What is 「何しに」 in 「YOUは何しに日本へ？」


Title basically says most of it. To add more context to that 「YOUは何しに日本へ？」 is
a name of a japanese TV show, found it on YouTube. They meet random foreigners
at the airport and ask them this question. I can make an intelligent guess
that this is contacted form of 「何するのに」, but I have doubts, since why would
they ask a question with slangy words to people who can hardly speak the
language? On the other hand the use of 「YOUは」 might indicate that this whole
phrase can be slangy from the start. Many thanks.




[Verb Stem]に行く or に来る, such as 試しに来た (I came here to try it), means to come or
go for the purpose of doing the verb.

Xしに来る is a common usage which applies this for Xする verbs.

So「YOUは何しに日本へ？」 is short for 「Youは何をしに日本へ来た？」, meaning "what did you come to
japan to do", or perhaps more fluidly and less literally, "what did you come
to japan for?"




[Verb Stem]に行く or に来る, such as 試しに来た (I came here to try it), means to come or
go for the purpose of doing the verb.

Xしに来る is a common usage which applies this for Xする verbs.

So「YOUは何しに日本へ？」 is short for 「Youは何をしに日本へ来た？」, meaning "what did you come to
japan to do", or perhaps more fluidly and less literally, "what did you come
to japan for?"

