While translation apps have made traveling abroad a great deal easier, it never hurts to have a few phrases memorized for politeness and convenience. If you are headed to Japan, you probably already know konnichiwa (hello) and arigatō (thank you), but what other phrases come in handy? As a long-term resident, here's my short list of what every traveler should know. DaijōbuPossibly the most useful word in the entire Japanese language, daijōbu means something like “fine” and has a wide range of applications. A Few Bonus BitsIn Japanese, a vocabulary list is sometimes called kotoba no takarabako or a treasure box of words.