1: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:12:10.32 0
Changing subjects: I’ve blogged about this before, but I’m quite often asked for directions by foreigners. I have no clue why they ask me of all people… Anyway, the other day when another foreigner asked me for directions, after I’d finished telling them they said: “You’re so beautiful. Thank you!” (laughs)
And before that, the person sitting next to me on the train said “excuse me.” They were speaking to me in English, but I managed to understand that they were asking me how many more stops it was until a certain station. After I told them, they told me “beautiful people” while pointing at the words on my bag. (laughs) They were talking about my bag.
While I can’t speak English, it’s still fun talking with people from abroad!
As for me, if I’m ever lost and I want to ask someone for directions, I always ask someone who’s looking up, not down. I’ll take care not to look down as I walk, too!
https://ameblo.jp/juicejuice-official/entry-12430675040.html
3: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:18:12.85 0
“So beautiful.”
5: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:20:07.39 0
This is just her bragging!
6: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:20:41.00 0
He was hitting on you!
12: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:24:29.33 0
Foreigner: “Oh! Juice=Juice!“
78: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 13:13:08.59 0
80: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 13:14:53.59 0
22: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:30:56.14 0
There was that one time when someone gave her their umbrella just because it was raining and she didn’t have one. Beautiful girls sure do get hit on all the time.
55: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:53:05.32 0
Aarii’s such a fool, she probably thinks of this as nothing more than her having been successful in doing some “international exchange.”
26: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:33:37.86 0
On first glance she might look a clever female college student who can speak English. But in reality, she’s just a dope.
28: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:34:40.38 0
I’d bet most H!P members who take care of their appearance have similar experiences. They just don’t make a point of blogging about it. That’s the daily life of a beautiful girl for you.
13: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:26:24.30 0
I’m always looking down when I walk.
Uemuu’s not going to be asking me for directions anytime soon.
39: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:41:01.23 0
She’s not going to ask any of you disgusting wota in all your gloominess.
44: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:46:34.50 0
>>39
Hey, I’m super ugly but I’m always being asked for directions. I’ve even been asked directions by groups of female college students as well as foreigners.
47: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:49:00.99 0
>>44
For some reason there are just these certain guys who tend to get asked that. Guys who’ll always get asked even if they’re together with like four or five other people.
43: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:46:17.50 0
I was asked for directions by a foreigner the other day, too, but I only managed to catch the word “building.” (laughs)
66: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 13:07:00.18 0
I’m amazed that she can speak English to that extent.
I can’t understand it at all.
48: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:50:12.77 0
The main purpose of her blog post was not to say that she’d been asked for directions, but that someone had told her “you’re so beautiful.”
72: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 13:10:10.26 0
I’m a Berryz wota, and I remember Momochi and Risako talking on the radio about how they, too, had been asked for directions by a foreigner while they were still members. Those guys sure do talk up cute girls a lot.
56: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:54:15.62 0
Beautiful girl = intelligent = can speak English.
That’s how foreigners think.
Even I always ask the beautiful girls for directions when I’m abroad.
74: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 13:10:34.08 0
To the average foreigner who doesn’t know Uemura, she probably looks like a mixed race Hong Konger who skipped a grade to enroll in Harvard and who’s now in Japan just to have a bit of fun.
77: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 13:11:37.11 0
She has the good looks, but she also looks like a kind person.
92: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 13:37:21.13 0
Uemura looks unbelievably beautiful in the flesh, so this is no wonder.
Wanting to talk to beautiful girls is a basic human instinct.
99: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 13:45:46.37 0
Uemura doesn’t only have a beautiful face. Her figure, posture, hair, skin, appearance, aura… everything about her is divine. Of course foreigners are going to want to try to talk to her — even if it means having to fake being lost.
93: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 13:38:13.91 0
My favorite Aarii from last year:
134: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 16:15:59.47 0
136: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 17:16:39.90 0
Sushi chef:
137: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 17:18:38.93 0
One of my beautiful female friends said that she, too, often gets asked for directions by foreigners.
139: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 17:33:27.97 0
Of course you’d rather ask a beautiful girl for directions if you had to ask someone, even if you had zero intentions of hitting on them.
151: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 21:27:08.44 0
She’ll probably be constantly asked for directions when the Olympics roll around.
14: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 12:26:36.54 0
She has one of those faces that will always be deemed beautiful, no matter the person’s nationality.
7. ℃-uteな名無しさん 2019年01月06日 09:35
Who doesn’t want to talk to cute girls?!
157: 名無し募集中。。。 2019/01/05(土) 22:29:30.95 0
Just saying: it’s not okay for you guys to now go ask Aarii for directions while pretending you’re some English-speaking, non-Japanese Asian person.
10. ℃-uteな名無しさん 2019年01月07日 01:20
This was totally someone hitting on her.
Henkka: Alright, which one of you shameless bastards was this?
Source: http://c-ute.doorblog.jp/archives/52888710.html
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I’m always surprised that they speak so little English in Japan.
Well then, Aari is the standard type of “Beautiful Lady” in international standard. After JJ world tour 2017, i can see her in person as a truly beautiful lady, maybe Japanese people see her as a too mature woman.
I went to China and most young Chinese peoples’ English was either serviceable or good. (When they weren’t too shy to speak). Not too much accent either. In Japan a good portion of young people are just really bad at English. Both teach it in their schools and both have strong student and learning cultures so I’m not sure where the discrepancy comes from. Maybe it’s because Japanese has less sounds than Chinese and English does and Chinese and English have very similar grammar structures so it’s easier to pick up and learn to produce sentences. (Besides old Chinese and literary Chinese which has different grammar structures from what I understand)
I think it’s the way it is taught at school. Maybe in China they go for a more practical approach that can also help you with future jobs while in Japan it’s a lot of set phrases and maybe literature.
Now I want to visit China.
It’s like in France: zero shit given, mother tongue is what matters.
I don’t know how English is taught in China, but in Japan they have a really bad way of teaching foreign languages imo.
First of all, everything gets transcribed into Katakana, which already messes up proper pronounciation because everything has to fit into the japanese phonological system which excludes/includes sounds that are very different from standard English.
Secondly, a teaching method called “shadowing” is extremely common in Japanese schools.
It’s basically the teacher saying debatably useful English words/phrases out loud (in that mangled pronounciation) and all of the pupils repeating after him/her like parrots. Besides learning those predefined sentences (often without proper and exact understanding of the meaning), there is barely any emphasis on the pupils coming up with own sentences at a certain point. Also barely any speaking practices, most of it is in written form.That’s why most Japanese high schoolers can barely string a sentence together.
Also, if I might name another obstacle, cultural differences come to play as well in learning a foreign language. In Japan, many situations require predetermined sayings/expressions that are ‘fixed’ and cannot be changed easily (like greetings etc.). There really is no alternative expression, you have to use a certain phrase (like よろしくお願いします just to name an example).
Keeping in mind this notion, it’s now clear why Japanese people might assume it has to be the same way in English, even tough that often is not the case and you can use various expression in reply to a phrase like “I look forward to working with you”.
Just my two cents to your comment :).
This is great information, thank you! It’s interesting to see how language is taught. I think that might be the problem. I get the sense that the Japanese highly value education overall
In the United States, most students study a foreign language in high school. But they can’t really communicate in that language. But I think the difference here is that American culture doesn’t place a high value on learning another language. Many people expect that everyone in America know English. It’s even so bad that people have been cruel to others who are speaking amongst themselves in another language (the frequent target of this is Spanish, but a huge chunk of our immigrants are Spanish-speakers).
On a few occasions, foreigners have apologized to me for their poor English. Maybe it’s some sort of cultural thing. But I always feel bad that they feel they have to apologize, and I assure them that their English is good.
But from what I’ve read of Japanese culture, it doesn’t seem that they have a similar issue to Americans in the foreign language learning department.
Yes, for sure I also think education is very valued in Japan :). Imo it’s just a bad system/way of teaching languages. If it was taught differently, then for sure people in Japan would also be able to write/speak English (or any other foreign language for that matter) way better than they do now.
Thank you for the insight from an American perspective! I can somehow understand how the focus on learning foreign languages might somewhat be less strong if your mother tongue is already a very dominant language around some parts of the world. So if a lot of people from different cultures/countries can already speak and understand your language, of course the need to learn a foreign language might not be as pressing :).
But on the other hand I also think that it’s very beneficial to learn foreign languages in order to relate to other cultures better. It’s just not the same unless you really try and immerse yourself fully in the culture.
I’d also pretend that I don’t know who she is, act like clueless tourist, and ask her for direction if I was lucky enough to see her in flesh. That would be the ultimate fan experience. Lol
“Henkka: Alright, which one of you shameless bastards was this?”
It was NOT me. (Only because I was not there!) Haha!
“Henkka: Alright, which one of you shameless bastards was this?”
Well… Why should I be ashamed? (hehe)
Aarii gives off mature beauty vibes so for sure she’ll be approached easily (lol). People prob think she’s very diplomated too, when in fact she usually acts like a big dork (that’s why we love her).
I went to a J=J concert in Japan a few months ago with a friend, we both have her as oshi in the group. In her blog that day she thanked the foreign wota for coming to the concert. So cute! I really came to like her even more after that & I already love her to bits.
I totally agree with No. 14
Well it wasn’t me! If it were, the title would be more along the lines of “Strange foreign girl approaches Uemura Akari, says thank you and that she loves Hello!Project then runs away.”
I’m sure Akari’s a nice girl, but I’d think I’d be in so much schock to meet any of the idols I’ve followed that I’d want to hide out of a fear of doing anything embarrassing.
Perhaps pretty girls do get asked for directions more. I’ve been approached by strangers for directions several times. I always feel bad because I’m not good at giving directions.
Plot twist: It was actually a woman who asked for directions. Hey, straight women can be nice and compliment another woman’s appearance too.
Getting some severe deja vu here. Wasn’t there a very similar thread about another member a few years ago? Even some of the comments are similar to what I seem to remember.
Yep! You’re probably remembering this: http://wotaintranslation.com/2018/04/11/nomura-minami-gets-hit-on-by-random-foreigner-at-train-station/
Right, that’s the one. Thank you! I’m glad I’m not going crazy.