Best apps to download before traveling to Japan in 2026

When we first arrived in Japan back in 1994, the internet was still in diapers (my university was running courses for students to teach them how to use it) and apps where on the same level of reality as "beam me up, Scotty". Thirty years later, navigating the Japanese transport system, tourist attractions and food scene has never been easier thanks to Japan travel apps that all of us can download in an instant. But how do you know what apps are REALLY going to be useful and which are just dead data weight on your phone? We've tried and tested a lot of different apps on our Japan travels. Here's our guide to the apps that we at Japansophy have on our own phones and have actually gotten use out of on our last few Japan trips.

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These Japan travel apps will make your trip easier

Google Maps

Let's start with the biggie. We know there are alternatives out there (plenty of our friends swear by Apple Maps) but Google Maps has never let us down. It's especially good for navigating transport in the big cities and will even tell you what platform to head for - saves a lot of time trying to follow signs in train stations. Switch on the "wheelchair accessible" function and it will help you locate train station exits with lifts or avoid streets with steps. Honestly, we know our way around Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, etc. pretty well but we'd still be (literally) lost without Google Maps.

Google Translate

Again, this one won't be news to most of you but unless you can read Japanese, a translation app is going to save you a lot of headaches. If you're willing to stray from the well-beaten tourist routes (and we hope you are!), you'll be tempted into little local restaurants or bars - don't worry, that's a good thing - that are unlikely to have menus in a language other than Japanese. This is where Google Translate comes in. Just open your camera and Google Translate instantly translates even hand-written text. Now, it's not perfect, and some written text might forever remain a mystery, but it could well prevent some not-so-welcome surprises. There are other alternatives out there but the ones we've looked at are not free and when we tested them ourselves, we didn't see a big difference to be honest.

Suica/Pasmo

Suica, Pasmo and their regional cousins (such as Icoca) are so-called IC cards that you can top up with cash and use as tickets for transport all over Japan (yes, you can use Suica in Osaka and Kyoto, too) or to pay for goodies in convenience stores, in some shops and restaurants, vending machines, etc. Now, you can get yourself the physical card from the airport or train stations, but Suica also comes as an app. Unfortunately it's only available at the minute for iPhone (or Androids bought in Japan). We'll keep you updated if this changes.

Having the Suica app on your phone is outrageously handy. Not only can you pay for train tickets etc. as you go along, but you can also top your card up directly from your Apple Wallet - you have to top the physical card up with cash, which isn't a deal-breaker, it's just not as convenient. One note, though: every person in your group needs their own Suica app on their own phone and it doesn't work for kids' fares on the train. If you have a child with you under 12 years of age, you'll have to get them a special child's Suica card from the ticket office (and prove their age by presenting their passport).

Klook app

Unless you're 100% winging it (and to that Chappell Roan would say "Good luck, babe"), you are going to want to reserve tickets in advance: for trains, Shinkansen, tours, activities and attractions. There are few tickets that you can't book on Klook and it's a big advantage to have all of your bookings and tickets in one place, often simply as a handy QR code. It's not that long ago that we were travelling to Japan with a big A4 pouch full of printed out tickets and even then, it's not easy to keep track of everything for a whole family. Klook allows you to be super-organised and booking in advance means you get to take advantage of the special seasonal discounts they offer.

Bounce luggage storage app /Ecbo Cloak

Find somewhere nearby to leave your shopping bags, backpack, suitcase for an hour or two or even overnight. Both of these apps show you on a map of your current vicinity where to find lockers, left-luggage services and even restaurants or small shops that offer to take care of your bags for you for a small fee. You can reserve a spot for a certain time/date directly inside the app. I used the Ecbo app not so long ago when I was coming into Ueno from Narita and wanted to have a quick run through Ameyoko market before heading over to my hotel in Asakusa. It's hard to find the big suitcase-sized coin lockers and I was able to leave my luggage in a small hotel right there for a couple of hours.

Flush WC finder

Share your location with this app and it will tell you where the nearest public toilets are - a life saver when you've gone a bit overboard with the matcha lattes or Fibe-Minis (IYKYK!). One of the big worries of one member of the last tour group I took to Tokyo was access to public conveniences for her teeny-tiny bladder. This app not only reassured her before our trip that she wouldn't have to not drink while we were out and about, but proved very useful for planning our itinerary.

NERV alert app

The NERV Disaster Prevention App sends real-time alerts to your smartphone in the event of an earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption and severe weather risks such as typhoons, flooding or landslides, giving you some precious seconds or minutes to react in an emergency. We hope you'll never really need this app but having it activated on your phone gives you a little peace of mind... plus it has a good weather forecast function.

Food Fit Japan app

We at Japansophy are pretty much omnivores (although we've found that it's sometimes better on family trips to Japan to tell the kiddos what was for dinner AFTER they've eaten and enjoyed it: "I just ate cow tongue??!"). But this app is super for those avoiding gluten or lactose, for vegans/vegetarians and for Muslims wanting to check those ingredients labels on Japanese food and drink products. Just open the app, choose your setting (e.g. vegetarian), and point your camera at the ingredients label. The app will warn you if the product contains any ingredients you want to avoid.

Airalo eSIM

If you're going to be using any of these apps, you'll need data. There are various ways to stay connected in Japan, for example roaming, pocket wifi or physical SIM cards, but we switched to using eSIMS a year or two ago and find it the easiest way to have immediate, reliable internet access when we land in Japan, no faffing around with SIM cards and no carrying a second wifi device. There's a bunch of different providers out there but we can personally recommend Airalo eSIM, simply because we have used it on our own Japan trips for the last three years, also with entire tour groups, and have had no problems at all. Click below to find the plan that would best fit you.

Gomi Map app

It's no secret that wastebins are very few and far between in Japan - to the extent that one we saw on a Google Map of Odaiba is actually marked as a tourist attraction! - and you should prepare yourself for schlepping a load of wrappers and empty containers around with you for hours after that convenience store haul. The Gomi Map app is relatively new and, like the WC-finder app above, helps you locate your nearest trash can. Currently, Tokyo is well mapped but other cities and regions in Japan are still a work in progress. But this is where you can help by reporting rubbish bins you come across in the wild and having them added to the map!

Stamp Quest app

Are you looking forward to collecting all of those cute, free stamps in the train stations, temples and other attractions on your trip to Japan? They definitely make a brilliant souvenir and collecting them is a fun activity/challenge for the kids, but they can sometimes be hard to track down - and who wants to spend an hour wandering around Shinjuku station for looking for a stamp? This app has a map of all the stamps in your current location. The maps are not always 100% accurate (and the stamping stations can get moved around a bit) but you'll know at least if there's a stamp near you that it's worth hunting down.

Payke app

The Payke app is apparently the no. 1 app used by foreign tourists in Japan. Allow it to use your camera to scan the barcodes of products and it will give you information on the ingredients and instructions for use. I've seen people doing this for beauty products, in particular. We have it on our phone mainly for the a load of discount vouchers it offers (primarily for drugstores, like Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Daikoku and Sugi, but also for Donki, department stores, restaurants and activities). It also has an in-app blog posting on recommended products, from face masks to potato chips!

Line

Line is the Japanese equivalent of Whatsapp and so is mainly used for messaging. But you can add a lot of your favourite stores, like Starbucks, Lawson or Donki, and get informed about what new campaigns they are running. You can also grab coupons here too. Be aware that the information on Line from those stores is generally in Japanese. What is really handy, though, is that more and more restaurants and cafes are using line for reservations and seat management. They put a QR code at the door and if you scan it, you can "check in" for the next available seat - sort of like a virtual queue. You can go off and do your thing and get a ping on your phone telling you that you should come back to the restaurant now for your seat. Other restaurants use Line as a normal messaging service to take and confirm reservations.

MyMizu app

Especially in the Japanese summer and putting in those legendary 20,000 steps a day, you're going to be hitting those kombini and vending machines HARD. Of course you need to stay hydrated but you can find yourself going through a lot of yen every day on drinks alone. MyMizu is a locating map that will help you find water-bottle filling stations wherever you are in Japan. And refilling your bottle not only saves the environment, of course, but also saves you having to carry several empties around all day.

GO taxi app

This is the Japanese equivalent of Uber and might get you out of a sticky spot if you've missed your last train. You're never too far from a taxi in Japan but sometimes you don't want to be wandering around alone at night. Uber and a few other taxi apps are also available in Japan, just not as widespread. In our experience, GO is definitely the quickest. It's also integrated in Google maps, so you can put in your destination and do the "directions" thing like normal, but scroll down to the bottom of the options and you'll see where you can call a taxi for exactly that route. Just one pointer: you can download the app before you go but you need to be in Japan before you can actually register.

Tabelog

Tabelog is Japan's most trusted restaurant rating guide and let's you find restaurants according to type of food or according to location (for example, near a particular station). The locals tend to be very miserly with their ratings and any restaurant with a rating above something like 3.5 is likely to be very good indeed. A word of warning: you should avoid making reservations through the Tabelog English-language app, since a "system usage fee" is charged to users of the non-Japanese app and website.

Can't find these apps in your App Store?

Hmm, yes, that doesn't surprise us. We - based in Europe - are able to download all of the apps listed above but there are other apps (like the SmartEx shinkansen app) that we would find useful and aren't available to us in the App Store either. So, it's possible that there are a few that you can't find. Some others, like GO, can be downloaded in Europe but registration isn't possible until you are in Japan (you could probably work round this with VPN). Remember that some apps might require a mobile phone number to register (so that you can receive and SMS with a code), so take care of that before you switch to a data-only SIM, for example.

Apps to download before traveling to Japan: FAQ

Is kuli kuli better than Google Translate?

Not necessarily better, no. Kuli kuli is free to download but you only get two free translations per day. If you want to do more than that, you have to pay for a packet of so many days' use. Kuli kuli's big advertising point is the ability to read hand-written Japanese (menus, etc.), but Google Translate has always served us well, even with handwritten Japanese, and it's completely free. We've compared both on the same menu and honestly don't see much of a difference. Kuli kuli takes a static snapshot (which is maybe easier to read but you aren't able to match up the translations with the original, making it difficult to order from the menu, for example), whereas Google translate translates "live", which is a little trickier to read but you at least know what to point to on a menu. Give both a go and see which you find easier to use.

Do I need a Japanese telephone number for these apps?

For the apps we've listed above, you won't need a Japanese telephone number. Some do require a telephone number for receiving an SMS when you register - this can be a foreign telephone number, though. Some of the apps above will only let you register once you are in Japan - and remember that receiving an SMS to your foreign telephone number while you are in Japan might cost you a fee.

I can't find the Visit Japan Web immigration app in the App Store. Help!

Don't panic! Contrary to popular belief, Visit Japan - which you use to register for Japanese immigration in advance instead of filling in the paper immigration forms on landing - isn't an app. It's only available as a website. You can register there and store the QR codes on your phone as screenshots or PDFs.

Can foreigners use the GO app in Japan?

Yes, the app is also available in English, to make it easier for foreign visitors to use (which won't guarantee that your taxi driver will speak English of course). GO is integrated into Google Maps, too, so you can order a taxi for the exact journey you want to make. However, you can't register on the app until you are in Japan. You don't need a Japanese telephone number, but you will need to be able to receive an SMS to your phone for the registration.

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