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Tokyo Metro’s new subway app for tourists can mislead

SCORE 1,327 Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Tokyo Metro has launched a new English language app called ‘Tokyo Subway Navigation for Tourists’. I just wanted to take a moment to show why I would not recommend it to any tourist. Here’s a sample search and result for how to get from Shibuya to Ebisu: Most train apps will tell you that the best way is to take the Yamanote Line, operated by JR East, for one stop and you’ll be there in about three minutes. But Tokyo Metro has not included JR trains, either because it can’t or doesn’t want to. Whatever the case, its a disservice to consumers. No app should ever suggest this route to anyone. Otherwise the app looks sharp, bringing interactivity to the popular Tokyo Metro map, as well as language support for English, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Korean, and Japanese. Considering the shortcomings of the above application, it would be nice to see third party developers be better enabled to contribute in this space. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications does have an open data strategy, which is said to include public transportation such as trains and buses, but I’m not sure of its current progress. I don’t see any information…

Tokyo Metro has launched a new English language app called ‘Tokyo Subway Navigation for Tourists’. I just wanted to take a moment to show why I would not recommend it to any tourist.

Here’s a sample search and result for how to get from Shibuya to Ebisu:

tokyo-metro-subway-tourists

Most train apps will tell you that the best way is to take the Yamanote Line, operated by JR East, for one stop and you’ll be there in about three minutes. But Tokyo Metro has not included JR trains, either because it can’t or doesn’t want to. Whatever the case, its a disservice to consumers.

No app should ever suggest this route to anyone.

Otherwise the app looks sharp, bringing interactivity to the popular Tokyo Metro map, as well as language support for English, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Korean, and Japanese.

Considering the shortcomings of the above application, it would be nice to see third party developers be better enabled to contribute in this space. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications does have an open data strategy, which is said to include public transportation such as trains and buses, but I’m not sure of its current progress. I don’t see any information for developers about APIs on Tokyo Metro’s or Japan Railways’s websites in English, and that should really change.

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SunBridge Global Ventures invests in online tour platform AnyRoad

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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San Francisco-based AnyRoad, a web platform that connects tourists and tour guides, has just received investment from Tokyo-based SunBridge Global Ventures. The amount invested was not disclosed. AnyRoad offers a range of unique tours in cities around the world. For example, you might book a tour to go kayaking in Rio de Janeiro, explore baseball’s greatest dynasties in New York, or check out the world of Harajuku fashion in Japan. Aspiring tour guides can put together their own tour on the AnyRoad platform and earn money in the process. As for AnyRoad’s business model, it takes a 14% commission on bookings made through its platform. But it also donates 5% of its revenues to local non-profit organizations of the tour guide’s choosing. AnyRoad’s CEO is Jonathan Yaffe has spent considerable time in Tokyo in the past, cofounding the spectacular Midori.so coworking space as well as KAIS International School and Mirai Institute. We’ve reached out to both AnyRoad and SunBridge for more about this investment and the former’s future plans, so we’ll let you know if we learn more.

anyroad

San Francisco-based AnyRoad, a web platform that connects tourists and tour guides, has just received investment from Tokyo-based SunBridge Global Ventures. The amount invested was not disclosed.

AnyRoad offers a range of unique tours in cities around the world. For example, you might book a tour to go kayaking in Rio de Janeiro, explore baseball’s greatest dynasties in New York, or check out the world of Harajuku fashion in Japan. Aspiring tour guides can put together their own tour on the AnyRoad platform and earn money in the process.

As for AnyRoad’s business model, it takes a 14% commission on bookings made through its platform. But it also donates 5% of its revenues to local non-profit organizations of the tour guide’s choosing.

AnyRoad’s CEO is Jonathan Yaffe has spent considerable time in Tokyo in the past, cofounding the spectacular Midori.so coworking space as well as KAIS International School and Mirai Institute. We’ve reached out to both AnyRoad and SunBridge for more about this investment and the former’s future plans, so we’ll let you know if we learn more.

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JapanTourist.jp partners with AllAbout.co.jp for multilingual travel content

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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Japan Partnership, the company behind the user-generated content site JapanTourist.jp, and Japanese online resource site AllAbout.co.jp have announced they’ve agreed to jointly operate the JapanTourist site. As we have mentioned previously, JapanTourist.jp was launched last year by Tokyo-based Australian entrepreneurs Neil Butler and Terrie Lloyd, with aspirations to establish a useful information resource for foreign residents and travelers. They have about 1,000 article writers and 33 editors across the nation, most of whom are native English speakers. AllAbout.co.jp was originally launched in 2011 as a joint venture of US-based About.com and Japanese information service company Recruit. Subsequently the company was fully acquired by Yahoo Japan in 2004. It has previously partnered with Chinese travel portal sites such as Abang.com or Ctrip.com, encouraging Chinese travelers to visit Japanese travel destinations. With this partnership, JapanTourist.jp has started publishing articles in Chinese (both simplified and traditional) in addition to its regular English articles. It will add a Korean version this coming June, with more versions coming later for readers from Thailand, some Islamic countries, as well as South East Asian regions.

japantourist.jp_screenshot

Japan Partnership, the company behind the user-generated content site JapanTourist.jp, and Japanese online resource site AllAbout.co.jp have announced they’ve agreed to jointly operate the JapanTourist site.

As we have mentioned previously, JapanTourist.jp was launched last year by Tokyo-based Australian entrepreneurs Neil Butler and Terrie Lloyd, with aspirations to establish a useful information resource for foreign residents and travelers. They have about 1,000 article writers and 33 editors across the nation, most of whom are native English speakers.

AllAbout.co.jp was originally launched in 2011 as a joint venture of US-based About.com and Japanese information service company Recruit. Subsequently the company was fully acquired by Yahoo Japan in 2004. It has previously partnered with Chinese travel portal sites such as Abang.com or Ctrip.com, encouraging Chinese travelers to visit Japanese travel destinations.

With this partnership, JapanTourist.jp has started publishing articles in Chinese (both simplified and traditional) in addition to its regular English articles. It will add a Korean version this coming June, with more versions coming later for readers from Thailand, some Islamic countries, as well as South East Asian regions.

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