful to others. While the wording in the post may be ‘homey’ you can’t argue with it’s effectiveness…

“Torei” means “tray”; toilet is “toire.” And it sounds a little down-to-earthy — out in public, “o-te-arai” (honorable hand-washing [place]) is more common.

As a phrase, “toire wa doko desu ka” sounds sort of homey and bit too direct. It’s very common to let sentences trail off when what is implied is understood, or when not wanting to sound too direct. “Suimasen, o-te-arai wa…?” (Excuse me, the honorable hand-washing [place] is…[where]?) is a polite, natural-sounding way to ask for directions to the loo. (Yes, the word is actually “sumimasen,” but “suimasen” has become so overwhelmingly popular as to have arguably become the default pronunciation (in my experience, at least, hence “arguably”).

Sumimasen – excuse me
sugoi – wow!
arigato – thank you
konichiwa – hello
doko – where?
“name” eki – “name of” train station
domo – means everything from thank you, to good-bye, it’s one of my favorite Japanese words
atsui – I feel hot, it’s hot
samui – I feel cold, it’s cold
kirei – beautiful

Boom, you can get by with just these words and then body language and English.