u/complexplanet

context: i was lucky enough to have a night out length layover in taipei on my first trip to europe, and have been thinking about going back ever since

on my night out i was only equipped with 謝謝！& 我要這個。knowing some (3-400? maybe?) kanji, & i could get the jist of some menus/signs, but i would be grateful to hear what people think are the biggest language points to get across to make it a bit easier for staff communication

ive self studied japanese enough to be comfortable at a convenience store/tattoo appointment/slow conversation level so id love to know where i should be starting to get the basics on just the convenience store/restaurant level ((knowing that it's grossly more difficult w.r.t tones ofc haha))

I don't mean to overstep what is appropriate for me to call out as another white person myself, but for context we recently went on a group holiday to Japan (my 6th time, said person's 1st time), and after her visit to the Hiroshima museum, she complained about how traumatising it was for her. On social media afterwards, she posted some selfies with the caption 'The museum made me physically ill but hiroshima is a beautiful city. Rebuilding after trauma and growing around the grief has been a recurring theme in my own life. A lot of the stories made me sick to my stomach'

On social media she is a very politically vocal person so I'm a bit lost at how she could post something which reads as so tone deaf to me. I left a comment that I was glad she enjoyed Hiroshima but she should perhaps reconsider her caption & she deleted my comment. It came up in convo with one of my Japanese friends and he thought her caption was inappropriate but I'm curious as to what the general consensus is.

(extra context - it goes without saying that said trauma she's experienced is sort of 'I had a bad housemate' caliber, and her political forward thinking seems a bit clashy with her behaviour in general - several times I would be having a conversation in Japanese with either my friend or sister and she would constantly interrupt in English asking what we were saying/complain that people didn't speak English when they were talking to her in English)

I don't mean to overstep what is appropriate for me to call out as another white person myself, but for context - we recently went on a group holiday to Japan (my 6th time, said person's 1st time), and after her visit to the Hiroshima museum, she complained about how traumatising it was for her. On social media afterwards, she posted some selfies with the caption 'The museum made me physically ill but hiroshima is a beautiful city. Rebuilding after trauma and growing around the grief has been a recurring theme in my own life. A lot of the stories made me sick to my stomach'

On social media she is a very politically vocal person so I'm a bit lost at how she could post something which reads as so tone deaf to me. I left a comment that I was glad she enjoyed Hiroshima but she should perhaps reconsider her caption & my comment been deleted. It came up in convo with one of my Japanese friends and he thought it was inappropriate but I'm curious as to what the general consensus is.

(extra context - it goes without saying that said trauma she's experienced is sort of 'I had a bad housemate' caliber, and her political forward thinking seems a bit clashy with her behaviour in general - several times I would be having a conversation in Japanese with either my friend or sister and she would constantly interrupt in English asking what we were saying)