This is a working list of apps that are available in Japan because I find the UI/UX differences fascinating from both a cultural and product perspective.
Some of them are beautiful and clean. Other apps don’t look great to a Western viewer, but are fine to people who can read kanji (Chinese characters) and are super useful and meet the needs of users. Also, the web and mobile versions can be very different.
For example, when I want to go places, I usually use the transit app Y!乗換案内, which I love on mobile, but doesn’t look as great on web. Japan is also increasingly introducing multi-lingual sites, which I suspect are usually built separately. An example is the restaurant rating site/app Tabelog, which now has English and Chinese versions, which are more visual and user-friendly compared to the Japanese version, but don’t have nearly as many ratings.
- Y!乗換案内
- Tabelog for restaurants especially in Tokyo (my local friends prefer Retty, which is more detailed)
- LINE for messaging (because everyone uses and I have to)
- Jalan & Rakuten
- Amazon.jp
- Cookpad for inspiration
- Doorkeeper for events
- Wantedly for jobs
For example, when I want to go places, I usually use the transit app Y!乗換案内, which I love on mobile, but doesn’t look as great on web. Japan is also increasingly introducing multi-lingual sites, which I suspect are usually built separately. An example is the restaurant rating site/app Tabelog, which now has English and Chinese versions, which are more visual and user-friendly compared to the Japanese version, but don’t have nearly as many ratings.
- Y!乗換案内
- Tabelog for restaurants especially in Tokyo (my local friends prefer Retty, which is more detailed)
- LINE for messaging (because everyone uses and I have to)
- Jalan & Rakuten
- Amazon.jp
- Cookpad for inspiration
- Doorkeeper for events
- Wantedly for jobs
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Category / Use
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English
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Japanese
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Website building
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Wix
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Social media / Blogs
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Myspace, Tumblr
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Transit
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Google Maps
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Norikae Annai 乗換案内 (means transfer info) from:
Navitime all have a website and iOS / Android apps. Google Maps works beautifully too!
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Business
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eCommerce
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Amazon
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Travel
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Agoda, Booking,com
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The navigation and information layout is entirely logical for someone who lives in Japan and knows what they look for. The reason it’s so confusing to people who don’t live in Japan is because regions are still referred to by historical names, not prefectural names, so it’s usually a learning curve to know how to narrow down areas on a map. Secondly, Japanese travellers are looking for different requirements, like whether there is an outdoor onsen.
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Secondhand Marketplace
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Craigslist
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Eating
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Yelp, Foursquare, OpenRice
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Scheduler
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Team / Individual Calendars
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App Rankings
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ProductHunt
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Weather
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Google
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Cooking
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Cookpad, kurashiru
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Messaging
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LINE, Google Allo
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Photos
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Google Photo
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Running
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Strava
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Runkeeper
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Startup Job Listings
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Angelist
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Wantedly (started out as one of the only tech hiring platforms that was English-friendly and has now expanded to other Asian markets like Hong Kong and globally). Domestically, they have new products like Wantedly Chat, to connect companies and recruiters to talent.
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ToDo Lists
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Wunderlist
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Business
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Price comparison
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Price.com.hk
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Events
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Eventbrite
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This is just a fun list that , so please recommend any local Japanese apps you love and I’ll add it in!
In the meantime, if you’re looking to actually travel around the country, here is are more relevant list of apps to travel Japan.
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