The Japanese are a very strange bunch. Very strange. With all but a few exceptions, they are socially inadequate on the international stage. Sad but true.

I've lived in Japan and can offer my perspective on trying to speak Japanese. It's not that Japanese people are unhelpful, I think they are very friendly and often helpful in general. The bigger issue from my experience was that some Japanese people think it strange that you are learning their language. And if you get beyond a basic level, there is often a bit of distrust in you - maybe it's because you are breaking too much into Japanese life. This is just my opinion, but I think that some Japanese consider their language to be part of their in-group culture and do not want others to really understand it. Maybe based on the long history of Japan being isolated from other countries. Some Japanese do truly enjoy you speaking their language though, so don't give up.

It is the question about the culture, I don't know why Mr. alucky is so up sad about it. 99% is a very high percentage, if I were Ms. Elizabeth, I would ask the same question too. Fortunately, I have never deal with any non-English speaking people. It looks like that the Japanese can not read English. You may notice that the English speaking people such as Mr. James 1, Mr. Brianhabla, and Mr. Wozitoya, their answers are corresponding to the question which is related to the culture. The question is written in English, I am trying to interprete Ms. Elizabeth's intent in her question. In response to Ms. Elizabeth's question, the problem is appearing on misunderstanding, the language barrier.

First of all, please kindly bear with me, should I have said something that makes anyone not pleasant. In particular, I have no interest to perform unnecessary arguments with the original question poster, because I already knew her personality. Well, in my personally point of view, this question was somehow considered as "racially biased", should it not be deemed as offensive. My arguments are as follows: 1) The original question poster wanted to express her unpleasant (or frustrated) feeling through the learning of Japanese language. Nevertheless, all of us need to bear in mind that this (italki) is a free platform for language exchanges. Nobody owes responsibility to help the others. Everyone offers help solely under their own will. We surely may appreciate any kind of help, but to blame on someone (or on some particular race/nationality, as stated in this question) who does not offer help is simply not appropriate. 2) Albeit a frustration in learning a particular language, there is no necessity to states any negative comments against solely the people native in that particular language (in this case, the Japanese people, or the ones with Japanese nationalities, as I presume). I believe that there are always some foreigners who are very good in Japanese, or people that have a Japanese ancestry, who can as well help the others with the Japanese language. In other words, alternative options are already available, but the original question poster did not carefully consider them, and rather put blames onto the Japanese natives once she did not receive sufficient help. I honestly cannot agree this kind of act. In my point of view, as long as the concept is correct, one should learn it enthusiastically, regardless from whom such concept was given. 3) From where does this 99% of Japanese people (who are described as not willing to help the original question poster) come? Did the original question poster do an intensive survey to obtain such result, or did she only state it recklessly (as a sort of expressing her personal frustration through the language learning process)? Unless such figure was found by systematic and reliable studies, solely stating it recklessly would give not only a misleading concept to the general audience, but also a hard or even an irritating feeling to the group of people being blamed. Therefore, although I am not a Japanese, I understand how a typical Japanese may feel through reading the question, which resulted in some fierce or overreacted arguments. Unfortunately, once the question was posed, it was not editable. Therefore, my personal suggestion is, everyone needs to think twice before posting any disputable questions. Hopefully, any fierce or overreacted arguments may be terminated, once it is understood that the original question was simply not appropriately posted. Ciao.

sorry for my misunderstanding !