Essential Japanese for Travel

Key Phrases and Tips to Explore Japan Confidently

By: Scott Luu

Narrated by: Scott Luu, Naomi Wada, Ayano Watanabe, Masashi M.

What are the MOST ESSENTIAL phrases you'll need while in Japan?

While living in Japan, I felt frustrated that I was unable to speak and listen to the common Japanese phrases that service workers use over and over again. Eventually, I decided I wanted to stop guessing at what was being said and start understanding & knowing how to respond.

So I collaborated with my native Japanese friends and gathered what I believe to be all the essential phrases you’ll actually use and hear while traveling or even living in Japan!

Unlike a lot of beginner Japanese learning material out there, this book is laser-focused on practical and usable Japanese that you are guaranteed to encounter in real life.

Chapters are broken down into inevitable scenarios such as:

• Visiting the convenience store
• Stating dietary restrictions
• Navigating the train station
• Asking for directions
• Ordering food from stands
• Making reservations
• Dining in restaurants
• Taking the bus
• Staying at hotels, hostels, and other accommodations
• Making friends

Each chapter begins with an explanation section that highlights my biggest tips for handling those scenarios smoothly. By the end, you should have no trouble taking the bus, making a reservation, or asking for directions when you get lost at the train station.

After each explanation chapter, there is a breakdown of the usual dialogue that happens and a vocabulary section to review the words and their meanings.

Most importantly, there will be a Shadowing Practice section where you listen to native Japanese speakers say the lines and copy them, to help you internalize what you learned and speak confidently.

There are also “Basics” sections focused on:

• Numbers
• Time
• Counters for objects and food
• Dates

My promise is that after going through this audiobook alongside the ebook, you’ll be in great shape to travel in Japan comfortably and with confidence!

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Scott Lew (P)2025 Scott Lew

Well structured and easy to listen to!

I want to go to Japan sometime in the future and don't want to feel lost, so I came across this audiobook. I could honestly say that this is well structured and very informative. Not only does it teach phrases that would help during your travel, but there are also detailed scenarios mentioned that could be relatable. I would definitely recommend giving this book a chance!

Better than some other jap learning books Ive read

If youre traveling to japan and want to feel more confident getting around, this is honestly such a helpful resource

I went to japan for the first time last year and not studying japanese beforehand definitely made my trip harder. And it felt embarrassing after a while to have to pull out google translate and type everything out everytime

This book is good because it's practical and skips all the extra fluff and only focuses on phrases you’ll actually use when traveling whereas a lot of Japanese books ive read spend forever on vocab or sentences i felt like i didnt need. I also appreciated that the shadowing sections used audio from actual japanese speakers and not someone where you can definitely tell japanese isn't their first language lol

If you have a trip coming up, id definitely recommend this book!

Perfect Lessons to Dive Right In

Just like the title says, these lessons from Scott are curated to meet your needs during daily interactions whenever you're in Japan. Having been to Japan a couple times, I definitely needed to know some of these scenarios and how to navigate them. I especially enjoyed the clear enunciations and explanations for each lesson. I'll be sure to freshen up with these lessons before my next trip to Japan. Great job on this audiobook!

Super helpful!

I have been living in Japan for about a year now and have learned enough to get around, however I get around by listening for cue words. I’ve been wanting to take learning more seriously though and this audiobook helped me understand full sentences and the details I was missing! Definitely recommend! The shadowing practice helps a lot for review.

Well Made and Well Thought Out

I learned a lot from this audiobook! The structure of the book is well thought out and the audio is clear. The pacing can sometimes be a little fast for someone completely new to Japanese but there’s the option to slow down the audio, so it isn’t a problem. It’s definitely not an audiobook that you can just breeze through and requires active attention to get the most out of, but it delivers on its promise of teaching you essential Japanese for travel! I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Japan!