Asking the way is the phrase set most likely to save an evening, and the trick is to ask a question you can understand the answer to. Doko desu ka invites a paragraph. Pointing and asking kochira desu ka — is it this way — invites a yes or a no.

Addresses in Japan are not sequential along a street, which is why even local people navigate by landmarks and by phone. Nobody expects you to find a place from the address alone. Showing a screen and asking is completely normal, and staff at a kouban police box exist partly to answer exactly this.