Survival Japanese

You do not need to be fluent in Japanese in order to get along in Japan. More and more places are bi-lingual and transportation systems are nowadays are designed to also suit foreigners. However, as everywhere in the world things are easier when you make a small effort and learn some basics. This guide of survival Japanese teaches you the essentials to get along in key situations, find your way whilst traveling and get what you want in Japanese restaurants.

Not all articles are yet published. We will add the missing ones step by step but wanted to start sharing contents as soon as possible.

Self introduction

Japanese greetings

Shopping

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Survival Japanese for travelers

Using the train

Useful signs

Using the taxi

Hotels

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Survival Japanese at the restaurant

Ramen

Yakitori

Yakiniku

Sushi

Ramen (ラーメン) is a Japanese noodle soup dish which is very popular amongst Japanese as well as foreigners. It consists of Chinese style noodles in a broth with toppings such as sliced pork, green onions and many more. This article explains the different types of Ramen as well as vocabulary and phrases that will be useful to eat at almost any Ramen restaurant.

1) The 4 basic types of ramen soup

There are four basic types of broth for Ramen:

• Shouyu Ramen (醤油ラーメン）with soy souce
• Shio Ramen (塩ラーメン) – vegetable broth
• Miso Ramen (味噌ラーメン) with miso paste
• Tonkotsu Ramen (豚骨ラーメン) – a pork broth

On top of these four basic ramen soup you will also find many variations and combination driven by regional preferences or the restaurants trying to create unique dishes.

Shoyu Ramen

Shio Ramen

Miso Ramen

Tonkotsu Ramen

2. The toppings

Each ramen restaurant offers different toppings for ramen. Some toppings are fixed part of the dish whereas other toppings can be ordered as options. This is a list of the most common toppings:

• Nori (海苔) – seawead
• Negi (ネギ) – green onions
• Moyashi (もやし) – soy sprouts
• Tamago (卵) – boiled egg
• Chaashuu (チャーシュー) grilled pork slices
• Goma (ごま) – sesame
• Koon (コーン) – corn
• Battaa (バッター) – butter
• Menma (メンマ) – fermented bamboo shoots

Nori

Negi

Moyashi

Tamago

Chaashuu

Goma

koon

bataa

menma

3. Side dishes

Almost every Ramen restaurant offers a set of typical side dishes. The most popular side dishes are:

• gyouza (餃子) – dumplings
• chaahan (チャーハン) – fried rice

Gyouza

Chaahan

4. Vocabulary & sentences

Here are a few words and patterns that will help you to get what you want at any Ramen restaurant.

What is YOUR favorite Ramen. Please share your best Ramen experiences in the comment section.

Trains are the most economic and fastest way to move around in Japan. Nowadays many signs are bi-lingual but it still can be a little bit confusing to find the right platform and train.Here are a couple of useful expressions which will help you to find your way by train.

Expressions

Vocabulary

Here is a collection of Japanese characters useful for surviving in Japan without speaking Japanese. Knowing these will help you for orientation even when English signs are not available. Click on the pick if you want to know more about the word.

deguchi - exit

iriguchi - entrance

otearai - toilet

toire - toilet

uketsuke - reception

ginkou - bank

Did we miss something? Just let us know and share it in the comment section below!