YouTube Transcript:
25mins N4 Japanese listening practice: Driving around the countryside in Japan! #136

Hey guys! It’s Ken!
I’m in Japan right now,
and it’s such a nice day today,
so I thought I’d take you on a drive with me!
Alright, first let’s put on our seatbelts,
start the engine, and head out!
Today, I’ll be chatting in simple Japanese while driving.
Okay, let’s go!
It’s been a while! I haven’t driven in a long time!
I’ve got a Japanese driver’s license.
I usually live in Taiwan.
Right now, I’m back in Japan for the first time in about a year.
I can’t drive in Taiwan.
I don’t have a Taiwanese license.
So yeah, I can’t drive in Taiwan,
but now that I’m back in Japan, I’m driving again after a long time.
How about you guys?
Do you usually drive?
Since it’s been a while for me,
I’m feeling a little nervous.
Back in the day, I used to drive a lot.
When I was in college, I used to drive often.
I even went skiing on my days off.
I used to go skiing with friends by car a lot.
When you go out on your days off, do you drive?
Or do you take the train?
Do you drive to work?
Or do you take the train or the bus?
Maybe some of you don’t drive at all.
If you live in the city, maybe you don’t really drive much.
But if you live in the countryside, you probably drive a lot, right?
So today, I’m planning to go to two places!
First, the recycling station.
I’ve got some trash to throw out.
And the second place is a store. There’s something I want to buy.
Uh, yeah, it’ll take a little while to get to both places...
So since we’re here, I’ll show you the scenery. Can you see it?
This is the countryside!
Right now, I’m in Aichi Prefecture in Japan.
I’m driving on a rural road in Aichi.
Wow, the weather’s great today!
Not a cloud in the sky!
Blue skies, totally clear!
The road’s kind of narrow around here...
Oh! A car’s coming! Since the road’s so narrow,
passing each other can be tricky.
Yeah, when the road’s this narrow, it’s a bit tough when two cars pass.
Can you see on the left side?
That’s a field over there.
Probably a rice field.
What day is it today? Hmm... I forgot.
Well, it’s March now. So the rice isn’t ready for harvest at all yet.
In Japan, rice is usually harvested in summer or fall.
Mostly in fall, I think.
So, not yet.
There are hardly any cars on the road.
I passed one car earlier, but
yeah, hardly any cars around here.
Oh, there’s a shrine over there.
On the right! Just passed by a shrine.
Since it’s Sunday, I thought there’d be more cars out,
but the roads are really quiet.
Maybe it’s still early?
Maybe everyone’s still sleeping since it’s Sunday?
It’s about 9:30 in the morning now,
so yeah, people are probably still asleep.
Here comes a car. Let’s wait here for a bit.
Do you guys like driving?
I like driving in the countryside like this,
but I’m not a fan of driving in the city.
In big cities...
like Tokyo, Nagoya, or Osaka — I don’t like driving in places like that.
But I enjoy driving on country roads.
I like seeing the beautiful scenery.
Oh, someone is cycling!
The weather's nice today, so it must feel great to be cycling!
Red light now. I'm stopped because of the red light.
It changed! That was fast! It turned green right away!
Turning left here.
In Japanese, we say "turn left" or "turn right" like this.
I just turned left.
I'm going to keep going straight a bit, then turn right at the next light.
If you want to use more formal words, you can say "sasetsu" for left turn, or "usetsu" for right turn.
"Sasetsu" means turning left.
"Usetsu" means turning right.
Alright, I'm going to turn right at this light.
In Japan, we drive on the left side of the road.
When you drive here, you drive on the left.
How about in your country?
Oh, the light changed, so I'm stopping now.
Do you drive on the left side in your country?
Or on the right?
In the U.S., it's on the right, right? The opposite of Japan.
In the U.K., it's on the left, same as Japan.
Australia also drives on the left.
Same as Japan.
I used to live in Australia for a year.
I’ve driven a car in Australia.
I brought my international driver’s license when I went to Australia.
Back then, I didn’t have an Australian license,
but I got an international license in Japan,
and brought that to Australia.
So I was able to drive there.
Japan and Australia both drive on the left side.
So driving felt pretty easy.
The steering wheel is on the same side too.
So it was easy to drive.
But something funny happened when I was driving in Australia.
One time I was driving around 6 in the morning,
and suddenly, a kangaroo jumped out from the side of the road!
I was so surprised!
Can you believe that?!
Luckily, I didn’t hit it.
My car didn’t hit the kangaroo. That was a relief.
Excuse me for a bit! I’m going to take a break.
I just got to a convenience store.
In the countryside, lots of convenience stores have bathrooms.
If you buy something, they usually let you use the restroom.
Alright, I’m heading into the convenience store.
Thanks for waiting!
I just bought some tea at the store. Let’s drink!
Okay, let’s get going again!
This is a parking lot. A place to park your car. Yeah, it’s a parking lot.
In cities, convenience stores usually don’t have much parking,
but in the countryside, a lot of them do.
There’s a big parking lot here.
When I go on road trips in Japan, I stop at convenience stores a lot.
They’re convenient.
The word “konbini” actually comes from “convenient store.”
If you keep going straight here, there’s a recycling station.
We’re almost there.
Alright, we’ve arrived at the recycling station.
But it’s really crowded.
There’s no open parking spots.
Oh! A car just pulled out.
I’ll park here.
Here's where you can throw away plastic bottles.
I had a bunch of bottles at home, so I brought them with me.
In Japan, when you recycle plastic bottles,
you have to take off the caps and labels.
This one’s good to go.
But this one still has the cap on.
Let’s take off the cap and peel off the label.
Alright, that should do it.
Okay, now I'm heading to the store.
Yep, this is the place!
I’m gonna park now, so just hang on a sec!
Oops, messed that up! Let me try again…
Maybe a bit more to the side!
I’m backing up while watching the mirrors.
Alright! Looks good!
Okay, I’ll go run in real quick!
Oh! Actually, since we’re here, let’s go together!
Let’s go shopping together for a bit!
So today, I need a card case.
Ah, here it is! Found it!
It’s a case for holding cards. I’ll get this one.
Hi!
Hi, I’ll take this please.
Alright, that’ll be 330 yen.
Ken: Can I use a credit card?  
Clerk: Sorry, we don’t take credit cards.
Okay, um… 330 yen, right?
Here’s 330 yen, exact.
Here’s your receipt.
Ken: Thank you!  
Clerk: Thanks for shopping!
Alright, I just bought this card case!
Actually, not long ago,
I made some cards for practicing Japanese conversation!
The back side is like a card game.
Oh, that’s me on the card.
In Japanese, we call this kind of card game “trump.”
I made them myself!
The cute illustrations were drawn by my wife.
I really wanted a case to hold these cards.
Perfect! It fits just right!
Yes! Perfect fit! Love it!
I went to the store to get this case for the cards.
Okay, I’m getting hungry, so I’m gonna go grab some lunch.
Since I’m already out,
I think I’ll go get some udon or something now.