Yuta Aoki

Aka That Japanese Man Yuta. I make YouTube videos about the subtleties of Japanese culture and the language

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[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

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https://t.co/I19SqUvuzw

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

自分から話しかけると違いが分かりやすいと思います。香港、シンガポール、ニューヨーク、ロンドンを初めその他の大都市は普通に会話が成立することがほとんどですが、東京はキョドる、無視される、塩対応される確率が圧倒的に高いです。東京でも話せる時はありますが他の都市に比べると確率が目に見えて低いんですよね。

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

A lot of Tokyo people are afraid of talking to strangers, and they find even fairly innocent conversations somewhat threatening.

Osaka is pretty different. People talk to each other in situations where natural human communication might occur, like when a train stops suddenly and people start talking about what's going on.

This popular Japanese tweet says that even though Tokyo people somewhat think Tokyo is "normal," Osaka is actually more common in the world because not many large cities in the world have Tokyo-level aversion to strangers.

When I say something like that, people often compare Tokyo to cities like New York and London. But having talked to strangers in all of those cities, I find New York and London much friendlier, and it's way easier to talk to strangers there compared to Tokyo.

I've also talked to strangers in other Asian cities, like Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, and Kuala Lumpur. And I found it exceptionally hard to talk to strangers in Tokyo.

Don't get me wrong, I can still talk to strangers in Tokyo. It's just a question of how easy it is.

But talking to strangers in Tokyo requires pretty solid social calibration and situational awareness, whereas in other cities, I don't have to be so precise in my execution.

If you think it's easier for me to talk to strangers because I'm a foreigner in those countries, I don't think I have a huge advantage from being a foreigner in cities like London and New York.

And also, in Jakarta and Mexico, I've actually experimented with this by asking local people to approach other local people, and it was still much easier than in Tokyo.

What do you guys think?

[オスカル @kazuyo8m]

関西人や大阪人が独特ではなくて世界標準に近いの
そして関東の少なくない人達のコミュニケーション不全を疑われる行動が、世界基準で見ても異常なだけ

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

そうするとどちらかというと日本とほかの国の違いになりますね。

移民が増えることにより、おなじバックグラウンドを前提とした以心伝心ができなくなるので言語コミュニケーションが発達するというのはよくあると思います。

下町的なノリは薄れても他者との言語コミュニケーションは成立するとい感じです

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

@kagamitk15 特異性でした。

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

@kagamitk15 その説明はよく見るのですが、大阪も世界の大都市も似たようなもので、大多数の新規や短期の滞在者が多くいるので、それだと東京の得意性の説明にはならないんですよね。

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

When I talk about the nuances of Japanese, there are always a few people who somehow get a little offended and tell me, "I don't care about those nuances as long as I can communicate."

But I think those people see communication in a very one-dimensional, surface-level way.

Sure, if you're ordering miso soup at a restaurant, the literal meaning that you want miso soup is the most important part of communication.

But much of our daily communication isn't so utilitarian.

If you ask your friends how they're doing, the literal meaning of the question isn't always the most important thing here.

The more important thing might be that you care about your friends and you communicate that with the phrase.

Things like that happen a lot in daily communication.

And in those situations, nuances are actually pretty important because they tell other people how you feel about them.

Sentence-ending particles like "ね," "よ," and "よね" can communicate interpersonal nuances and give your friends different impressions, which might actually matter a lot in daily communication.

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

There's a discussion going on about the communication differences between Tokyo and Osaka people.

It's not common to talk to strangers in Tokyo. You might feel people are somewhat cold and standoffish. They just mind their own business.

Osaka is pretty different. People talk to strangers.

A lot of people share stories about how they were lost in Osaka when a stranger proactively approached them trying to help, or how a stranger chatted them up at an izakaya.

These things could technically happen in Tokyo, but it's not very common. In fact, in Tokyo, even if you try to talk to strangers, you might just get ignored.

I wonder what makes Tokyo so different from the rest of Japan, or even the rest of the world.

I've been to a lot of high-density cities around the world. And even though strangers don't always talk to each other, when I talk to them, it's relatively easy to have normal conversations.

Again, talking to strangers in Tokyo is still possible (as I've done a lot of street interviews), but it's harder.

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

Some people insist that learning standard pitch accent isn't useful because "different dialects have different pitch patterns".

But that's not true. Unfamiliar pitch patterns can slow down communication because we might not be able to catch some words.

This person is saying that even if people use standard words, some people end up using non-standard pitch patterns, and it makes communication a bit difficult (but not impossible, of course).

But I think that mostly applies to fairly older generations.

Younger people these days can switch to near-perfect standard Japanese with mostly standard pitch patterns even if they speak their dialect daily.

[𝚁𝙴𝙽🪬 @entj854leo]

通じる語彙を使っていたとしても、聞き慣れないイントネーションだと案外一発では聞き取れないものであると、この人の言っていることをいろんな地域の人で試して思った。
私自身、鹿児島や沖縄の人が標準語寄りで会話してくれたとき、人によってはどうしてもアクセントやイントネーションが異なり

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

When you are in Japan and hanging out in a busy area, it's important not to block the flow of people.

I see a lot of tourists blocking roads, ticket gates, and train doors, and while Japanese people are unlikely to directly tell you not to do this, especially in Tokyo, they might take a photo and upload it to Twitter, which isn't a nice thing to do, but I see it happening pretty often.

Also, I'm not saying all the local people behave well. Some of them do things they are not supposed to do, and when that happens, other Japanese people will also complain.

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

Overt sexism still exists, and it's not going away any time soon

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

Why are touristy places so unattractive to me?

When I go to a new country, I tend to avoid touristy places.

Me: “I went to X country”.
“Oh, did you go to place A and place B?”
“Not really.”
“Why not? What’s the point of going to that country?”
“If you go to touristy places, you mostly just see other tourists and shops for tourists. I'm interested in the local culture and get to know the local people.”

But the problem here isn’t having tourists in itself. I mean, I've been a tourist in so many countries, so it would be hypocritical for me to say that we shouldn't have tourists.

My problem has always been “touristy” places.

Tourists go to these places because they are famous and in guidebooks. Attractions, shops, and restaurants specifically cater to tourists. They go there, take photos, eat someone, and leave.

Local people usually don’t go there except to show visitors around.

But visiting regular, local places as a tourist is different.

Those places aren’t made specifically for visitors. You get to experience the local culture. They might not have flashy, touristy stuff, but for someone who’s more interested in people and cultures, I prefer going to those places, because that's the very reason for me to travel.

That’s also why I feel disappointed when touristy establishments start pushing away local places, especially in places like Harajuku, where we used to have very distinct alternative cultures. Sure, you can still find interesting places, but the culture is heavily diluted.

By the same token, I feel indifferent about places like Tokyo Tower and Sensouji because, as far as I remember, they have also been touristy places, so I don't care how many tourists we have there (although original local residents might feel differently)

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

@yungkawaiithug Yeah, you used to see all kinds of alt people in Harajuku. Now the demographic isn't that different from other parts of Tokyo. You can still find interesting shops, but the street culture isn't really there any more.

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

I feel like Tokyo, especially areas like Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku, is becoming much less interesting compared to before because of urban development (especially Shibuya and Kabukicho) and tourist-oriented establishments (so many tourist traps in Harajuku and Kabukicho now).

These places became interesting because of naturally developed cultures, but they went out of their way to destroy the cultures that made those places interesting in the first place.

Another big thing, I think, is social media, with which people have less incentive to go out and meet people who share their interests in real life.

Social media isn't all bad, but it's also dictated by the algorithm which social media companies control.

A lot of interesting cultures still exist, but I feel like they are more visible online than offline.

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

Context: I tend to like fringe cultures. Very roughly speaking, what's happening to these areas is basically mainstream cultures pushing away fringe cultures.

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

I feel like Tokyo, especially areas like Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku, is becoming much less interesting compared to before because of urban development (especially Shibuya and Kabukicho) and tourist-oriented establishments (so many tourist traps in Harajuku and Kabukicho now).

These places became interesting because of naturally developed cultures, but they went out of their way to destroy the cultures that made those places interesting in the first place.

Another big thing, I think, is social media, with which people have less incentive to go out and meet people who share their interests in real life.

Social media isn't all bad, but it's also dictated by the algorithm which social media companies control.

A lot of interesting cultures still exist, but I feel like they are more visible online than offline.

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

Piiiiiii

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

@abc2390986 I was just amused. He was just a normal person who's not part of the online language learning community. No offence taken.

[Yuta Aoki @ThatYuta]

I just got eigo-jouzued lol

I was at the restaurant, and the tourists next to me were talking about signs they didn't understand.

"It says 24 hours, but what's that place?"

"It's an internet cafe," I said. Then I explained how internet cafes work here.

"Your English is very good." They told me.

It's definitely not just Japanese people who do that.