For non-Japanese speakers, services like Google Translate and NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s phones that provide automated translation by speaking into the devices may have made it easier to communicate while in Japan.
But just how reliable are these automated translations? For instance, do they allow foreigners who don't speak Japanese to understand complicated subscription plans when they purchase cellphones in Japan?
Maybe not. That is why Rsystem Co., which provides a video-call translation service via iPhones and iPads, believes this a niche market waiting to be tapped.