Can you travel in Tokyo and not speak any Japanese?

The answer is Yes! – but… (let me explain)

We spent two weeks in Tokyo in December 2019. Our party of four spoke a range of Japanese from able to hold a very basic conversation to hello, thank you and numbers. The result? A good time was had by all.

But would it be possible to tour around Japan, or more specifically Tokyo, with no knowledge of Japanese?

I really think the answer is yes, but the minute you go off the beaten tourist ridden path it may become difficult.

At major tourist attractions like Tokyo Skytree or Disneyland, and tourist areas like Harajuku – most shop attendants and attraction staff speak at least a small amount of English. Some people even take jobs at these places to practice their English. A lot of the information is in at least Japanese and English. You should find no problems navigating the attractions in your guidebook. But the real adventure begins when you take yourself away from the crowd and if you speak zero Japanese it may be difficult or frustrating, but not impossible.

There are a few things you can do to get by.

1. Learn some very basic Japanese.

It seems like an impossible task but set aside a few minutes each day when planning your trip and you’d be surprised how much you learn. I love the app Drops for learning vocab, there are thousands of lessons on Spotify to listen to on your commute, and if you want to do a few Skype lessons with a reason person, iTalki can set you up with a tutor for as little as $1 an hour.

2. Apps!

The Google Translate App lets you scan an image and translate it on the fly. It’s like magic! You can also write what you want to say and instantly play it to the person you want to say it to.

Google Maps will help you get around the hectic train and subway lines.

Drops and iTalki, I have previously mentioned as being great for learning the language. There are tonnes of others but these two are my pick.

3. Plan your travel plan in your hotel and make sure everyone knows the plan

Sounds like a no-brainer but if you can’t ask for directions you really need a plan that ensures you don’t get lost. Sticking together, making sure everyone knows where to go and where to meet, checking and double checking what is happening and when.

4. Know where to find help

All around Tokyo you will find tourist information booths and the people there usually speak pretty good English. They usually know how to help or can point you in the right direction.

5. Say less, only the important words

It felt really rude to point at a bunch of strawberry and kiwi skewers and say “one!” while holding up one finger but the reality is every time we said “excuse me can I have one of those please” we’d get confused looks. Saying lots of words pretty fast sounds like one big long word to a native Japanese speaker and so they have no idea what you’re trying to say. On the flip side, it is not uncommon for one word to be a perfectly good sentence on it’s own in Japanese like “samui!” (cold) or “oishii!” (delicious).

Saying one word and pointing or emoting (eg toilet?) often yielded the best result.

So the reality is yes, you can travel Tokyo with limited or no Japanese. You can have an amazing time in Tokyo with little or no Japanese but you do miss out on talking to the locals a little bit. They may be a little shy with their English. And navigating may be a little frustrating.

I am currently working on my Japanese language skills for when we go back.