Home Japan Tips 7 Apps for Traveling in Japan: Get THIS Weather/Transportation/Map Apps Before You Go!

7 Apps for Traveling in Japan: Get THIS Weather/Transportation/Map Apps Before You Go!

by Ryu_C@RakuRakuJP

What are the commonly used apps in Japanese life?

I still remember that when I traveled to Japan for the first time, I always carefully planned the itinerary, the time to arrive at the scenic spot in one day, and wrote down the railways and transfer stations that I needed to take halfway. Clearly, there is always the worry of getting lost on the wrong train.

However, when the number of trips to Japan gradually increased and I began to use my mobile phone to assist each trip, no matter if I went to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and other big cities with convenient transportation, I always got used to not planning any trips. Think of going to that side and go to that side. It's a bit like the daily life of the local Japanese. In the morning, I turn on the TV to watch the news, drink a cup of coffee, then turn on the map, use the APP of the mobile phone to plan the itinerary, and then set off.

Whether you are like me or not, it is good to go to Japan to live for a while, or to visit Japan for a few days. There are some mobile apps that are worth downloading. These not only facilitate your daily schedule and ensure your safety, but there are also many mobile apps that are commonly used by local Japanese people. If you want to travel to Japan, and you can quickly integrate into the local life, and you don’t want to be regarded as a tourist by the locals, the following mobile apps are worth preparing before you leave for Japan.

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Personal safety APP

Safety tips

Safety tips is a mobile app provided by the Japan Official Tourism Bureau. Its main purpose is to provide emergency alerts to all passengers, such as disaster prevention alerts for earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and evacuation. As long as a major disaster occurs, the mobile app It will automatically send relevant alerts according to your region. Even if you can't read Japanese news, you won't be unable to escape because of missing important alerts.

App Safey tips can receive the latest disaster information
Safety tips can be said to be a mobile app that all travelers to Japan must install, because it will be very useful in the event of a serious disaster

Mobile APP download method: Safety tipsMobile App

Transportation Mobile APP

Transfer to NAVITIME

九转NAVITIME "转转NAVITIME (汽车・バスの九り改え専用)" was the first recommended mobile app, because Japan's transportation network is very complicated, and even local Japanese cannot be familiar with all places and every road Railway information. So if every Japanese mobile phone will install
It is absolutely not an exaggeration to say about the app "九车NAVITIME (Train・バスの九り改え専)".

Although in some specific cities, such as Tokyo, the mobile APP provided by Tokyo Metro will be easier to use than NAVITIME. However, if your itinerary will leave the central Tokyo area, you will find that not all transportation agencies in all areas will provide complete and convenient transportation information for you to inquire. Especially when some itineraries need to connect multiple different transportations, those mobile apps that only use one transportation company will be very difficult to use.

At this time, you need to use "take and change NAVITIME (tram・バスのtake り change え専)".

The feature of NAVITIME is that it can display multiple route options, the number of transfers required, and the arrival time of each train in detail. For example, from Shinjuku to Saitama as an example, you can check the transportation methods, fares, travel time, number of transfers, etc. from Shinjuku to Saitama in the next hour.
Sometimes you may only think of one transportation route, but as long as you use NAVITIME, they will provide you with the latest transportation information no matter whether you are in a big city or in the suburbs of Japan, allowing you to easily find the most suitable one. Traffic travel route.

Another point is very important for overseas passengers, that is, the mobile app of NAVITIME can input English. It is also because not all station names are Chinese characters, and not all Chinese characters are written in the same way as Chinese characters. For example, there are many ski equipment stores in Tokyo (おちゃのみず), as long as you enter ochanomizu, you can find it The transportation method from Shinjuku is very convenient.

In addition, if you go to some suburban areas, JR trains do not run every 5 minutes but every hour, you can use "Transfer NAVITIME" to check the arrival time of the next JR train in advance, so you don't have to Waiting at the station, or worrying that the paper timetable in your hand is not the latest version, and you will miss the limited daily traffic.

Mobile APP download method: Use the mobile APP store to search for "Transfer NAVITIME"

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Weather and news mobile apps

tenki.jp

Although there are many websites on the Internet to check the weather in Japan, many of them only provide the weather forecast for the big cities of the day. If it is some relatively remote small cities, there may be no information at all. But on Teki.jp, even for some remote small cities, the weather data for the next few days can be provided to you. If you are planning to go on a long-distance trip and go to several different remote areas at one go, using tenki.jp can make you more budgetary in arranging the itinerary.

Mobile APP download method: throughTenki.jp's websiteDownload mobile APP

Smart News

Although most people who travel to Japan do not read local news, if you are interested in learning more, you will find that there are many Japanese news websites that require payment. To check instant news, it seems that only TV news and Yahoo Japan website.

However, as long as you download SmartNews and select the Japanese region, you will not only be able to watch the news of different media companies for free, but also get their exclusive coupons for you! Even if you can’t read Japanese or read news, the SmartNews mobile app will often give you discount coupons for McDonald’s, Yoshinoya, FamilyMart, MosBurger, etc. Sometimes they will give you some free gifts, such as a free McDonald’s French fries, free FamilyMart bread and so on.

In addition to discount coupons and free short news, SmartNews also provides short weather forecasts, real-time live broadcasts of weather in specific regions, etc. Whether you are traveling in Japan for a short time or planning to live in Japan for a long time, this mobile app is a good helper that can facilitate your daily schedule and life.

Mobile APP download method: throughSmartNews website download, then select News for the Japan region

Mobile APP for daily discounts

Different stores in Japan will provide shopping discounts through unique mobile apps, so I will not list all mobile apps in detail here.

But there are also some chain stores that people often go to, such as Matsuya, McDonald's Coupon, Nitori, restaurant review, Tabelog, etc., all of which are worth downloading to your mobile phone.

The main reason is that Pine House and McDonald's Coupon are relatively cheap restaurants with guaranteed food quality. If you go directly to eat, you usually have to pay the original price of the set meal. But as long as you use their mobile APP, you can easily get their discount coupons. For example, Matsuya often offers a ¥30 discount coupon for breakfast, or a discount for McDonald's special set meal, which is about 5% off the original payment.
And the same method can be applied to other restaurants, especially Japan is a popular place to provide discount coupons to customers. You can also use different mobile apps to find out different discount coupons.

The mobile app of Nitori, a lifestyle department store, can earn shopping points for you, and then use the points as cash for the next purchase. Although for the average traveler, the next shopping may be some time later. But for those who plan to live in Japan for a long time, visiting Nitori once a month is almost the best leisure activity. Because the daily household products at Nitori are very practical, and compared to IKEA, another large furniture store, it is very convenient. Almost every major city has a branch.

Also, if you want to try a new restaurant but are afraid of the quality of their food, you can always check the tabelog reviews. Although some people have pointed out that tabelog’s evaluations are more or less watery, but overall, as long as the rating is 3 stars, it is considered a delicious restaurant, and 4 stars are generally awarded to relatively high-end restaurants. Rating this one. The 5-star rating is probably only available to those very famous restaurants, and it will not allow you to have time to slowly check the evaluation of tabelog before deciding whether to eat or not.

Other mobile apps for daily life

In fact, in addition to the mobile apps mentioned above, there are many mobile apps worth downloading when you live in Japan for a long time when you need to find a job, copy, process documents, etc. in your daily life. However, there are really a lot of them in terms of number, and there are mobile apps worth recommending in different regions and different themes. For example, in the job category, there are more than a dozen in terms of job hunting alone. If you need it, you can leave a message to me, and I will create a new article to share with you.

I will share it here today, and I will continue to share the little secrets of living in Japan next time I come back.

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RakuRakuJP, is a website dedicated to sharing articles about in-depth travel experiences in Japan.

 

I believe that before you travel to Japan every time, you will hope to get the most comprehensive travel information, and then be able to successfully complete the entire travel itinerary.

 

And our goal is to gather all practical itinerary information, discounted accommodation, and tickets, so that you can plan the entire Japan travel itinerary in the most convenient way.

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