Planning a family trip to Japan? TripNest turns it into its own app: 10 narrated story podcasts about Japan for the drive, games and a quiz for the kids, an audio phrasebook, and the day-by-day plan and map the whole family shares.
Stone walls, secret stairs and warrior families
Japan's castles were built to be confusing on purpose, with twisting paths and steps of different heights to slow visitors down. We climb the white towers of Himeji, look at samurai armour made of hundreds of laced plates, and find out what a warrior family actually ate for breakfast. Bring your best stair-climbing legs.
Mount Fuji and Japan's restless ground
Mount Fuji is a volcano so perfectly shaped that artists have been drawing it for centuries. We find out why Japan has so many volcanoes, what happens when the ground shakes, and how people built cities that can sway safely. You will also learn why hikers climb Fuji at night.
Ramen, rice balls and the rules of the table
In Japan, slurping your noodles is not rude at all. We follow a bowl of ramen from broth pot to table, visit a shop window full of plastic food models, and learn the two phrases people say before and after eating. Warning: this episode may make you hungry.
Shrines, temples and quiet places
A bright red gate means you are stepping into a Shinto shrine, while a deep bell often means a Buddhist temple is nearby. We learn how people wash their hands at the entrance, what the little wooden wish plaques say, and why some gardens are made of raked gravel instead of grass.
Festivals and the theatre of kabuki
Kabuki theatre began around 400 years ago and still uses bold painted faces, huge wigs and stages that spin. We also drop in on a summer matsuri, where teams carry portable shrines through the streets and taiko drummers play with their whole bodies. Try not to tap your feet.
From woodblock prints to manga
One of the most famous pictures in the world is a Japanese woodblock print of a towering wave with Mount Fuji in the distance. We find out how printmakers carved a separate block for every colour, and how that love of bold lines grew into the manga shelves you can browse today. Then you can try drawing a wave yourself.
Sumo rings and baseball stadiums
A sumo match can be over in seconds, but the salt-throwing and stamping before it takes much longer. We learn what the ring is made of and how wrestlers live and train together. Then we head to a baseball stadium, where fans sing a different song for every single player.
Wild neighbours across the islands
Japan stretches about 3,000 kilometres from snowy north to warm south, so its wildlife changes a lot along the way. We meet the bowing deer of Nara, the macaques that soak in steaming pools, and the tall red-crowned cranes that dance in the Hokkaido snow. Keep your eyes open on the train.
Ama divers, fishing boats and seaweed
Along parts of the coast, ama divers - mostly women, many of them grandmothers - free dive without air tanks to gather shellfish and seaweed. We find out how they train their breathing and why they whistle when they surface. You will never look at a bowl of miso soup the same way again.
Crossings, towers and tiny shops
Tokyo is one of the biggest cities on Earth, yet it also has quiet lanes where one shop sells only brushes. We ride a bullet train into the station, cross a junction with hundreds of other people, and look up at towers that are built to sway in an earthquake. Then we find a park where everything goes still.
Mount Aso / Mount Fuji / Mount Hakusan
Kyoto / Osaka / Tokyo
A high-speed train / A paper lantern / A type of noodle
The Japan podcast has 10 narrated story episodes for the car or the plane: Castles of the Samurai, The Mountain That Everyone Draws, Slurp, Please, Torii Gates and Temple Bells, Drums, Masks and Flying Sleeves, The Great Wave and the Story Panels, Big Feet, Fast Balls, Deer, Monkeys and Cranes, Divers of the Shore and Tokyo in a Day.
"ありがとうございます", said a-ri-ga-toh go-zai-mass. It's one of the phrases in the Japan audio phrasebook, recorded so the kids can hear it before they try it.
110 (Police) and 119 (Ambulance & Fire). TripNest puts it in your trip's contacts page next to your own contacts.
Every trip starts free: the day-by-day plan, map and contacts. Premium adds the Japan podcasts, kids' games and the audio phrasebook for $24, once per trip - no subscription.
No. Your trip is one link that opens on everyone's phone, grandparents included, without an account. You can add it to your home screen so it works offline once you land.