Horrible. Horrible racist stereotype. (just kidding)
This is off-topic since it doesn't involve any bad behavior, but I thought I'd share it for
@durangodawood
I was walking out of a federal courthouse one day, and there were these three Japanese tourists taking photos of the building. (I swear, each one of them had a minimum of one camera strapped around their neck.) This was back in the day before everyone had devices where you could look up stuff wherever you are. The building was large and had slightly unusual architecture, so I guess it was interesting to them.
They approached me, pointed at the building and asked "what is?" I said "It's a courthouse". They sort of shook their heads and repeated "what is?" Surmising that their grasp of English was very incomplete, I did the sensible thing and repeated the answer more loudly and slowly. "A COURT HOUSE." Surprisingly this did not obtain the desired result, as they once again asked "what is?"
Realizing that oral expression is not going to get us anywhere, I wondered if I could mime something to suggest a courthouse. I put my hands behind my back as if I were handcuffed, hung my head down dejectedly, and slowly shuffled forward, trying to indicate that I was a prisoner. Didn't work. Again I was met with "what is?" I squatted down a bit as if I were sitting, looked stern, and moved my arm up and down as if I were a judge banging a gavel. This was met with the now familiar refrain "what is?"
I wanted to be helpful, but at this point I'm fresh out of ideas, plus I have a life to get back to. So I had no choice but to tell them domo arigato and walk away.
Yeah I know it made no sense to thank them, but domo arigato is the only Japanese I know, courtesy of that Cheap Trick live album.