THE PARTICLE の shows possession of something; CONNECTS 2 NOUNS.
わたし
あれは私 のごはん。

Are wa watashi no gohan.
にほん
That (over there) is MY rice.
き
日本のどこから来ますか。

Nihon no doko kara kimasu ka?
それは父のへやですよ。
Sore wa chichi no heya desu yo.

From where, in Japan, are you from?
That is my father’s room.
どれがあさこさんのほん。
(*FYI the word “ga” is like “は”.
Which one is Asako’s book?
A SIDE NOTE:
*Take a moment and note that the order of the words is opposite the order of the words in English
sentences! The verb, kimasu, comes at the end, do you see that? The preposition, kara, comes in the middle
of the sentence after the noun (Nihon).
に ほ ん の ど こ か ら き ま す か
If you were to translate “word for word” 日本のどこから来ますか , it would read: Japan’s where from
come? !!!!!!!
*In English we usually say the subject (same placement, at the beginning if there is one) preposition first
(FROM), then the NOUN (JAPAN) i.e. “FROM JAPAN”… and the verb. So, in English, we would translate this
as “Where in Japan are you from?” or more properly, “From where, in Japan, are you from?”