Reserving accommodation

When making a reservation for accommodation, there is some information you need to provide to the staff so they can find the most appropriate room available for you. The details may include:

• Date
• Duration of stay
• Number of people
• Bed required
• Smoking or Non-Smoking and
• Preferences for views.

Date

Refer to the section on Months and Dates here.

• 九月二十一日から九月二十五日までよやくしたいんですが…

Duration of stay

To refer to the length of stay, you would often talk about the nights you will be sleeping in the accommodation. (1 night and 2 days)

Use the counter 〜泊（はく・ぱく）.

1. 一泊（いっぱく）
2. 二泊（にはく）
3. 三泊（さんぱく）
4. 四泊（よんはく）
5. 五泊（ごはく）
6. 六泊（ろっぱく）
7. 七泊（ななはく）
8. 八泊（はっぱく）
9. 九泊（くはく）
10. 十泊（じゅっぱく）

When Japanese people talk about the length of a trip, they would say:

• 一泊二日（いっぱくふつか）
• 三泊四日（さんぱくよっか）
• 九月十四日から三ぱくよやくおねがいします。

Number of People

Refer to person-counter revision section.

The staff may ask, 何めい（名）さまですか。which is the politer way of asking 何人ですか。

You may answer using both めい（名）or 人.

• ２名です。
• 大人二人と子ども一人です。

 

Types of Rooms

To refer to the size of bed, you may use the English terms:

• シングル
• ダブル
• キング etc.

 

To ask for a smoking or a non-smoking room, use the following phrases

• きつえんへや (smoking room)
• きんえんへや (non-smoking room)

 

Facilities

〜つき can be used after many words to mean ‘including’ or ‘attached’.

• 食じつき (with meal)
• バスとトイレつき (with bath and toilet)

 

Preferences for View

見えます, as we have learnt previously, is the potential form of 見ます which means ‘to be visible’ ‘can be seen’ or ‘to come into sight’.

Therefore, you may use this phrase to ask for an ocean view room.

• うみが見えるへや
• ふじ山が見えるへや

 

Asking for Vacancy/Availability

The phrase 「あいていますか」can be used to ask for availability.
Consider the following sentence.

九月七日からダブルで三泊よやくしたいんですが、うみが見えるへやはあいていますか。

The speaker is wanting to reserve a double room with an ocean view for 3 nights from 7th September.

You can use 「あいています」interchangeably with 「あります」.

おんせんつきのきんえんへやがありますか。

The staff will often respond in a polite form:

はい、五月十五日から十七日まで、シングルが二つございます。

 

Listening Practice

Reading Practice

Read the above dialogue between the hotel staff and Yamada.
What do you notice about the difference in language between the two speakers?
Why are they different?

Extra: Checking-In

Topic 5 Unit 2: Kanji

Kanji compounds

現物（げんぶつ）Sightseeing

Seasons

Topic 5 Unit 2: Vocabulary

• Verbs
• Adjectives
• Nouns and others

Topic 5 Unit 2: Expand!

Topic 5 Unit 2: Accommodation, Sightseeing and Weather

At the end of this unit, you will:

• enhance your understanding of the Japanese seasons and weather,
• enhance your understanding of tourist attractions in Japan,
• enhance your understanding of various accommodation options in Japan,
• be able to book accommodation and ask about the facilities,
• be able to ask and talk about tourist attractions,
• be able to justify your behaviour and
• be able to ask and talk about the weather and season.

Contents

1. Expand!
2. Vocabulary
3. Kanji
4. Reserving accommodation

Topic 5 Unit 1: Writing

Use the following prompts to practice writing.

1. Suppose you are on a trip to Japan and have just arrived at the Narita International Airpot. You go the Visitors Information Centre. Write a dialogue you may have with the staff in 250 to 300 ji.
   The dialogue should include information about
   a) tourist destinations (recommendations/details)
   b) means of transport
   c) cost and time of travel etc.

Topic 5 Unit 1: Reading Comprehension

 

 

Topic 5 Unit 1: Listening Comprehension

Listening

1. Listen to the conversation and answer the following questions.

a) Where is Miss Nakagawa planning to go this summer holidays?
b) How long is she going for?
c) What special places is she intending to go to and how long does she propose to stay at each place? List four places.
d) Where does her friend live?
e) How did she meet her friend?

2. Continue listening to the conversation and answer the following questions.

a) Why does Mr Tanaka want to go to Hokkaido?
b) Who is he going with?
c) How will he travel there?
d) Who told Mr Tanaka about Hokkaido?
e) What did this person tell Mr Tanaka?
f) How long is Mr Tanaka going for?

3. Listen to the conversation between the teacher and her students.
a) Have Anne and Nori been to England and Africa? Fill in the table below.

b) What did Anne see in America?
c) Who will Nori see in Washington?

4. Listen to the conversation between a passenger and a station employee. Then fill in the blanks.

a) The passenger wishes to go to                           on                          at           o’clock. She wants         return tickets. It will cost                      yen.

b) The passenger wishes to go to                           at               o’clock on the                . She is buying             ticket and it costs her                      yen.

Not getting lost when using Japanese public transport

By now, you know how to reserve and purchase a ticket for any type of transport in Japan. However, as you may have heard already, public transport in Japan can be confusing and difficult to understand especially if you are not local. Therefore, this section will equip you with some essential phrases to make sure that you DO NOT get lost!

What time does the train come?

(http://www.hyperdia.com/en/ is a useful website to find out transport times)

Trains run regularly on major city lines and are extremely reliable.

The above shows what a timetable for an interstate trip may look like. However, if you are unable to find this information, you may want to ask the station officers when the next train is.

Q: つぎの東京行きは何時ですか。

Possible Responses

A: 11時です。
A: 11時に（なりたくうこうを）出ます。
A: 11時にしゅっぱつします。

 

If you want to know when the train would arrive at the destination.

Q: この電車は大阪に何時につきますか。

Possible Responses

A: 大阪に10時40分につきます。
A: 10時40分にとうちゃくします。

 

Which platform?

Now you know what time the train will leave, you need to get to the correct platform to get on the train. Unfortunately, you won’t find Platform 9 3/4 in Japan, unless if you go to Universal Studio Japan (USJ) in Osaka.

How do you ask which platform you need to get to?

Q: Place行きは何ばんせんですか。
A: 〜ばんせんです。

For example:

A: よこはま行きは何ばんせんですか。
B: １ばんせんです。11時半にしゅっぱつします。

 

So you get to Platform 1 and see a train waiting to leave, but are unsure if this is the right one.

Q: この電車はよこはまへ・に・まで行きますか。

Possible Responses:

A: はい、行きます。
A: いいえ、行きません。つぎの電車にのってください。

Practice

Use the following timetable to practice.

1. Decide where you are in Japan and what time it is.
   (ie. I’m in Nagoya and it’s 12 noon.)
2. Decide where you are going.
3. Ask a language partner (a native speaker or a learner), a station officer,
   a) how much it would cost,
   b) when’s the next train,
   c) what time it leaves the station,
   d) what time it’ll arrive at the destination,
   e) which platform the train leaves.

 

Fun Fact!

Not only is it difficult to travel on public transport, it is extremely difficult to find the the most convenient exit to get to your destination even if you have arrived at the right station.

Making Reservations

In order to express your desire to make a  reservation for basically anything, you should use 〜をよやくしたいんですが…

Remember, we’ve learnt that 〜が… is often used to omit the latter part of speech as the implication is clear, yet you may not wish to make direct statements.

For example:

京都まで、おうふくをよやくしたいんですが…

The above sentence suggests that you’d like to reserve a return ticket to Kyoto and what is omitted is that you are expecting or requesting them to help you purchase the ticket without being too direct.

ファーストクラスをよやくしたいんですが…

In this sentence, although not always common, it could also be suggested that the speaker is wanting to know the price for a first class seat.

ファーストクラスをよやくしたいんですが、東京まで、大人はいくらですか。

Use the phrase to start the conversation at the きっぷうりば (ticket office) and continue with the expressions you have learnt in the section on buying a ticket.

Let’s watch the following videos to hear the dialogue you may have when reserving flight tickets or seats.