Japan · 23 situations · offline
Navigate Japan's restaurants & shops without speaking a word of Japanese.
23 digital picture cards for Japan's most confusing moments — the ramen machine, the izakaya seat charge, the yatai counter. Save them to your phone, show them at the counter, and get exactly what you need. No internet, no translation apps.
Saved to your camera roll — works with zero signal, deep inside a basement bar.
Why not just use Google Translate?
Because you’ll be typing into an app while six locals watch you block the door.
Translation apps need signal, type slowly, and miss the cultural context. Standing outside a tiny six-seat yatai stall trying to type “is there a cover charge?” into a phone is the moment this site exists for.
The cards instead
Each card gives you the exact procedure, the cultural context, and the visual Japanese to hold up — all saved offline in your camera roll.
- ✓The order of operations, before you walk in
- ✓The two or three questions they’ll ask back
- ✓The one thing not to do
How it works
One card, three moments
Save it to your camera roll
One download. The pack lands in your camera roll as images — it works on the plane, on the subway, and with no signal at all.
Read it before you enter
Thirty seconds outside the door. You will know the order of operations, the two questions coming, and the one thing not to do.
Hold it up
The top half is written for the person behind the counter, in Japanese, large enough to read across it.
Every card is written from standard, high-frequency Japanese — and none of it will be sold until it has cleared a native-speaker register check for politeness level and exact phrasing. That check has not happened yet, so every card is free and there is no paid date.
Every Japanese line on this site is a draft written from standard, high-frequency phrasing. None of it has been through a native-speaker register check yet, which is why every card is free. What has and has not been checked is written out in full. Every correction lands in the changelog with a date.
Sneak peek
Three of the twenty-three
Every situation is written out in full on the site, free — nothing is held back for the pack. The cards are the hold-up-at-the-counter version.
食券はどこで買いますか？
“Where do I buy the meal ticket?” · Shokken wa doko de kaimasu ka?
They’ll ask: 麺のかたさは？ — Men no katasa wa? — How firm? Your answer is on the card: ふつう (Futsū — normal).
チャージはありますか？
“Is there a cover charge?” · Chāji wa arimasu ka?
They’ll ask: お通しです — Otoshi desu — the compulsory small dish Your answer is on the card: わかりました (Wakarimashita — understood).
ここまでお願いします
“Please take me here.” · Koko made onegai shimasu.
They’ll ask: 高速を使いますか？ — Kōsoku o tsukaimasu ka? — Use the expressway? Your answer is on the card: はい (Hai — yes).
The packs
All of it is free. There is no paid date.
Three ways to take the same cards: the night set, the day set, or everything in one download. What you download is yours to keep, with no expiry, and corrected versions of those cards appear at the same download link, free.
The 13 day-time situation cards, for your phone.
- 13 cards at 1080 × 1620 for the camera roll: food, shops, transport, stay and help
- Phone images only — there is no print sheet for these yet
- Works offline — they are images, not an app
- Corrections stay free and appear at your download link
Ten cards for the smallest rooms in Japan: yatai and yokocho.
- 10 cards for yatai stalls and yokocho bars: getting in, the cover charge, ordering, paying, leaving
- Decoder cards for yakitori, oden, Hakata ramen and the drinks menu
- One printable A4 sheet, grayscale, cut marks
- Free with an email — the link is on the next page
Every card on the site, one email, one download.
- All 23 cards at full resolution — the 13 day cards plus the 10 night cards
- The night-card print sheet (A4, grayscale) and a one-file ZIP
- Works offline — images, not an app
- Free, and what you download is yours to keep
Fair questions
Questions, answered.
Is this an app?
No. No app, no account — just images saved to your phone's camera roll. They open with zero signal, on the subway or deep inside a basement bar.
Will this teach me Japanese?
No. If you want a language course, look elsewhere. These are procedures, in order, with prices, for the person standing outside the door with thirty seconds to spare. The full guides are free to read.
Why is everything free?
Because the Japanese on the cards has not yet been through a native-speaker register check, and nothing here will be sold before it has. There is no paid date and no countdown — what has and has not been checked is written out in full. What you download is yours to keep.
What if a card turns out to be wrong?
Tell us through the contact page. The correction lands at every download link, free, and in the changelog with a date.
Do the cards work printed?
The ten night cards come with a printable A4 sheet, 4-up with cut marks, in grayscale. The day cards are phone images only for now — print them from your photos app if you want paper.
Who is this not for?
If you speak Japanese, or you want a language course, or essays about culture — not this. These are picture cards and procedures for confusing counters, machines and doorways.
Land in Japan already knowing what to say.
Get all 23 cards freeOne email, one download, yours to keep. No app, no account.