Flankly I did not understand why you say Japan is difficult to live for peopple from abroad.And if the person try to speak in English, Many Japanese will try to speak in broken English. I think Japanese is so kind. You don’t need to worry about coming to Japan. 　

How come your friend is going to live in Japan but doesn’t try to learn Japanese? Japanese people here all learn to speak English. If you want to make friends in Japan, at least you have to ’try’ to learn the language and culture there. Not many Japanese people can speak English fluently, so you shouldn’t expect people to speak English for you. Why not learn before saying ’difficult’? Of course it’s hard if you don’t want to learn. I hate people saying that without trying.
　

I totally agree with res2 san.
Most service in Japan provides in Japanese. You need to understand some Japanese.

Also, you have to remember that Tokyo, Chiba or Yokohama, those cities are really big. Some people don’t enjoy "city life".

If you go to a small town, people would be different.

There are more jobs and other opportunities in a big city, but the life is tough sometimes, right?

Some people are too busy to help other people.
Some people want to talk to you so that they could get free English practice.
Some people would stare at you all the time, because you look different.

They have more foreigners city center. It wouldn’t be so hard to meet other English speaking people there.

Why don’t you post this question on other websites for Canadian who live in Japan? You’ll hear more real stories.

I think most people in JP Canada are Japanese.





　

友達に言ってやりなさい。すべてあなた次第だって。自分から友達作ろうと思うえば幾らでもできる。日本語離せなくてもまったく問題ない。 　

Japanese people aint speak English nobody. She gotta learn Japanese or get friends from another country.
No dout. 　

トピずれだけど最近、前から？どっちでもいいけどRes４のような見も知らない人に対して｢〜しなさい！｣て言う人が多いの？
あなたは親でもないし誰かの目上の人じゃないんだから〜しなさい、というのはとても不自然な言い方ですよ。
それともこの人日本語をよく理解していないのかな。
　

日本人じゃないんでしょ。ただそれだけ。 　

Thanks all. Every comment was useful advice. I didn’t understand some in Japanese. Yes, She is trying to learn Japanese right now but how much can she learn from such a short period. That’s why she’s worried. Any other story besides language difference? 　

Is your friend only interested in making English-speaking friends, or Japanese? 　

I am a Japanese. A lot of western forigners, who are working and not young, live in Tokyo. There is community like English pub. So I think your friend can make friends who are native English speaker. I don’t recommend to study Japanese. Japanese is too difficult to learn. But I reccomend to learn Japanese English accent. People can understand Japanese-English. People in Japan are very kind for foreigners. 　

but how much can she learn from such a short period. That’s why she’s worried.

I think its all depends on her. Many factors can affect her learning in Japan; her pat experience of studying Japanese, frequency of meeting some Japanese people, how much effort she puts into studying and so forth. If she is worried, I think she can start learning now (that way she may be able to ease her anxiety even a little). I understand Japanese and English are totally different languages and their cultures are different from one another as well. Different cultures also reflect the language usage too. But I guess once she starts to living in Japan, she gets to learn both cultures and languages arisen from its culture. The bottom line is; she cannot learn Japanese or any other languages if she does not put her self into the learning environmentherself. I think she can do it here in Canada too. Good luck!