Inspired by [Commonly used websites in Japan](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/vzfseh/commonly_used_websites_in_japan/). I’ll go first:
A bit of background for my recommendations, I’m a iPhone user, English speaker and Japanese learner (still) living in Tokyo, I try not spend too much time staring at phone, so I actually do not have any addicting apps installed (short video apps like Tiktok), my apps are mainly for making my life here easier (that’s why I have 4 translation apps installed, lol).
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**Payment / banking:**
\- Paypay: I use it more often than credit card these days, I also use it to pay my utility bills, and the fleamarket mini app inside to buy / sell secondhand stuff.
ソニー銀行: my go-to bank with the best English customer support.
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**Transportation:**
乗換案内: for checking train schedules.
Pasmo: for purchasing 定期券.
タイムズカー: for car rental.
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**Learning Japanese:**
Duolingo: for general learning.
Satori Reader: for learning via reading.
Sensei TV: recently installed, for learning via videos.
​
**Translation:**
Translate by Google: for translating via camera in real-time.
Translate by Apple: for translating selected texts while browsing websites.
Nihongo: for translating certain word in a photo.
VoiceTra: for translating real-time conversations.
​
**Others:**
Pix: for taking photo with the shutter sound muted.
LINE: for messaging with Japanese friends.
19 comments
メルカリ and ラクマ by rakuten also good for buy / sell secondhand stuff as well.
DeepL: for translating, the rest don’t even come close.
Yurekuru Call: for earthquakes, realtime alerts with precise location, often quicker and more reliable than the national warning system.
I’ll be blunt, Japanese apps kind of suck. Most of them are “false fronts” for their websites. Not sure if that’s the right term, but they just redirect to their website. Not a functional or useful app.
Yucho, shinsei, JAL come to mind.
Also, apps don’t allow Chrome translate to operate so I usually stick to the web sites.
Yahoo auctions, yahoo train schedules/incidents, rakuten (shitty UI Rakuten regardless web or app) are some examples.
For the more Japanese-fluent of us maybe not an issue…
How would you compare Satori Reader and LingQ?
Moneytree for checking your bank and credit card balances, and tracking expenses.
MoneyForward and 漢字検索 are my most used
I use a paid app called Midori as my English to Japanese dictionary which also has kanji search
Uber Eats/Demaecan/Menu for delivery
The various point card apps for the stores I go to lol. There’s almost one for all of them
My pharmacy also has an app which allows me to send them my prescription when I get it so they can prepare the meds before I get there and I don’t have to wait
My credit card apps. Tbh the Rakuten card app is pretty good
The network print app so I can print docs in combini, and printsmash so I can receive scanned docs to my phone
What’s the Japanese equivalent of Grindr?
Duolingo – learning japanese, pls no
PrintSmash to print at the conbini since I rarely print and was tired of my printer ink drying up, just tossed it.
Lots of food/shopping apps to get coupons and points/stamps-McDonald’s, Kuaaina, Starbucks, Doutour, 31, Pepper Lunch, Coke On, Isetan, Summit
Delivery apps since they all give first time user and referral coupons-Demaecan, Menu, Uber Eats
PayPay, SoftBank, Prestia
Bike share, Hello Cycling, Luup, NicoNico Rental car
Vaccine status thing
EX app to buy Shinkansen tickets, PASMO
Duolingo
Nord VPN
Y!乗換案内 for train and bus schedules .
dozens of point apps and touch pay
電子薬手帳
食べログ for searching restaurants
クラシル and クックパッド for cooking
Todai easy japanese for learning, jlpt tests and reading news in Japanese with furigana
“Shirabe Jisho” allows you to write a kanji on the screen (or a close approximation of) and it will look up the meaning.
I thought it’s very handy.
モバイルレジ lets you scan bills that you normally have to pay at the convenience store and pay using bank transfer or credit card.
For bus and train schedules I only ever use Google Maps. It lets you plan your routes by bus, train, etc. and also gives options for what time you want to depart, if you want to add time at a stop to say grab lunch etc. and is great for searching local restaurants+reviews+pictures. I went on a cross-country driving vacation, taken the Shinkansen to Kyoto and Hiroshima and only used Google Maps and it worked great even in some remote/mountainous areas. Works a lot better/more consistently than Apple Maps for me, and has much more features integrated than just a train schedule app
Aedict is a really good japanese dictionary. Has an addhon that let’s you look up words by selecting them on screen.
Of those apps I’ve not yet seen mentioned…
**Medical Clinic Reservation System Apps**
Some medical clinics use reservation system apps like [iticket](https://iticket.co.jp/) so you don’t have to wait in the waiting room until it gets close to your number. Very useful when you have young kids and are in and out of clinics on an almost weekly basis… some of which have extremely long wait times.
**Daycare, School, Club Activity Apps**
Fellow parents probably already know this, but new and prospective parents should be aware… schools and daycares are also often using apps (like [CoDMON](https://www.codmon.com/)) or calendar apps to handle communications, schedules, and temperature/health daily logging of kids. It’s basically become a daily necessity to use these kinds of apps to communicate and get information from daycares, schools, and club activities.
**Services Requiring App Installation**
Kuroneko Yamato Takyuubin has also switched to an electronic package labelling system which requires the installation of their app to use, so there’s a certain necessity to use their app if shipping directly with them and not through 3rd-party selling portals with built-in tools. Mercari also had some features only accessible by their app, so it was required to install it even though I prefer to use the website.
**QR Scanners (if not built-in to your camera app)**
QR scanners also sometimes required apps to have these days, as sometimes official documents and things can only be accessed by scanning a QR code. Many of the more recent camera apps have QR scanning built in, but if you have an older phone or something then you may need to get a 3rd-party app. If this is you, I’d recommend the open source “QR Scanner (PFA)” developed by SECUSO Research Group which is free, has no ads, and actually respects your privacy.
**Weather Apps**
I use Yahoo!天気 (tenki) weather app because it seems to have a little more reliable Japan-specific weather data than other more general apps. Actually I’m curious here what weather apps others are using since I’m not a huge fan of the Y!天気 interface but haven’t found an app with better weather data to replace it with.
**Driving GPS Navigation Apps**
Google Maps seems like it has gotten a little better recently, but I still find that Yahoo! カーナビ (free) or Navitime (paid) works better in some instances in Japan and is less prone to send you into weird deadend side streets and stuff like that.
* ジャンプ＋, pixivコミック and マンガPark for free manga. There are tons of apps like this out there, I just have the ones I have because of the manga I read. For paid manga I use コミックシーモア though due to some changes you can’t buy directly through their app anymore which is a pain.
* みてね is a simple app to share pictures of your child with family. It’s available as “Family Album” overseas. My grandparents always mention how much they love having lots of pictures of my son.
* コドモン is the app my son’s daycare uses for daily communication. I like it a lot better than having to write everything by hand.
* e+ (イープラス) for tickets
* Almost all of my son’s clothes are from メルカリ, I quite like their app
* Tons of point card apps
* Line, obvs.
Sony Bank app has English translation now?