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Tokyo Shift

The future is now in the land of the rising sun

by Rick Martin, Japan

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iPhone apps making life in Japan a little easier

Oct 6, 2009 23:45

The always awesome Asiajin had a post today about "Koe-tan", a public transit application for the iPhone (iTunes link). The app allows you to speak two train stations into your iPhone and the app will kick back the best route for you to take.

That's pretty neat. I always used the mobile site tokyo-subway.net in the past, but it's a bit of a pain to punch in all the letters. Typing is so 2008...

While I'm still on my HTC Diamond, a little digging turned up a few other Japan train apps for the iPhone. Neil Duckett has a great review of the Tokyo Metro iPhone app that's a must-read for anyone living in Japan's capital, and iPhone-quality.com has written about apps for Kyoto and Osaka for those of you who live in those parts.

Joseph over on iPhoningJapan has a great list of useful apps, covering everything from earthquake notifications to language study, to weather. Do check it out.

And if you think all of these apps are useful, keep your eyes out for an explosion of Augmented Reality applications to start annotating your corner of Japan. Sekai Camera, Wikitude, Bionic Eye, and Layar (just submitted) are just the first of many AR apps aimed at helping you make sense of the world around you.

If you know of any other useful apps that can make life in Japan a little easier, hit me up in the comments or drop me a line.

Photo: sluggo on Flickr

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About Rick Martin

After a few years in China studying Mandarin and watching the Chinese Tech scene, Rick Martin has escaped to Japan and is loving every minute of it. When he's not working on his pet projects, 2JPN and DS Ninja, he can usually be found exploring all things tech in the land of the rising sun. Drop him a line on Twitter, Facebook, or contact him via Email.