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I love collecting Japanese anime merch. I am also a Technology creator And an educator who likes to use technology to make my life easier. During a recent trip to Tokyo, I decided to use AI features on my phone To help me sail in the city.
I have visited Japan six times in recent years, and as a passionate fan and consumer of the Japanese culture of anime and pop, I fully intend to visit several times for general tourism, pop-up events, museums and specialized parks. But my first visits to Tokyo were overwhelming and confusing. I had a basic understanding of the language, but it was a period before AI and the street view in Google Maps. I wore a Japanese dictionary with me, downloaded offline walking instructions and read online tutorials on how to buy a train ticket. It was… ok.
With Recent popularity of AII allow myself to visit countries with a little less pre-proxy and a little more serendipity. Instead of planning my itinerary according to previous trips, I can use my phone as a personal assistant to help me discover new tourism places along the way, opening an opportunity to feel my favorite city again for the first time and keep my refreshing and new trips. And as I am a collector, AI also gave me the opportunity to discover vintage products that I find in stores abroad without wasting time or money.
Here are three practical AI features that I recently tested in a real world scenario.
Cut to search
One of my favorite things to do in Tokyo is to walk in all small vintage toy stores. It’s a bit like a treasure hunt, and whenever I find something I don’t have in my collection, I am excited. The problem is that there are thousands of anime products, I have not all memorized them and there is a linguistic barrier.
It happened to me in Akihabara, one of the Tokyo electronics and anime centers. I found this box which included a character that I recognized, but I did not know what the product was. So I opened the application of the camera to my Samsung galaxy and kept the bottom to open the circle to search.
The author designed a circle around the product to initiate an image search.
Circle to Search is a tool powered by AI built by Google which uses the image of your screen to find corresponding results. In my case, I surrounded a Sailor Moon R. Google box then looked for a match. The results showed me several images of the character, which would have been useful if I did not already know who she was.
I then wandered to another vintage anime retailer. This time, I used Circle to search specifically to check the price. The article was at the price of about $ 300 after conversion, but was it a good deal? Circle to Search identified the product and was removed from the ebay correspondence lists. In general, the store’s price was $ 200 to $ 300 less than the announcements I found in the United States.
Instant translation
It was a great price for a Sailor Moon Vintage toy. But as it is electronic, I wondered if something was wrong. The condition is listed on the label of products, but I am not very good at translating by memory, so I used the instant translation function of Google in Circle To Search. The right thing about using this tool for translations is that I don’t even have to surround anything. I can just press the translation button at the bottom of the screen, and that translates everything he sees for me.
The author used instant translate from his phone camera. AI detected the source language as Japanese, saving an entry step.
I don’t even need to say right now to translate the language that I try to translate. It detects the written language for me and automatically translates it. I learned that the toy had been opened and slightly damaged. Although the translation is mainly correct, it was not perfect. And the label did not give me all the information I wanted.
Conversation mode
I wanted more context, so I asked a partner store more information using the Google Translate conversation mode. Using AI, Google Translate automatically detects the spoken language and translated it into the opposite language.
In our conversation, I asked for help, then I asked if the article worked. The store representative looked for the article number to confirm that he worked and had been tested. Previously, I should translate each sentence separately by pressing a micro button whenever someone was talking. But with these improved AI features, the microphone remains open and uses live information to maintain the conversation.
When I use the conversation mode, I try to keep my sentences very simple to avoid translation errors, which can absolutely occur. Several words in the Japanese language seem very similar, but can mean totally different things – Kowai and Kawaii (frightening and cute) are a good example. I studied the language, but I still have a lot to learn, so I didn’t want to be misunderstood.
This live translation also detected my word “battery” as “batari” and, fortunately, the employee understood that I was talking about batteries that feed the device. In normal conversations, this would generally be translated by “Denchi” in Japanese.
The conversation mode works in real time, without having to press another button each time you ask a question.
I thanked the employee for helping me and I did not buy this piece of Merch either, rather choosing to buy a vintage but completely new article to add to my collection. Using Circle To Research, I saw and conversation fashion, I saved money. I did not make any purchase decision based solely on the fear of missing, and I was able to ask for more context.
These tools fueled by AI are quite new and are not without their fault. But when it comes to breaking a language barrier or helping me be smarter with my personal hobbies, I can really enjoy it. It is an exciting period to be an anime collector, a world traveler or both.
