Travel Guide
Japan Official Travel Guide
This app is developed by the Japan National Tourism Organization, to promote safe and comfortable sightseeing plans for foreign tourists.
It also has great navigation function without additional payment and registration, and up-dated attraction information across Japan.
• What you can get…
- Weather information
- Disaster alerts
- The latest travel guide
- Serching attractive spots such as shopping, restaurants
- Route and transports navigation ( JRail Pass user-friendly )
- Helpful information for foreign tourists such as medical provider, embassy contact details and general manners in Japan
- Provide spots such as free wifi spots, travel information center, and more with off-line mode.
Japan Trip Navigator
This application covers making plans, searching routes, booking tours, restaurants, accommodations providing over 100 tour plans and over 3,600 recommended routes with JTB network and Navitime Japan supports.
*JTB corporation is the largest travel agency in Japan so that it can provide countrywide attraction guides with local pictures and detail information.
*Navitaime Japan is the leading provider of navigation technology and services
The interesting feature is “Miko”, AI chatbot, help you to make your best plans for traveling to Japan.
If you visit Japan for the first time and customize your travel plans, this application is right for you.
• What you can get…
- The latest travel guides with great pictures
- Search and book restaurants via the app
- Provide over 100 tours and over 3,600 recommended routes
- Costmize your plan
- Book accomodation includes “ryokan” – Japanese traditional style hotel
- Route and transports navigation ( JRail Pass user-friendly )
- “Miko” gives you solutions, suggestions, and Japanese culture and history.
Map & Route Navigation
“Japan Official Travel App” and “Japan Trip Navigation” have already great routes and area maps navigations in their functions due to ‘Navitaime Japan” supports navigation functions on theses apps.
I like using “Google Maps” every time my husband and I go to travel because Google Maps helps to see which station is closer to your actual destination and other routes option, and well, just get used to using it.
“Japan Trip Navigation” is useful when you are planning the next trip, however, I feel a little confused about how to search for routes only.
Japan Travel – Route, Map, JR
As I mentioned above, Navitime Japan is the leading provider of navigation technology and services.
The company developed to own a travel application “Japan Travel-Route, Map JR”, which is more specific transport navigation compared with others.
It covers all kinds of public transport (trains including JR and subway lines, airplanes, taxis, and ferries) as well as showing platform number, station lists, and timetables.
It searches spots of free Wi-Fi, money exchange, ATM and tourist information like other apps.
There is a premium feature if you pay extra. It provides alternative routes in case of a disruption to your searched route and voice navigation shows your directions.
In my experience, do not mistake to download the application named “NAVITIME “developed by the same company, it says English is available, but I couldn’t figure out how to change it.
Restaurants
“Japan Official Travel App” and “Japan Trip Navigation” have already a great list of restaurants where you should eat.
“Japan Trip Navigation” can research restaurants in your interesting area, and also you can book directly.
In my opinion, I don’t recommend the “GURUNAVI” app to find and book restaurants.
Web site
I am going to tell you websites (not apps) to search and book restaurants easy for you.
- Savor Japan
- Gurunavi (website)
Taxi
Japan Taxi
It supports all over Japan.
Uber ( Only available in Tokyo)
Transltate
Voice Tra
Voice Tra is the best app for traveling Japan. It supports 31 languages, grantees high accuracy of Japanese by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Japan.
Google Translate
Baggage
Ecbo Clark
Ecbo cloak is the application to find luggage storage space nearby.
It is like matching service between tourists who wants to keep luggage for a few hours and shops and restaurants that have free spaces for storage luggage.
When you have to kill your time until hotel check-in, or your flight after checking out the hotel, use the “Ecbo Clark” app and you can find a place to hold your luggage.
“Ecbo Clark” is available throughout Japan today.
Safety information
Safety Tips
“Safety tips”, alerts you in the events of natural disasters such as Typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanos, torrential rains, floods, and also heatstroke warnings, and other emergency situations in Japan.
It provides useful information such as medical providers, evacuation tips and more.
Free Wifi
Japan connected free-wifi
Just download this app and register once with your language in your country or in your hotel.
You don’t have to get hassled to register for Wifi connection each time.
Once you download the map where needed, you can find a Free Wifi spot with off-line mode.
TownWiFi – WiFi everywhere
This app has an auto-connect function without login and registration.
Just add the Wi-Fi which you want to use, you will be connected when you go to that place.
No need to open the Wi-Fi list at your SmartPhone.
Japan Official Travel Guide
You can also search Free Wifi spots with Japan Official Travel Guide.
Tap the “Spot search” button, you can see the “Free Wifi spot” box.
Off-line mode is available.
Apps I don’t like other’s recommendation
HyperDia
- Required payment after free trial.
- There are better apps for free you can use
GURUNAVI
- Need registration to use the app and really complicated to register.
- hard to change the language setting.
I don’t have patient to register for this app, however, it is much easier to use the website via the browser.