So you arrive in Japan.

You're ready to eat, explore, adventure!

There's just one problem: You've been slacking on your Japanese studies.

Maybe work was too busy and you just didn't have time. Or maybe you're like me and you learned a lot of words and grammar but waited too long to muster up the courage to practice using them in an online lesson or language exchange.

Whatever the reason, you may find yourself trying to explore Japan without being prepared to ask locals to help make your journey as amazing as possible.

Good news for you, fellow slackers. I've put together a handful of questions that I think would be useful when traveling around Japan but would probably not show up in a travel phrasebook.

Well, maybe they would. Maybe I'm not up to date on the latest and greatest travel phrasebooks.

Anyway, in this lesson we're looking at asking for recommendations.

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Must-Know Word #1: おすすめ

おすすめ means "recommendation."

When asking for recommendations, pair it with the verb ある, "to be."

Like this:

おすすめはありますか？
おすすめ　は　あります　か？
Do you have any recommendations?
Literally: “recommendation + は + have / there are?”
Note: Clearly this sentence would need to have context so that the listener knows what kind of recommendations you're looking for. For example, maybe you were just talking about soba shops or something. Or maybe you're looking at a menu together.

Now, this (↑) is a formal question. We can tell it's formal because the verb ある is conjugated into ます-form as あります.

When talking with a friend, you could make it more casual:

おすすめある？
おすすめ　ある？
Do you have any recommendations?
Literally: “recommendation + have / there are?”

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Now, the following sentences might seem a bit long for many of you.

If so, you may want to momentarily forget about understanding the grammar and just memorize them as is. Or just show the question to a Japanese person using your phone if you're feeling especially lazy. ^^

👔 Formal 👔
有名な場所に行きたいんですが、おすすめはありますか？
ゆうめいな　ばしょ　に　いきたい　んですが、　おすすめ　は　あります　か？
I want to go somewhere famous. Do you have any recommendations?
Literally: “famous + place + に + want to go + んです + が (=but), + recommendation + は + have / there is?”

🍺 Casual 🍺
有名な場所に行きたいんだけど、おすすめある？
ゆうめいな　ばしょ　に　いきたい　んだ　けど、　おすすめ　ある？
I want to go somewhere famous. Do you have any recommendations?
Literally: “famous + place + に + want to go + んだ + けど (=but), + recommendation + have / there is?”

These are useful sentences, and if you're in Tokyo asking these is probably going to get you escorted to Asakusa immediately.

Back when I was teaching English in Tokyo, all of my students said that they recommended Asakusa to visitors to Tokyo. Personally, it's a bit too touristy for me, so I was hesitant to take any friends or family there... until my mom said it was her favorite place she visited in Tokyo. Oops. *_*

Since I like the less popular places, though, I might ask a question like this:

👔 Formal 👔
ガイドブックに載ってない面白い場所は知っていますか？
ガイドブック　に　のってない　おもしろい　ばしょ　は　しっています　か？
Do you know any interesting places that wouldn’t show up in a guidebook?
Literally: “guidebook + に + are not appearing in + interesting + place + は + are knowing + か?”

🍺 Casual 🍺
ガイドブックに載ってない面白い場所知ってる？
ガイドブック　に　のってない　おもしろい　ばしょ　しってる？
Do you know any interesting places that wouldn’t show up in a guidebook?
Literally: “guidebook + に + are not appearing in + interesting + place + are knowing + か?”

I'm guessing that is a difficult sentence for many of you.

I know that in my case my brain kind of panics when using this i-adjective, 面白い, directly after a verb, 載ってない.

Speaking of 載ってない (のってない), which we can translate directly as something like "is not written in" or "is not appearing in," I'm pretty sure I would not have said this during my first few years of studying Japanese.

Originally, I learned Japanese from books. And the large majority of books would tell me that the 載ってない (のってない) should say 載っていない (のっていない)... because, well, it should... technically.

But even in formal speech, Japanese people typically abbreviate the auxiliary verb -いない to just -ない. So let's just say 載ってない (のってない). It's what all the Japanese people are saying!

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Must-Know Word #2: ここら辺

ここら辺 (ここらへん) means "around here" or "in the neighborhood."

Let's say you're feeling a bit lazy. Going on trains all over the city sounds like far too much work. You just want to go for a short stroll, see a cool shrine or something, take a few pictures, then go in search of a nice, refreshing drink or two.

In that case, you might want to ask a question like this one...

👔 Formal 👔
ここら辺におすすめの神社はありますか？
ここらへん　に　おすすめ　の　じんじゃ　は　ありますか？
Are there any shrines around here that you can recommend?
Literally: “around here + に + recommendation + の + shrine + は + there are?”

🍺 Casual 🍺
ここら辺におすすめの神社ある？
ここらへん　に　おすすめ　の　じんじゃ　ある？
Are there any shrines around here that you can recommend?
Literally: “around here + に + recommendation + の + shrine + there are?”

Note that this is review from the first part of this lesson, when we looked at おすすめ with ある.

A very cool thing about the two example sentences above: You can switch out the word 神社 (じんじゃ), "shrine," with pretty much whatever you want.

Maybe you don't want to see a shrine.

Maybe all you want to do is get down on some authentic local sushi.

In that case, you'd be looking for a local お寿司屋さん (おすしやさん // sushi shop):

👔 Formal 👔
ここら辺におすすめのお寿司屋さんはありますか？
ここらへん　に　おすすめ　の　おすしやさん　は　ありますか？
Are there any sushi shops around here that you can recommend?
Literally: “around here + に + recommendation + の + sushi shop + は + there are?”

🍺 Casual 🍺
ここら辺におすすめのお寿司屋さんある？
ここらへん　に　おすすめ　の　おすしやさん　ある？
Are there any sushi shops around here that you can recommend?
Literally: “around here + に + recommendation + の + sushi shop + there are?”

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Must-Know Word #3: 日帰り

OK. You had your restful day of local shrines and sushi. Today you're ready to deal with trains and travel headaches. You want to go on a day trip.

日帰り（ひがえり // day [trip]）
日帰り旅行（ひがえりりょこう // day trip）

This word makes sense because 日 (ひ) means "day" and 帰り (かえり) (which will change to -がえり in our target word) means "coming back; returning; coming home."

Sometimes you'll see the word 旅行 (りょこう // trip) attached to the end of it, but we won't need it for our examples...

👔 Formal 👔
日帰りで行けるおすすめの場所はありますか？
ひがえり　で　いける　おすすめ　の　ばしょ　は　あります　か？
Are there any places that you would recommend for a day trip?
Literally: “day trip + で + can go + recommendation + の + place + は + there are?”

🍺 Casual 🍺
日帰りで行けるおすすめの場所ある？
ひがえり　で　いける　おすすめ　の　ばしょ　ある？
Are there any places that you would recommend for a day trip?
Literally: “day trip + で + can go + recommendation + の + place + there are?”

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We can ask for recommendations in Japanese now. Great.

There's just one problem: We might not understand what people are recommending!

Everyone speaks so fast, and place names are not easy to remember. So let's carry a pad and pen (or just our phones) and ask...

👔 Formal 👔
ここに場所の名前を書いてくれませんか？
ここ　に　ばしょ　の　なまえ　を　かいて　くれません　か？
Could you please write down the name of the place here?
Literally: “here + に + place + の + name + を + write (and) + won’t you give (me) + か?”

🍺 Casual 🍺
ここに場所の名前書いてくれない？
ここ　に　ばしょ　の　なまえ　かいて　くれない？
Could you write down the name of the place here?
Literally: “here + に + place + の + name + write (and) + won’t you give (me)?”

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That's it for this one.

Good luck in your travels.