Docomo Introduces Jspeak Translation App For Foreign Visitors

Above, the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building from Harajuku, Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan's NTT Docomo has come up with an ingenious device application for Android 4.0 to 4.4 smartphones or tablets.

It is called Jspeak.

According to Japan Today:

TOKYO —NTT Docomo, a personalized mobile solutions provider for smarter living, has launched its Jspeak face-to-face mobile translation service for smartphones and tablets, targeting travelers from abroad. 

Jspeak is modelled on Docomo’s Hanashite Honyaku, the mobile-based automatic translation service now offered exclusively to Docomo subscribers in Japan. Jspeak will enable Japanese and non-Japanese speakers to enjoy face-to-face conversations simply by speaking into a smartphone or tablet to get a translation as screen text and voice readout. Ten languages - Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai - can be translated into Japanese and vice versa.

Two plans will be offered. One for $.99 for one week and one for $2.99 for one month's service.

To read more, go here.

NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building

Above, a view of the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building from Harajuku, Tokyo.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I first took notice of this building in the Bill Murray/Scarlett Johansson feature, Lost In Translation (2003) and wondered what building it was.

It is the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo.

According to Wikipedia, construction of the building started in 1997 and completed in 2000.

More from Wikipedia:

The NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building (NTTドコモ代々木ビル NTT Docomo Yoyogi Biru^?) is a skyscraper located in the Shibuya in Tokyo, Japan. At 240 metres (790 ft) tall, it is the third tallest building in Tokyo. After the installation of a clock in 2002, the building became the tallest clock tower in the world,^[1][2] but was surpassed in 2011 by the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower in Saudi Arabia.

The NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building is owned by the NTT Docomo group. Despite the building's name, it is not the head office for the company, whose headquarters are located in the top floors of the Sannō Park Tower. The building houses some offices, but is mainly used to house technical equipment (switching equipment, etc.) for the company's cellular telephone service.

Above, a view of Harajuku Station with the NTT Docomo Yoyogi
Building looming in the background.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.