How I’m Learning to Communicate in English in Our Year.

I’ve been a photographer for four years, but until now I’ve only photographed Japanese people and my Instagram account has been aimed at Japanese people.

However, since COVID-19, I’ve learned that many people from around the world are visiting Japan, so I wanted to start photographing people from overseas as well, and decided to create a new Instagram account aimed at inbound tourists.

However, recently I’ve found it difficult to increase my Instagram followers, and after thinking about how to manage it, I decided to emulate the “Excuse me? Can I take a photo?” message that I often see on Instagram and TikTok.

However, I have no ability in English at all, and in junior high I failed a listening test that 90% of people were said to pass, so I thought “I really just aren’t cut out for English” and always avoided it.

So, to be honest, I was very worried and anxious about whether I could do it.

But on the other hand, I thought that if people saw me, who doesn’t speak English at all, trying my best to speak it, maybe they would be interested or supportive, so I decided to give it a try.

“Excuse me? Do you speak English?” I was able to say this right away.

But even saying “Can I take a photo?” and “Can I post on Instagram & TikTok?” requires me to say them over and over again before I can remember them, and when I actually start filming and speaking directly to people, I get so nervous that the words all fly out of my head.

I think I’d be able to make smoother videos if I memorized just the bare minimum of vocabulary, but by leaving myself as I am now, completely unable to speak English, I think I’ll be able to see my growth in a year’s time.

And now at my age, I’ve started to feel like I want to learn something new for the first time in a long time.

I hated English when I was a student, but now I enjoy learning it.

I feel so happy when I can say a sentence today that I couldn’t speak fluently yesterday.

By the way, I’m writing this blog using a translation app.

In a year’s time, I hope to be able to write blogs in English that can be understood without using a translation app.

And now, here are some photos of the kind people who answered my questions in my still-problematic English.

Yesterday, I started off by going to Tokyo Station, and, unsurprisingly, there weren’t as many inbound tourists as there were in Asakusa.

I was also nervous, and had a hard time saying, “Excuse me?”

When you finally muster up the courage to ask, only to be turned down twice in a row, it can be disheartening.

But you can’t give up…at times like those, I tell myself, “If I get turned down, it won’t mean I’m going to die.”

At Tokyo Station, I was allowed to take photos with two people, and then headed to Asakusa.

As it’s near the end of the year, there were several “yatai” (food stalls) that weren’t open last week.

I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard that Asakusa at the beginning of the year is so crowded with people that it’s impossible to get anything done.

I’m kind of interested, but I think the kids would get bored so I think we’ll have to wait a little longer before going.

Thank you for reading this far.

I’ll do my best to write a blog that will be useful for people from overseas coming to Japan for sightseeing.

I’m also on Instagram, so please take a look if you’d like! Until next time!

My instagram account is @tokyophoto_jp