In 2015, I spent a semester abroad in Sydney, Australia, where I lived in student apartments. This is where I met my neighbor, Seika. She lived two doors down and was studying abroad from Japan. We had fun adventures together in Australia, and we kept in touch with plans to visit each other one day.

In 2019, Seika visited me in my hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. I gave her a tour of typical and stereotypical American experiences. We ate fried chicken, had pizza, celebrated Taco Tuesday, drank bourbon, shot guns at a shooting range, wandered around Costco, bought snacks at Walmart, got takeout from McDonalds and Taco Bell, watched Grey’s Anatomy, and even learned the chords to Country Roads on the guitar!

Now, in 2024, I am finally visiting Seika in her hometown of Osaka, Japan!!! I am so excited to visit Seika and experience Japan with her.

Japanese words and phrases

I think I will be speaking a lot of English or using Google Translate a lot, but here are some words I have looked up:

English	Japanese	Pronunciation
Hello	こんにちは	Kon’nichiwa
Goodbye	さようなら	Sayōnara
Thank you	ありがとう	Arigatō
Thank you so much	どうもありがとう。	Dōmo arigatō.
Beautiful	美しい	Utsukushī
Delicious	美味しい	Oishī
Cheers	乾杯	Kanpai
Good morning	おはよう	Ohayō
Good afternoon	こんにちは	Kon’nichiwa
Good evening	こんばんは	Konbanwa
Good night	おやすみ	Oyasumi
Sorry	ごめん	Gomen
Nice to meet you	はじめまして	Hajimemashite
Appreciation for the food before eating it (meaning: “to humbly receive”)	いただきます	Itadakimasu
Thank you for the meal	ごちそうさまでした	Gochisōsamadeshita

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