[Serie: All About Japanese Particles]
Note: In both of the usages below, ni may replace e, except when e is followed by no (as in the last sentence of no. 2)
1. Indicates a direction or goal, or a destination toward which one is moving or at which one has arrived: “to.”
いつ京都へ行きますか。
Itsu Kyōto e ikimasu ka.
When are you going to Kyoto?
谷口さんは昨日アメリカへ出発しました。
Taniguchi-san wa kinō Amerika e shuppatsu shimashita.
Taniguchi left for the United States yesterday.
この飛行機は、6時に成田空港へ到着しました。
Kono hikōki wa, rokuji ni Narita kūkō e tōchaku shimashita.
This airplane arrived at Narita Airport at six o’clock.
2. Indicates the recipient of an action (in English, equivalent to the indirect object): “to.”
外国にいる友達へ手紙を書いた。
Gaikoku ni iru tomodachi e tegami o kaita.
I wrote a letter to a friend abroad.
夕方川田さんへ電話をかけたが、いなかった。
Yūgata Kawada-san e denwa o kaketa ga, inakatta.
I telephoned Kawada in the evening, but he wasn’t there.
川田さんへの電話があったのは何時でしたか。
Kawada-san e no denwa ga atta no wa nanji deshita ka.
What time did that phone call come for Kawada?
– Source: All about particles – A handbook of Japanese function words –
