48650
I'm in Tokyo. I want to ask my friend if he's coming to Tokyo. In English it
is natural to say "Will you come to Tokyo?", not "Will you go to Tokyo", as I
use my own location as the reference point. But how is this in Japanese? Do I
say

> 東京に来ますか

or

> 東京に行きますか。
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2017-06-22T08:58:46.873
48649
2020-12-01T17:06:01.307
22662
question
direction
Will you come or go to my location?
In this situation, you can say 東京に来ます(か)?. However if you say it to your
friends, 東京に来る? would be natural.東京に行きますか wouldn't be natural.

In this situation, your friends shouldn't say 東京に来る but 東京に行く as the answer,
though they seem to be able to say "I will come to Tokyo" in English.
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2017-06-22T10:09:45.313
48650
2017-06-22T10:14:58.423
2017-06-22T10:14:58.423
7320
7320
48649
answer
Your scenario is the same as the Scenario #2 below. You are talking with a
person A and want to ask whether the person A is moving toward you.

This video explains with animations: [I'll come or I'll
go?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpKPOrjuMcg&ab_channel=ShiroNekoJapanese)

Basically,

> KURU/KIMASU - Someone or something is moving toward you or whoever the
> speaker is
>
> IKU/IKIMASU - Someone or something is moving AWAY from you or whoever the
> speaker is. When you are the speaker, you will still be moving away from
> yourself(the speaker) or your current position by "going somehwere"

## Scenario 1:

In this scenario, you are talking with A about "B coming" to you (B moving
toward you). In English, you'd say "B comes" because B is moving toward the
speaker, which is you, the white cat in the picture. It's the same thing in
Japanese, so you'd call B's action as "KIMASU" because B is moving toward the
speaker. [![You are talking with A about B coming toward
you](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zHccd.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zHccd.jpg)

## Scenario 2:

In this scenario, you are talking with A about A's action. In English, you'd
ask "Will you come?" because you want to know whether A will be coming toward
you, the speaker (the white cat in the picture). It's the same thing in
Japanese, so you'd call A's action as "KIMASU" because A is moving toward the
speaker. [![You are talking with A about A coming toward
you](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DBVuM.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DBVuM.jpg)

## Scenario 3:

In this scenario, you are talking with A about you going to the third person,
B. You are moving away, so you'd tell A "I'll go (to B)" in English. Again,
it's the same thing in Japanese, you are moving away from the speaker, which
is yourself, the white cat in the picture, so you'd call your own action as
"IKIMASU" [![You are talking with A about you going to
B](https://i.stack.imgur.com/liADF.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/liADF.jpg)

## Scenario 4:

In this scenario, you are talking with A about you going to A. In English,
"come" is used when you are moving toward the person you are talking to, so
you'd say "I'll come (to you)". BUT, in Japanese, it doesn't matter where you
are moving to. It doesn't matter that you are moving toward the person you are
talking to. As long as you are moving away from the speaker, which is
yourself, the white cat in the picture, you'd call your action as "IKIMASU".
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lvz4x.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lvz4x.jpg)

Hope this helps.
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2020-12-01T17:06:01.307
82899
2020-12-01T17:06:01.307
17476
48649
answer