Goshuin Companion: AI travel app for Japan
International visitors to Japan collect hundreds of thousands of goshuin, hand-painted temple stamps, each year, yet most cannot read the calligraphic kanji. We delivered the full product, from market validation and product strategy to a visual design system, interactive prototype and the iOS app itself. The user photographs each stamp, the system identifies the temple via GPS and visual recognition, translates the kanji and stores everything in an elegant digital diary. Built with React Native and Expo, Apple Vision Framework for on-device OCR, local SQLite with no account, and RevenueCat for freemium purchases, it works fully offline.
The user photographs the temple stamp, the app identifies the temple, translates the kanji and files it in an elegant digital diary , on-device, offline, no account.
Project detail
The goshuin is a traditional Japanese temple stamp, collected by visitors in a small book called a goshuincho. The calligraphic kanji is beautiful but unreadable to most international collectors , by the end of a two-week trip the typical visitor has 15-30 stamps and no memory of which temple gave them which. Our engagement covered the full product: market validation, product strategy, visual design system, interactive prototype, and the iOS application itself. The concept is a minimalist, MUJI-inspired companion app: the user photographs each stamp, the system identifies the temple using GPS and visual recognition, translates the kanji, and stores everything in an elegant digital diary. Tech: React Native + Expo for the cross-platform foundation, Apple Vision Framework for on-device OCR, local SQLite storage with no account, and RevenueCat for freemium in-app purchases. The app works fully offline , critical for roaming-sensitive travellers. The target community was reached via Reddit, niche Facebook groups and organic Instagram. The project shows we also turn research- and market-driven thinking into a real, finished digital product.