Getting around Japan via train is convenient but it can be a confusing and stressful process. Phone apps are the best way to get around – even locals use apps to get around including myself. Here are some of the free apps that I have personally used to get around Japan by train.
Yahoo
The app that I use the most and seems to be the most frequently used around me by locals is the app from Yahoo called “Yahoo!乗換案内” (Yahoo Norikae Annnai). This app is straight forward and very easy to use – just plug in your destination from point A to B and hit search. This app displays where the train is at in real time so you can tell when the train is coming and where you are at once you wake up from an inevitable sleep-in on the train (for me anyway).
However from my understanding this app is only available on Japanese App store and there seems to be no English language settings within the app. I will leave the links to the app below anyway for people who are able to try it out.
Japan Official Travel App
This app is the Japanese Governments official app released from Japan National Tourism Organization. The Interface is clean, user friendly and easy to use.
The route is displayed via icons which is very important as it makes it much easier to understand which train line is used. You can tap in further in to the route which will display all the stations the route will pass. This is a must-have feature as it can be hard to tell which way the train is going – for example on a circular train line.
This app is pretty standard and offers route search and “discover” functions only. App can be displayed in English, Korean and Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese/Taiwan).
Japan Travel (Navitime)
Navitime used to be one app for both English and Japanese but now they have released their English version of the app called “Japan Travel”. You can input your Departure/Destination via the Route menu and it will display the best routes upon search.
Trying to find the right station via the search may be slightly troublesome as this app includes more search functionality than just train stations including hotels and parks which can cloud your search.
Other functionalities offered by this app includes maps, trip planner, booking service etc. Personally I have not used any other functions other than route planning on their app. The Map function is ok, but I would prefer Google maps over the in-built map.
Google Maps
Ah yes the all mighty google maps. I use google maps in conjunction with the travel apps listed above. There should be no real explanation necessary for this but I will let you know that the train route that is displayed from this app is actually decent.
You can use google maps to get a general understanding of how your trip will be set up, and use the travel app separately to plan the trip in more detail.
There are many apps on the app store that offer Train route search services but the apps listed here are my tested and trusted apps. Getting around Japan was a difficult task for me when I first came here so this blog will cover all aspects of travel within Japan for easy viewing.
If you liked this article than please be sure to check out other posts under the Travel category!
