Japanese for travel

こんにちは。(Konnichiwa)

A daytime greeting, roughly 11am to 5pm; use おはようございます in the morning and こんばんは in the evening.

💡 Did you know? “Konnichiwa” is a sentence nobody ever finished: literally “as for this day …”.

おはようございます。(Ohayō gozaimasu)

Among friends the short おはよう (Ohayō) is enough; the long form is the polite one.

💡 Did you know? In many industries people greet each other with “Ohayō” even at night: it marks the start of a shift.

こんばんは。/ おやすみなさい。(Konbanwa / Oyasumi nasai)

こんばんは greets someone in the evening, おやすみなさい says goodnight before bed.

💡 Did you know? “Oyasumi” contains 休み (yasumi, rest): you are literally wishing a good rest.

さようなら。(Sayōnara)

It sounds final and is rarely used; day to day people say じゃあね (Jā ne) or また明日 (Mata ashita).

💡 Did you know? “Sayōnara” literally means “if that is how it is”: another sentence left unfinished.

また後で。(Mata ato de)

また means “again”, 後で means “later”; among friends じゃあまた (Jā mata) works too.

💡 Did you know? That また appears in almost every Japanese farewell; the idea is always “until again”.

お願いします。(Onegai shimasu)

The all-purpose “please” for a request or an order; when handing something over you say どうぞ (Dōzo).

💡 Did you know? 願い (negai) means “wish”: you are literally saying “I am making a request”.

ありがとうございます。(Arigatō gozaimasu)

The polite form; among friends ありがとう is enough, very casually どうも (Dōmo).

💡 Did you know? 有り難い (arigatai) originally meant “hard to come by, rare”: to thank someone was to say you had received something rare.

どうもありがとうございます。(Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu)

The stronger version. どうも on its own is a casual “thanks” or even a “hello”.

💡 Did you know? どうも actually means “somehow”, and turns into a greeting, a thank-you or an apology as needed.

どういたしまして。(Dō itashimashite)

The textbook reply; in practice people wave it off with いいえ (Iie).

💡 Did you know? Literally “what is it that I did?”: you play down your own effort.

はい / いいえ。(Hai / Iie)

はい often only confirms “I am listening”; a real no is usually phrased indirectly.

💡 Did you know? Answering a negative question, はい means “yes, that is right”: the opposite of English usage.

すみません。(Sumimasen)

Serves as an apology, as “excuse me” when getting attention, and even as a thank-you.

💡 Did you know? Literally “this is not settled”: the words alone have not yet cleared the debt.

いくらですか。(Ikura desu ka?)

いくら means “how much”, and ですか turns it into a polite question.

💡 Did you know? Japanese needs no question mark: the question sits entirely in the ending か (ka).

カードでお願いします。(Kādo de onegai shimasu)

で marks the means, here “by card”; cash is 現金 (genkin).

💡 Did you know? Japan has a high-tech reputation but remains cash-friendly: small shops often take 現金 only.

お会計をお願いします。(O-kaikei o onegai shimasu)

In many places you do not pay at the table but at the register by the exit.

💡 Did you know? Tipping is not customary and can come across as rude: good service is taken for granted.

トイレはどこですか。(Toire wa doko desu ka?)

トイレ is borrowed from English; お手洗い (otearai) is the more refined word.

💡 Did you know? トイレ is written in katakana: the syllabary Japan reserves for foreign words.

わかりません。(Wakarimasen)

The polite negative of わかります; “I don’t speak Japanese” would be 日本語が話せません.

💡 Did you know? 分かる (wakaru) originally means “to divide”: understanding is being able to tell things apart.

英語を話せますか。(Eigo o hanasemasu ka?)

英語 (eigo) is English, and 話せます means “can speak”.

💡 Did you know? The 英 in 英語 once stood for England: it comes from the phonetic spelling of “Igirisu”.

ビールを一つ、お願いします。(Bīru o hitotsu, onegai shimasu)

一つ (hitotsu) is “one” as a count; Japanese uses different counting words per kind of object.

💡 Did you know? Glasses have their own counter, 杯 (hai): one beer becomes 一杯 (ippai).

乾杯！(Kanpai!)

The call when glasses are raised; you wait until everyone is holding one.

💡 Did you know? 乾杯 literally means “dry glass”: the same characters as Chinese “ganbei”.

助けて！(Tasukete!)

The cry for help in an emergency. Police in Japan is 110, ambulance and fire 119.

💡 Did you know? 119 covers both fire and ambulance in Japan; in an emergency you dial 110 or 119 there, not the European 112.