Japan smartphone app to keep tourists safe
TOKYO — A new smartphone application produced by a Japanese insurance company will help guide people to safety in three foreign languages during natural disasters in Japan, company officials.
The app by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co will be available for free download in English, Chinese and Korean late this month, aimed at tourists and exchange students from overseas.
The Japanese version of the app has amassed more than 500,000 downloads since its launch in 2012.
The multilingual version will have the same functions as the original, which provides maps marking nearby evacuation centres that can be accessed even when smartphones are cut off from the internet.
Users can get directions to the centers by pointing their smartphones' cameras at buildings around them for the application to recognise.
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance has reached agreements with seven local authorities across Japan to publicise evacuation centres' locations through the Japanese version of the app. The company now plans to get more regional authorities and universities on board to encourage use of the multilingual version.
Through an agreement with the operator of Narita airport near Tokyo, the company plans to deliver guidance functions through the airport's informational app for foreign visitors, called "Tabimori."
"Through providing assistance to foreigners during disasters, we hope to build cooperative relationships with local authorities and universities," a spokesperson at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance said.