“Irashaimase – いらっしゃいませ” means “Welcome” it is used by staff working in stores across Japan whenever people enter the establishment, i heard plenty of shop workers just saying it constantly out loud like some sort of mantra directed at no-one in particular, like they were utterly bored of it but had to be seen making an effort in front of the boss.

Japanese chickas have a tendency to say this really nasally, it started off funny to me at first but got kind of annoying after a while.

If i’m lucky enough to get a Japanese customer come into my cafe i like to say: いらっしゃいませ、何を飲みますか, which means “Welcome, what would you like to drink”, i love to do that

“Tanjoubi Omedetou – 誕生日おめでとう ・たんじょびおめでとう” means “happy birthday”. Today is my brothers birthday, just thought i’d mention it.

“Dare-ni mukatte itten dayo? だれにむかっていってんだよ？・誰に向かって言ってんだよ？” means “Who do you think you’re talking to?”, it’s one of my favourite things to say when i’m joking with my Japanese mates, but i wouldn’t use it in front of strangers if i was you.

I first heard this phrase while watching Afro Samurai the other day, i looked it up and this is what i found.

Katajikenai・かたじけない is a way of saying thank you used by Samurai in formal situations, today it can be used amongst friends in informal situations in a sort of jokey way, if you use this word in front of a Japanese person you will probably get a good laugh!