NTT Resonant, Inc. is proud to announce that starting on February 9, "goo Shuo!", the smartphone app for Oshiete!goo's Chinese language (traditional characters) Q&A community for international tourists traveling to Japan, is available for download.

Traditional Chinese: https://tw.oshiete.goo.ne.jp/

Simplified Chinese: https://cn.oshiete.goo.ne.jp/

In the number of international tourists visiting Japan, tourists from Taiwan rank third after mainland China and South Korea, with a recorded 3.67 million visitors (*1). Additionally, approximately 80% of tourists to Japan from Taiwan are repeat visitors (*2). The majority of these tourists come to Japan after getting tourism information from television programs and travel company websites. The need for detailed tourism information on lodging facilities, sightseeing manners, changing transportation information, etc. is rising, but traditional media like television are not able to meet this demand.

On goo Shuo!, a web service started in March of 2016, users can easily exchange information in a question-and-answer format, allowing them to gather necessary and detailed tourism information on Japan. Now with this Chinese (traditional characters) smartphone app, tourists from Taiwan can use goo Shuo! even at their Japanese destination and readily ask questions on their minds and easily obtain any necessary tourism information.

1. Service Overview

A. Questions that come up while in Japan can be answered quickly:

Tourists from Taiwan can easily use the application to ask questions even in Japan, and via information exchange among users, can quickly find the answers to their queries.

Image1: Home Screen

http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M101547/201702088615/_prw_PI1fl_v031hMLm.png

Image2: Question Page

http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M101547/201702088615/_prw_PI2fl_Zdo4Y8X6.png

B. Articles that interest users can be accessed at any time from their My Page:

Users can push the heart button on the feature article pages to pick a favorite article and save that article. They can then access it anytime via their My Page.

Image3: Feature Article

http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M101547/201702088615/_prw_PI3fl_XXgaPcvM.png

Image4: My Page

http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M101547/201702088615/_prw_PI4fl_D40Gf3JQ.png

2. How to Get It

You can download the app from Google Play.

URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.ne.gooshuo.app

As of February, 2017, this app is only available on Android. An iOS version is planned to be released later on.

3. Future Development

We plan to expand our services so that we can provide local Q&A communities to meet the needs of users from these countries and more.

(*1) April, 2016 Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Research

(*2) April, 2016 Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Research

Note: "Android" and "Google Play" are trademarks/registered trademarks of Google Inc.

Source: NTT Resonant, Inc.