[musahinokosugi]

hi! i am american, have lived in tokyo for about a year and a half. i studied japanese in college and came here hoping my get better at speaking, but the japanese people i meet for the most part refuse to speak to me in japanese. i know i am not that bad (for god's sake, i am employed as a japanese-english *translator*) but very often when i say something, the people reply to me in english.

now, it could be because my accent is bad or something, but they have obviously understood what i said, since they reply is usually appropriate to the question i have asked (only in a different language).

this is getting really frustrating and insulting. can any japanese members or longtime residents shed some light on this problem and ways that i might solve it?