The best free apps to use on your trip to Tokyo
Are
you planning your trip to Tokyo? If so, probably like us you will be with some fear
of not mastering the Japanese language, you saw the metro line of Tokyo and
felt lost and confused and, you will probably feel very afraid of not knowing how to order your
food in a restaurant. Well, we've also had these fears and worries, but the
good news is that nowadays we have a lot of apps that we can use on our mobile
phone and that is a huge help.
Having
a family trip to Tokyo has always been a dream of ours but, as one who follows
our blog well knows since we were parents we always feel a greater need to
plan and prepare our trips. It is not the same two adults spend an hour lost to
a city when they are alone or, the same happens with a child who is hungry or
needs to rest. That is why we have changed our way of traveling, which has not
become anything worse, in fact, it is better than ever now that we explore the
world next to our son, but the way we travel is different, there is no doubt
about it.
The reports we knew from Tokyo were a bit scary, especially for the language, which was totally different for us, as well as the fact that English was not widely spoken by locals, the city is huge with the confusing transport network. This caused some apprehension in us but times have changed and nowadays few people travel without a mobile phone, at least we use it a lot because it is a very precious help.
The reports we knew from Tokyo were a bit scary, especially for the language, which was totally different for us, as well as the fact that English was not widely spoken by locals, the city is huge with the confusing transport network. This caused some apprehension in us but times have changed and nowadays few people travel without a mobile phone, at least we use it a lot because it is a very precious help.
But
this precious help only really matters if we have the main helpers, namely the
precious apps that give so much life to our mobile phone and, in the case of
those who love to travel much has made life easier.
Well,
before our departure for Tokyo, we did a lot of research, trying to find out
the opinions of others who had traveled through Japan, we did a lot of
downloads, we experimented a lot at home to dominate the apps and, Tokyo with
the mobile phone loaded with apps.
Now,
once the trip is over, we have come to share our experience with you, and to give
your opinion on the apps that really worked for us during our family trip to
Tokyo and which we highly recommend. Others we ended up not using. We will not
say that we used the best and that we did not use are worse, our goal was not
to make this comparison, we recommend those that really provided us with an
indispensable help throughout our stay.
Before
we presented our list of most used apps, we wanted to leave some notes. The
first is that we only used free apps, we did not spend any pennies on them.
Another of the issues that we wanted to point out is that we also did not have
any internet service during our stay, all the applications were used offline
for the vast majority or, in some exceptions, cases that we will refer to below.
We
are very fans of google maps, we are obliged to say, and this application has
the possibility to download many maps for later use in offline. We have
already done so in many countries and trips that we have done but,
unfortunately, there is no such option for Tokyo. Incidentally, this option is
not available for the whole of Japan. The reason we think it attaches to
copyright rights. Regardless of the reason it is a big deal, which led us to
look for an alternative, which we had already used on our trip to Iceland (you can see it by clicking here) and,
it proved to be a perfect companion for our trip, so we decided to use it on
this trip.
In
that sense, what we did was download this application, the Maps. Me and the map
of Tokyo. Then, as we made our itinerary at home, we were marking on the map of
the application the places we wanted to visit, as well as our hotel, and when
we were there, all we had to do was connect the GPS antenna of the mobile
phone, put our destination and, said with great perfection the nearest way to
get there, nothing to cheat.
This
was our main help in getting around the city, the map was very accurate, so we
only have to say good of this application and we highly recommend it. We only
leave the advice of, like us, to mark the places that you want to visit before
your departure. In fact, we made 4 lists, in which we pre-arranged each day and
then just followed the itinerary, destination by destination.
Another
app we also used was the Tokyo Subway Navigation. This application, also free,
helps to find out which meter you will need to catch to get to your destination
as well as the necessary changes. It is available in several languages, we use
English (did not have Portuguese available) but you can also use it in Korean,
Thai, French, Spanish, and Japanese.
To
use, simply enter the name of the parturition station and the station of
arrival and you can also use the name of your place of departure and arrival,
but here may not work as well.
3. Google Maps
We
said we are fans of Google Maps and, it's true. For Europe, it is our great help
but in Tokyo, it had the limitation of not having internet available. However,
all the metro stations we had in Tokyo had the internet, and we feel more
comfortable organizing our subway trips using Google Maps than Tokyo Subway
Navigation. We do not say it's because it's better, but perhaps because we're
more comfortable with Google Maps.
We
can say that this was a huge help to get organized on the metro trips during
our stay. Besides telling us everything about our subway ride, he still told us
how much money each trip cost, which made it much easier to buy a ticket. This
is because, when you buy your ticket, you will have to see the right amount for
the route you want to take. You can do this by referring to the panels that are
next to or above the vending machines, but with Google Maps you will
automatically know the amount you will have to pay.
This
was also one of our main helper for our entire trip in Tokyo.
Something
very good that Google Translate currently has is the possibility of using the camera of our phone to translate texts. To do this, simply open the application
and load the image of the camera, point to the text you want to translate and
wait for the response.
This
is a great option we used, for example, when in restaurants with hi-fi to seek
out more about the different dishes, we could choose from. Of course the
translations were not perfect but they allowed us to understand much more about
what we were asking to eat.
We
are very fans of TripAdvisor and, in many of our travel research we seek the
opinion of other users of the app. However, when investigating about Tokyo, we
discovered this application, the GuruNavi Restaurant Guide.
Apparently, it is
mostly used by locals and it refers to restaurants that may not even appear on
TripAdvisor. It was through her that we discovered some of the restaurants that
we talked about in our itinerary, so that many times the night
before we did a search for the restaurants in the areas where we planned to
walk and of course, when we chose, we marked the location in Maps.Me .
This
are applications that, those are used to travel, already knows and for sure use them a lot. We went to Japan already
with all reservations made but, nothing simpler than arriving at the hotel and
showing our reservation on the mobile phone.
Conclusions
Like
us, if you search for the best apps to use on your trip to Tokyo, you'll easily
find a lot more chances as we've found and downloaded them from these and more.
Far
from us saying that you do not need apps to make your trip to Tokyo. Seeing the
story of what it was to travel in Tokyo a few years ago, and of what it is
today with the help of the apps, we can guarantee that it is much easier to
know the city and to avoid getting lost for hours.
We don't say that getting lost in a place that you like is negative, in fact, if there is something we recommend to those who visit our city, Lisbon, is to be lost in the streets of the city. However, for those traveling as a family as we can be tricky, especially when the kids are younger. Also for those who sometimes can't stay as long as they like in a destination, as was our case on the trip to Tokyo, where we could only stay 5 nights, which corresponded to 4 full days to know the city.
We don't say that getting lost in a place that you like is negative, in fact, if there is something we recommend to those who visit our city, Lisbon, is to be lost in the streets of the city. However, for those traveling as a family as we can be tricky, especially when the kids are younger. Also for those who sometimes can't stay as long as they like in a destination, as was our case on the trip to Tokyo, where we could only stay 5 nights, which corresponded to 4 full days to know the city.
So,
with a good organization before departure, we have prepared and organized an
itinerary for our visit (see it here) and, with the help of the apps we recommend,
we can confirm that we have a great trip around the city of Tokyo.
Of
course many more apps are available and we don't want at all say that these
are the best, but rather they were the best for us and we have come to
recommend it for your trip to Tokyo. All our recommendations are possible to
download for free for Android and IOS systems.
Another issue that we could not fail to say is that finding wi-fi through Tokyo is not very hard. In fact, as mentioned above, all metro stations have but many cafes and restaurants, which is a huge help. Take a look at this cool post by Esther Namugerwa, from the "The Adventurous Feet" blog, where she gives some cool ideas about apps that can help you to connect to wi-fi.
Another issue that we could not fail to say is that finding wi-fi through Tokyo is not very hard. In fact, as mentioned above, all metro stations have but many cafes and restaurants, which is a huge help. Take a look at this cool post by Esther Namugerwa, from the "The Adventurous Feet" blog, where she gives some cool ideas about apps that can help you to connect to wi-fi.
At the
restaurant level, it is also very easy to make your choices. Almost every place
where we ate or had menus with photos or, we asked for our choices in vending
machines with photos. Or, something we found very often, is the menus made with
imitations of the plastic dishes exposed outside the establishments, and the
price below, so to make your request just pointing to what you wish and pay.
We
hope that our experience will help you prepare your trip to Tokyo. If you still don't have a place to stay on your trip to Tokyo, we always do our reservations with booking, they are our partners and its with them that we get the best deals. You can look for the best deals by clicking here, it won't cost you any money and, it helps us to support our blog.
Booking.com
We hope you make the most of your trip and do not hesitate to leave us your comments and suggestions. If you have used other applications, please let us know in our comments box. Now, travel and have fun!
Booking.com
We hope you make the most of your trip and do not hesitate to leave us your comments and suggestions. If you have used other applications, please let us know in our comments box. Now, travel and have fun!
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22 comentários
My family is thinking about going to Tokyo soon, thanks for these helpful tips! My mom is Japanese so she could help us in getting around, but it would still be really useful to have these apps on hand. Thanks for sharing :)
ResponderEliminarIt's been a few years since I've been to Tokyo. I think it was around the early 2000's when I went. Smart phones were not up to par back then but will use your tips next time I go there!
ResponderEliminarI had a lot of the same troubles when I visited Seoul last summer. But apps definitely helped me make the best of it. We also got a portable Wifi egg so we could access the internet anywhere.
ResponderEliminarGoogle translate has saved me a couple of times and it is such an incredible app. I will love to use it over and over again.
ResponderEliminarThese are fantastic options to use, especially if you are not a native or don't have a great grasp of the language. It is such a humbling experience when visiting other lands and not knowing the language and how helpful the citizens are in helping you to understand.
ResponderEliminarThat is so so cool! We're planning a trip to Tokyo soon, your suggestions are great! Thanks a lot.
ResponderEliminarChad
www.mosaicslab.com
I think understanding the subway system is one of the hardest parts of visiting a new city. I would definitely need that app to help!
ResponderEliminarGreat apps.Ill be using these if I ever travel there! :)
ResponderEliminarI haven't been to Tokyo yet but I will definitely use your tips for my trip. I have been using some of the suggested apps on my trips already :)
ResponderEliminarThis sounds something that can be very useful wheb traveling in Tokyo. Thank you for sharing this
ResponderEliminarI have never been to Tokyo. And these apps can be very useful whenever I get a chance to visit.
ResponderEliminarI hope to visit Tokyo one day as it’s on my bucket list, but I just afraid of the language barriers. It’s so helpful to see the different apps your able to use around a new plac. Thanks for the info.
ResponderEliminarThanks to this new generation that there are apps now we can use to make our lives easier. This is so very useful. Thank you for sharing.
ResponderEliminarThanks for sharing these apps and I am so thankful because now we are in the era that technology are common to use. Google maps makes our trip more easier!
ResponderEliminarThis is so helpful! It is great to have a bunch of free apps to help on trips! Thanks!
ResponderEliminarI know i would definitely need Google translate if I ever visit Tokyo. Thanks for sharing this list of apps with us.
ResponderEliminarThis is such a very useful post! I have never been to Tokyo. Whenever i got there I will surely remember these tips.
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Thanks for sharing informative post. This travel apps will help travellers much before planning their trip so they can enjoy their trips. meet and greet at Gatwick
ResponderEliminarBeing on a trip of a new city, tourists some guidelines regarding their tour and I think this Apps will definitely help travellers to make their trip enjoyable. meet and greet stansted
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