Japan Vacation Sep-Oct 2019: Smartphone Apps For Traveling Japan

I found and used quite a number of apps on my smartphone when visiting Japan. I will mention a select few of the most helpful ones here. They're all free of charge.

VoiceTra made by NICT

VoiceTra worked great as a voice translator in Japan. It's simple and straightforward to use. Its translation between Japanese and English was way more accurate than Google Translate's was in my experience.

One helpful feature of VoiceTra is that for each translation it displays the written version of what it has spoken in the other language. This helps correct misunderstandings. For example, a friend used VoiceTra to ask a pharmacy employee "Do you have lozenges?" and the employee laughed. My friend then checked the written translation on the app and realized that the app had misheard her and translated her question as, "Have you been to Los Angeles?"

We were seated next to a Japanese couple at the counter in an izakaya. The couple knew only a little English, just as I knew only a little spoken Japanese. So we handed my smartphone back and forth to use VoiceTra. We had a wonderful conversation that is one of our fondest memories of our vacation in Japan.

Japan Official Travel App by Japan National Tourism Organization

I used the Japan Official Travel App a lot in Japan. It's simple and easy to use.

The feature I used the most was the route search. You can select your preferred transportation options and even prioritize routes that use the Japan Rail Pass. It then gives you a number of routes to choose from. You can see how many transfers each route involves, how long the route would take, the cost, and how much walking each includes. It even tells you which exit to use at a subway station to get to your destination.

Safety Tips by RC Solution Co.

Safety Tips was a helpful app that provides good safety information for traveling in Japan. It lets you set the places in Japan where you'll be so that it can notify you of tsunamis, earthquakes, typhoons, heat risk, volcano eruptions, and other risks in your area.