Excuse me, I’m sorry, thank you
If you’re a first time traveler to Japan, you might be glad to know that one of the most useful words in the Japanese language is sumimasen (すみません). It can mean excuse me, I’m sorry, or thank you. I heard it many times and I’ve said it myself when asking “Sumimasen, where is the train station?” My taxi driver drove me to my cruise ship and he asked the guard, “Sumimasen, where should I drop my passenger off?” When you want to get the attention of the waitress, you would start your conversation by saying sumimasen. When you accidentally bump into someone on the train or on the escalator, you would say sumimasen. If someone returns your umbrella that you left on the bus, you would say sumimasen. Go to Japan and you will hear it too!