We would like to share some advice with fellow travellers here. Comments are welcome.
Japanese
Some japanese skills are needed, especially if you plan to leave the beaten tracks. We recommend:
- Language course (Thanks Ogita-san)
- Small Phrasebook for backup
- Imawa? and Google Translator App (see below)
- jisho online dictionary
- sakura.ne.jp Japanese Phrases
- Washing Machine Kanji
Accommodation
It is very common to book a hotel room by telephone. A nearby Tourist information office is the best way to book a room and it can be very rewarding to look for a stay that can’t be found on the internet. Our links anyway:
- <<Hotelsaurus>> Best booking meta search engine for Japan
- Booking
- Japan Travel Organisation
- Japanican
- Rakuten Travel
- Jalan
Weather
Forecasts more than two days ahead are very unreliable, especially during Taifun season. In general the weather changes many times a day. Links:
- Japan Meteorological Agency
- Safecast Radiation maps
Navigation and Maps
If you want to download and use Hiking maps on your mobilephone, the MotionX GPS App does a good job (see table below for more info). In addition many Tourist information offices provide local maps for free.
- Official online topographical maps (japanese place names only)
- Informations about hiking maps in Japan
- Garmin Topo maps (not tested by us)
- Hyakumeizan – the 100 mountains of Japan
- Henromichi – 88 Temple pilgrimage of Shikoku
- Ministry of Environment and – National parks of Japan
Books
If you want english books, bring them from home. We recommend:
- Helm Field Guide: Birds of Japan
- Japan Nature Guides – Common and Iconic Birds of Japan
- 100 Mountains of Japan (Hyakumeizan)
- Shikoku Japan 88 Route Guide [Archive] (buy online or in a Shikoku tourist information office)
Miscellaneous
More things to refer:
- Luggage delivery services (works everywhere in Japan)
- We shipped our bicycles with Nippon Express Domestic Air Cargo (Tracking) (Thanks Ringyo Okinawa!!)
- Map of Japan Railpass (Railway network)
Other Japan Travel blogs
More hints and stories:
Japan Travel Apps
A list of recommended iOS Apps for the Japan Traveller.| Icon | Name | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Google Translator | Japanese | Unfortunately there is no better alternative for Text Recognition than Google. Network required |
 | Imawa? | Japanese | Large dictionary with many specifc features |
 | Linguee | Japanese | Compact dictionary |
 | RealKana | Japanese | Learning tool for Hiragana and Katakana |
 | Footpath | Navigation | Best planning app for Hiking and Bike routes. Save GPX track and import into Motion-X. Network required |
 | Japan Map | Navigation | One of the few alternatives to Google Maps which displays City names etc. in latin characters. Network required. Online version: its-mo.com. |
 | MotionX GPS | Navigation | The best App for Navigation and GPS Track logging. Has option to cache/download maps for offline use. |
 | PeakFinder Earth | Navigation | Discover the Mountains around you. |
 | Track Editor | Navigation | Editiong of GPX Tracks, for e.g. Trim and Cut |
 | Yamap | Navigation | Online Hiking community with Access to GPS Tracks and Pictures. Japanese only! Searching can be difficult, but it might be useful if you have decided for a mountain already and want more details or routes. |
 | Yamatokogenchizu | Navigation | Allows to buy the official Topo Hiking-Maps. Japanese Only! but with some time its possible and these are the best maps if you are in one of the available Areas. |
 | AccuWeather | Travel | Local Predictions, Network required |
 | FourSquare | Travel | The best Google Maps alternative to find restaurants, etc. around you. Network required |
 | Wifi Map | Travel | Search for Free WiFi Hotspot around you |
 | Adobe Photoshop Express | Photography | The best app to edit Photos on the go |
 | Average Camera Pro | Photography | Reduce picture noise in Low-light conditions through averaging technique. |
 | Mobile HDR | Photography | Currently the best iPhone App to create HDR (Tone Mapping) Pictures from exposure bracketings. |
 | Agoda | Booking | Booking platform specific for Asian countries |
 | Booking.com | Booking | Still the best Booking platform with many offerings for Japan |
 | Hostelworld | Booking | Booking platform for Hostels |
 | Hotel Tonight | Booking | Last Minute Booking |
 | Hotels.com | Booking | Large Booking platform |
 | Jalan | Booking | Japanese Booking platform. App in japanese only. Enlgish website: jalan.net |
 | Jetsetter | Booking | Luxurious Booking platform |
 | Kayak | Booking | Mixed Booking platform |
 | Venere | Booking | Another Booking platform |
 | APRS Mobile | Other | Best App for accessing APRS-IS. SmartBeaconing and automatic reconnect after Signal loss are working. |
 | Dollarbird | Other | Tracking of expenses |
 | Konverter | Other | Convert measures and currencies (and many more) |
 | Sternatlas | Other | Easily identify celestial bodies. |