Ling has a really funny way of asking for directions whenever we were lost in Japan. Whether it’s a local passer-by along Shijo-Dori, or at some subway station, she’ll always ask this way:
“Excuse me, could you tell me is this the right platform to get to Imadegawa Subway Station? You see, I’m trying to get to Kinkakuji Temple, and I’m not sure if this way or that way?”
And the poor local, more often than not, would end up staring blankly at her!
The way I would ask for directions would go like this:
“Imadegawa Station, where?”
… and accompanied by the universal hand gesturing that indicates “where”. And I get a much more immediate response! Oh, on the odd occasion we did get locals who could speak pretty alright English, but more often than not, I had to remind Ling not to pad her queries with so much unnecessary information that would only confuse the locals to what we were asking about.
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One thing I found myself doing too – in addition to taking in all the sights and making mental notes – was to take pictures of funny signs wherever I could find them. Here’s a selection of them.:)
Funnily, I didn’t actually see any Haiku LOL.
Regrettably I fear the quality of the English evidenced above is of a standard much greater than of my Japanese!
Happy wedding anniversary, Matt & Sandi! Hope that you guys would be travelling around the world together soon.
hahah ya lor, their english is v funny!! i have such photos too LOL