15 Essential Apps For Japan | Prep Your Phone BEFORE You Go!

15 Essential Apps For Japan | Prep Your Phone BEFORE You Go!

If you are traveling to Japan, you will want to prep your phone with the right apps ahead of time to make your life easier while you are there. But what apps do you need? In this video, we’ll walk through the apps that you need to make the most of your time in Japan. Let’s go to Japan. The next station is [Music] Hey guys, Hong here and today we will walk through a list of 15 essential and helpful apps to help make your time in Japan a little bit easier. Some of these are essential and some of these are optional but very helpful. So you can make the decision on what works best for you. With that, let’s dive into it. The first app we will look at is one that I used a lot during my time in Japan and that is the Go Taxi app. The Go Taxi app is what it sounds like. It’s an app to call taxis in Japan and works similarly to Uber or Lift where you can call a ride from any location to another location with a predetermined fee. This in comparison to calling a regular non-go taxi where you will see the standard taxi meter in the car. So you may not know exactly how much the ride will be in advance. The Go app is Japan’s mostused taxi service and works better than Uber in Japan. Uber doesn’t work the same way in Japan as it does in other places because Japan does not allow unlicensed individuals from providing ride share services. So instead of getting in someone’s personal car, you will get a taxi if you use Uber. So yes, you still can use Uber, though the fees can sometimes be a bit more expensive. I used the Go app a lot on my last trip and had no issues with it. Though something to know is that to register on the app, you will need to get a text message verification. So, in order to set up the app, you should download the app before your trip to make life a little easier and set it up in advance. My experience with go taxis versus regular taxis was a bit different with the go taxis being cleaner and the drivers being a bit more professional than regular taxis. Although that might just be my own experience. That being said, the regular taxis were still fine, but it just seemed like the go taxi drivers, at least the ones that I had, went above and beyond to make sure that the experience was great. Lastly, you don’t necessarily need a taxi app if you are staying in, say, just Tokyo, where the train system is amazing and there are taxis everywhere. But sometimes, depending on where you are, you may find yourself in areas farther from major tourist destinations where there may be fewer taxis or you want the convenience of going from a specific place to a specific destination. And whether you’re using the Go app or Uber or anything like that, those apps definitely make it much more convenient than trying to just call for a standard taxi. The next app may just save the day for you while you are out in Japan. This is the Charge Spot app. While not specific only to Japan, this app allows you to find a power bank should you be out and about and your phone is running low on battery from all of the photos and videos you are taking. If you forgot your own battery pack or don’t want to deal with the hassle or weight of bringing it around, then this is a convenient way of charging should you run out of battery. Being stranded in another country without a phone can be daunting, so check out the Charge Spot app to find a place that you can charge near you. You can rent a battery pack from any of their locations and return it to a different location. So, it’s not like you’re stuck in a certain area while you charge either. You can find these charge spot locations near convenience stores in Japan like 7-Eleven, Lawson, or Family Mart. The charge spot power banks also do come with different types of cables such as USBC and Apple lightning cables to make your life a little easier. Another useful app for booking attractions and activities is the Cluck app. Cl is officially partnered with many attractions in Japan, including popular ones like Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea, Universal Studios Japan, the Tokyo Sky Tree, Shabuya Sky, and many more. And you can book all of these activities and manage your tickets along with Shinkinson tickets and even hotels and flights all through the app. It is quite useful for booking things in Japan. And I use the Click app quite a bit while I was there. But one other big reason to use the app is that you can use it to buy and set up an eSIM so that you can have data while you travel. The eim prices are very reasonable for the unlimited data plans which are a lifesaver while roaming through Japan as you look things up or use data to navigate. After purchasing an eSIM through the Clook app, you can either manually set it up when you land in Japan or click activate and have the app set it up automatically for you. Just make sure your phone can support both eSIMs and can switch from your primary carrier, meaning your phone is unlocked. If you are going to use the Click app to book attractions and activities like I did, you can save up to 10% using my promo code Hangfam. Links in the description below. The next app is one that is quite useful, but is only available for iPhone users for now. That is the Welcome Sua app. In Japan, IC cards are commonly used in many places such as convenience stores, vending machines, and especially transportation like trains and buses. Having an IC card will make your life much easier, especially not having to buy individual train tickets every single time. You can purchase a physical IC card, which makes for a pretty cool souvenir, but it can be even more convenient to have the app on your iPhone so that you can use your phone at the train station instead of having to take the card out. You can also reload the app on your phone with Apple Pay. For a physical card, you can’t reload it with a foreign credit card. So, the easiest way to reload a physical card is with cash. The app is definitely more convenient for foreign travelers. Again, if you have an iPhone. Speaking of convenience for travelers, the next app is the Japan Travel app by Navit Time. Japan’s public transportation system is one of the best in the world, but navigating it can be a bit confusing. This app makes Japan’s complex train and public transportation system a breeze. It tells you optimized routes to get to wherever you are going and even has the option for you to put in specific passes such as the Japan Rail Pass if you have that or the Osaka amazing pass and it will give you routes that work best with your given pass. I think that that is the most useful feature by far. If you have any kind of pass in Japan, make sure you use this app to save as much money as possible and optimize that pass. Alternatively, if you aren’t using passes and you want to get from point A to point B, Google Maps works really well in Japan and it was what I used mainly during my time there. I haven’t had any major issues with Google Maps, but if you had, let me know in the comment section down below. So, personally, I do recommend using Google Maps in Japan since many travelers are already familiar with it, and it makes it easy to just keep using it in Japan. Google Maps also has the download Maps feature, which allows you to download offline versions of areas for easy navigation in places without signal. If you plan to go to more remote areas or out of major cities, you may want to download the offline maps of those areas just in case you end up in a scenario without signal and you need to navigate somewhere. Another Google app that is quite useful to have is the Google Translate app. I have had to use this app before when speaking to people in Japan, both to translate what they are saying to me and to translate what I am saying back. So, this app does come in handy. The Google Translate app can also translate photos as well, such as menus for restaurants. And if you want the best food in Japan, you will want to find places with Japanese-only menus. Pro tip: Once there, take a photo of your menu and use the Google Translate app to translate the menu and then enjoy amazing food. You have no idea how many times we had to translate menus or items and products to be able to figure out what exactly it was. But for the most part, the Google Translate app was able to get most things. There were times where it translated it to something that completely didn’t make sense or wasn’t helpful at all, but for the most part, we were able to figure out most of the things with it. Now, when you are out shopping, if you go to a store like the mega Doniote store in Shibuya, you will be overwhelmed by the insane amount of Japanese items and products. And a lot of the time, the items are just in Japanese with no English clues and no visual pictures or anything that gives you an idea of what it could be. You might be buying delicious fruit juice or a tube of decorative icing. There’s just no way to know. You can use the Google Translate app, which again tends to work fine in general for menus and things, but sometimes with products and so many words all over the label, it can sometimes get confused. So, the next app is one that might save the day, and that is the Pake App. I’m not 100% sure if I’m saying it correctly, but I’m sticking with it. The Pake app is a translation app designed to help people understand items in stores better by scanning their barcodes and translating the item into your preferred language. This can also be extremely helpful if you are allergic to certain things or have dietary restrictions. And being able to find out what ingredients are in the items before you buy it can be gamechanging. And this helps remove the gotcha element from your shopping experience. Now, the P app does rely on its database of products and it has a lot of products there. So, a lot of things you will be able to find, but there may be the occasional item that you scan and it gives you the wrong thing or is unable to find it in its database. So, it’s not perfect, but it definitely is helpful. Now, if you are going to go around the city, you may need to use the restroom. And people have had issues finding restrooms in Japan. And well, it can be a bit tricky. If you or someone in your group needs to use the bathroom frequently, then the Flush app can be quite useful. The Flush Toilet Finder app shows you locations of toilets around Japan. And well, I think this is self-explanatory as to why this app can be useful. Moving right along now, one popular tourist activity is collecting stamps in Japan. And of course, there’s an app for that. The app is called Stamp Quest, and it can help you find all the stamps you are looking for on your Japan adventure. You can make custom lists for your own tailored trip, and there are over 3,000 Ekki stamps for you to find in Japan. You can mark your progress on the app to keep track of where you’ve been and figure out where the nearest stamps are to you. Some people really love collecting these stamps. So, if that’s you, check this app out. Another app to help make going around Japan a bit easier is the Echo Cloak luggage storing app. Again, not sure if I’m pronouncing it correctly, but I’m sticking with it. If you have to check out of a hotel and you are in route to either a new hotel or to the airport, but you have time on your hands and you want to do some exploring, use this app to find a convenient place nearby to store your luggage so that you can continue your Japan adventure without having to lug everything around. You can locate, book, and pay for your luggage storage all from the app, making it quite convenient for your Japan travels. Japan has a lot of these luggage storage solutions all around and it definitely helps out a lot if you are doing a lot of traveling or if you are in between hotels or just need a place to store a bag for the day. Now, if you are in Japan and you need to communicate with someone or a business in Japan, Line is often the preferred app there. Line is a communication and social media app and is the most popular communication app in Japan. Many businesses have official Line accounts and give out promotions and deals via their Lion channels. While different communication methods and apps tend to favor certain age ranges over others, in Japan, the vast majority of the country uses Line as its all-in-one social media and communication platform. So, if you are planning on staying in Japan for a while and want to be able to stay in contact with people or businesses or just get news in Japan, check out the Line app. There’s a lot there. Now, the next app is one that is a bit more essential for everyone, whether you are staying for just a few days or for a few years. The nerve disaster prevention app is an app that will give you realtime alerts for everything from rain forecasts to earthquake warnings, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and any other natural disaster related activity that is impacting Japan. Japan is one of the most volcanically and seismically active countries in the world and it also gets typhoons, tsunamis, and pretty much any natural disaster you can think of. So having this app to be alert and vigilant should anything happen during your time there is the key to staying safe. Though hopefully from that regard your trip is uneventful. The next app is the My Mitsu app where Mitsu means water in Japanese. So, this is essentially the My Water app. This app will help you well find water filling stations. In Japan, vending machines are everywhere and you can buy water as needed as you go around. So, you don’t have to carry a water bottle. But if you want to not have to keep purchasing water bottles, you can use this app to find places to refill and stay hydrated for your Japan adventure. This will especially come in handy during the brutal summers in Japan, which are hot and very humid, and that can quickly drain your body of water. So, make sure to stay hydrated so that you can enjoy your Japan trip. And then use the flush app from before if you overhydrate. Now, the last two apps on this list are food related apps. The first app is the Happy Cow app, which is an app that can allow you to find vegan and vegetarianfriendly restaurants to make your search a bit easier rather than having to go up to every restaurant and reading through the menu and translating the items to see if it is vegan or not. This app can also be great if you are traveling with a mix of people who are vegan, vegetarian, or none of the above. As this app can tell you if a restaurant as a whole is vegan or vegetarian or if it has vegetarian options, meaning that it also serves meat. There is a website as well, so this can be useful for planning meals in advance. But the app can definitely be helpful if you are exploring areas in Japan and you want to grab a bite to eat. Lastly, one final app to help you enjoy the best meals in Japan. The Ramen Beast app is an app dedicated to finding the best ramen shops in Japan. This app will bring you to only the best ramen restaurants, helping eliminate the hesitation as you read through reviews or try to find a good place to eat. This app is designed to make all of your ramen eating experiences a great one. Does that mean if a ramen shop is not on the list that it’s bad? No, not at all. This list, I believe, is entirely curated by its inventor, Abram Plot, aka the ramen beast. And there is no way each and every ramen restaurant has been rated and reviewed. So take it with a grain of salt. But if you want some good ramen recommendations, then check this app out. And with that, those are 15 essential apps to make your Japan trip a breeze. Do you have any other essential apps that you use during your time in Japan? Let me know in the comments section down below, and I will see you guys in the next one. Heat. Heat. [Music]

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Apps(iPhone):
1. Go Taxi App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/go-taxi-app-for-japan/id1254341709
2. Chargespot: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chargespot-%E8%87%AA%E5%8A%A9%E7%A7%9F%E5%80%9F%E7%A7%BB%E5%8B%95%E9%9B%BB%E6%BA%90/id1272481966
3. Klook: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/klook-travel-hotels-leisure/id961850126
4. Welcome Suica: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/welcome-suica-mobile/id6738336566
5. Japan Travel: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/japan-travel-smart-transit/id686373726
6a. Google Maps: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-maps/id585027354
6b. Google Translate: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-translate/id414706506
7. Payke: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/payke-making-shopping/id1040452788
8. Flush: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flush-toilet-finder-map/id955254528
9. Stampquest: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stamp-quest/id6503354905
10. Ecbo Cloak: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ecbo-cloak-luggage-storage/id1443707795
11. Line: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/line/id443904275
12. Nerv: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nerv-disaster-prevention/id1472338480
13. My Mizu: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mymizu/id1480535233
14. Happy Cow: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/happycow-vegan-food-near-you/id435871950
15. Ramen Beast: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ramen-beast/id1098113456

Apps(Android):
1. Go Taxi App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dena.automotive.taxibell&hl=en_US
2. Chargespot: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chachastation.app&hl=en_US
3. Klook: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.klook&hl=en_US
4. Welcome Suica: Not Available
5. Japan Travel: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.navitime.inbound.walk&hl=en_US
6a. Google Maps: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.maps&hl=en_US
6b. Google Translate: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate&hl=en_US
7. Payke: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.payke.Payke1&hl=en_US
8. Flush: Not Available
9. Stampquest: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.komine.stampquest&hl=en_US
10. Ecbo Cloak: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.ecbo.cloak&hl=en_US
11. Line: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.naver.line.android&hl=en_US
12. Nerv: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.nerv&hl=en_US
13. My Mizu: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.mymizu.mymizu&hl=en_US
14. Happy Cow: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hcceg.veg.compassionfree&hl=en_US
15. Ramen Beast: Not Available

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Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
0:48 – Go App – Taxi
1:54 – GO App Setup
3:15 – ChargeSPOT App – Charging
4:22 – Klook App – Booking
5:38 – Promo Code
5:49 – Welcome Suica App – Payment
6:49 – Japan Travel App – Train System
7:43 – Google Maps App – Map
8:36 – Google Translate App – Translation
9:35 – Google Translate Issues
10:14 – Payke App – Shopping App
11:17 – Flush App – Toilet App
11:49 – Stamp Quest App – Stamp Collection
12:26 – Ecbo Cloak App – Luggage Storage
13:19 – Line App – Communication
14:10 – NERV App – Disaster Warning
15:01 – My Mizu App – Water Filling
15:54 – Happy Cow App – Vegan Food
16:47 – Ramen Beast – Ramen Shops

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