Question
I just checked into a small café in Kyoto and I want to get some work done over coffee. There’s a Wi-Fi sticker on the counter but no password written anywhere. How do I ask the staff for it in Japanese?
Answer by Professional Japanese Teacher
Wi-Fiのパスワードは何（なん）ですか。
Wi-Fi no pasuwaado wa nan desu ka?
What is the Wi-Fi password?
This is the simplest, most polite way to ask. Wi-Fi is read as “wai-fai,” and パスワード (pasuwaado) is the katakana version of “password.” The particle の (no) connects the two nouns, so Wi-Fi no pasuwaado literally means “the password of the Wi-Fi.” 何 (nan) means “what,” and ですか turns the sentence into a polite question.
If you want to be a bit softer, you can add すみません (sumimasen) at the start — “Sumimasen, Wi-Fi no pasuwaado wa nan desu ka?” That small word goes a long way in shops and cafés.
One thing to listen for: staff will often answer by spelling it out letter by letter, sometimes mixing English with Japanese pronunciation, and the numbers may come at you in a rush because they hear those characters every day and forget that you don’t. If you miss it, just say もう一度（いちど）お願（ねが）いします (mou ichido onegaishimasu) — “one more time, please.”
