When was the last time you used anything besides an app on the phone for travelling?When was the last time you read an actual newspaper and not just check the news from your phone or laptop? Or do you even remember what a phonebook looks like? When traveling you have no need to add to your luggage weight with those heavy and quickly outdated guidebooks. This is all thanks to technology like smartphones, tablets, and e-readers. With the help of technology you can find your way to your destination and what to do there. Smartphones, apps, tablets and laptops have made everyday life as well as traveling much easier and more enjoyable. So here are our top 9 apps that we feel you will need when traveling in Japan.
1.Hyperdia
This app was developed for commuters and tourists in Japan to help them find the quickest and least expensive route to their destination. You can use Hyperdia in English, Japanese and Chinese. Hyperdia is an easy to use app that shows the transportation you need to take, how to get to the station as well as the price of the ticket. This app is a truly a must-have when travelling in Japan and will help you to get to your destination. There is also a voice activated version of Hyperdia available.
Image courtesy of HyperDia
Price: 0$
Available for: Iphone, iPad, iPod touch and Android.
2. Planetyze
Planetyze, is an app that will help you find your next desired destination in Japan, helping you find new interesting places to visit, things to see, food to eat. Plan your trip to Japan from your smartphone, tablet or laptop and make it an enjoyable experience right from the start. You can find all the prefectures and most of the popular destinations in Japan. From the destinations main page, you can check out the tours and premade itineraries to which works for you the best. Planetyze also offers a maps to help you locate the destination as well as wishlist which you can use to make your own itineraries, reviews so you know what other people thought about the place, videos and of course all the things can be searched from the top of the page.
Available for: iPhone, iPad, Andriod.
Price: FREE
3. Google Translate
With Google Translate you can use the camera from your phone to translate texts. In Japan, you may face many difficulties with hiragana, katakana and kanji, which are all different writing characters in Japan. Google translates intuitive camera recognizing the characters, will help you to know what is actually written in English or any other of the many languages Google translate has! When you open the Google Translate app you select translate Japanese to your language, on the left side of your screen you will see a little camera icon. If you click on this icon the app will use your phone's camera to start by just pointing your camera at the text or by taking a picture of the text. Reading Japanese has never been this easy!
Image courtesy of Google Play
Available for: Iphone, iPad, iPod touch and Android
Price: 0$
4. Imiwa , Takobota
Imiwa is an offline Japanese dictionary app that works in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Korean and Russian. It works quite intuitively but best of all is that it’s totally free! You will need to know the pronunciation in Japanese in order to look up words, so it works best with spoken Japanese, however the translations are quite accurate. A must have when trying to speak your mind in Japanese.
Image courtesy of Imiwa
Available for: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Price: 0$
For Android users, I suggest trying Takobota, a similarly handy tool for your EN-JP JP-EN translations. Takobota also provides an example sentence where the word used.
Image courtesy of Google Play
Available for: Android and Pc, windows and online
Price: 0$ or 5$
5. MapsWithMe
MapsWithMe is like an offline version of Google maps. It’s perfect to use when you want to find your way in a big city and do not have internet connection. If you download the map of Japan in advance you can use it offline at any time. And if you are online and use the gps you can find your exact location. There is a free version which is good for basic use, however the paid has a lot more features for example you can look where the closest bar is or find the address of a bar with just the name.
Image courtesy of Google Play
Available for: Everything
Price: 4,99$ (Lite version for free)
6. Line
Line is a Japanese messaging app, very much like whatsapp it offers free messaging and calls, but just as whatsapp it needs you to be online to use it. Line is most used app in Japan, so when you install this app and create a Line ID it will make it easier for you to contact your Japanese friends. The good thing about this app it that you don’t necessarily need a phone number so it also works on iPod touch and tablets.
Image courtesy of Line
Available for: Everything (even computers).
Price: 0$
7. GuruNavi
The best app to use when looking for a restaurant to eat at, is without doubt Japanese gourmet website GuruNavi’s app. Find restaurants close to your current location or you can find restaurants by the type of food or the price range you are willing to pay. GuruNavi will help you find so many restaurants that you will have a problem deciding which one to pick. GuruNavi often offers coupons for extra discounts or complimentary drinks in lots of the restaurants as well.
Image courtesy of GuruNavi and Google Play
Available for: iPhone & Android.
Price: 0$
8. Yurekuru
Since Japan is an earthquake prone country it is very useful to know when and where and when an earthquake is going to happen and this is where Yurekuru Call comes in it will tell you the area, time and intensity of the earthquake and of course because it gives you the real-time information, to use it you need to have an internet connection. Yurekuru call is available in both Japanese and English.
Image courtesy of google play
Price: 0$ or a premium subscription plan for $0,99 per month
Available for: Iphone, iPad, iPod touch and Android.
9. NHK World TV
There are so many apps to keep you informed about current events in Japan. But NHK World is the biggest English news feed in Japan. Their news tv app NHK World TV will keep you updated with the latest news concerning Japan, including business and finances. NHK world tv has also the global news so you do not need to search them from a different source. The news updates come in many languages including English, Japanese, Arabic, Russian and many others.. The app itself is free but you will need to be connected to internet to use it.
Image courtesy of NHK World Tv
Price: 0$
Available for iPhone, iPad & Android.
10. Japan Taxi
Sometimes taking public transportation is just not possible, maybe the last train has gone, you have too many luggage’s or you just want to get a taxi and have a quick easy ride. But you might not be at a area where there are taxis or they are all taken, that’s where Japan Taxi helps you, with JapanTaxi you can call or reserve a taxi and get the calculations of the fees on the length of your ride.
Image courtesy of iTunes
Price: 0$
Available for: Iphone, iPad, iPod touch and android.
11. Snow
In Japan Purikura photo booths (derived from the word purinto kurabu, print club) are super popular. Over the years the Purikura have developed into photo booths with many enhancing features that might brighten the skin, add make up, stylish backgrounds, make your legs longer or add some cute or weird decoration on your photo.
Japan also has a free mobile app version of a purikura and it is called Snow. Snow allows you to take pictures with all these fun features completely for free. So why not take make something special with you and your friends!
Image courtesy of Snow
Price: 0$
Available for: Iphone, iPad, iPod touch and android.