About, data sources
& privacy
Updated October 27, 2026
ISEKI WALKER helps you discover heritage sites and cultural places, record your visits and keep the memories. This website introduces the app and its release plans. The website itself does not offer place searches, account registration, visit recording or photo and comment posting.
Where the app is available
Version 1.0.6 of the Android app has been submitted for the Japan release on Google Play. It is under review and is currently available to internal testers, rather than the general public. We will announce the public launch on the homepage. Native Apple sign-in is implemented and an iPhone build has been submitted for TestFlight beta review. The public App Store launch date and release dates outside Japan have not been announced.
The app includes a heritage map, visit records, favorites, photos, comments, illustrated titles and quests. Guilds add shared quests, an adventure log, a board with replies and reactions, unread indicators, adventure plans and destination voting. Premium subscriptions, country-pack purchases and guild push notifications while the app is closed are still in preparation. Payments are not currently available.
Explore thoughtfully
Map markers are reference locations drawn from source records. They are not guaranteed entrances, building footprints, open paths or permission to enter. Records may be incomplete or change as research progresses. Check current official guidance, opening hours, fees and access restrictions, and respect private property, places of worship and restricted areas. Illustrations are symbolic; screenshots on this website currently show the Japanese app interface.
App titles reflect recorded visits and activities. They do not certify official pilgrimage completion, admission, completion of an official stamp collection or exploration of an entire designated area.
Offline searches
Save place information from Offline Search in Settings to search names, types and regions and read basic details without a connection. Download size and storage use depend on the selected data; see the current estimate in the app. The app checks for updates at most once a day when opened, and you can also synchronize manually. Previously saved information stays available if an update fails.
Visited and favorite filters use your last synchronized personal data. Background maps, photos, comments, saving visits and sending contributions require a connection. Recording visits while offline is not supported.
Data sources and attribution
The Japanese heritage catalog is based on the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties’ National Cultural Property Search. It contains 207,513 records selected as heritage-site candidates from the source material; some classifications still require confirmation. It is not a complete inventory of every heritage site in Japan.
Cultural-facility information uses Wikidata structured data (CC0), including museums, art galleries, local-history collections and archaeology facilities. Visits to these facilities count toward their own titles, rather than heritage-site visit totals. Source article text and photographs are not republished.
Maps and aerial imagery use Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) tiles. Imagery dates and resolution vary by location. Map requests connect to the map provider. See the app’s map credits and the GSI content terms.
Current shrines and temples are separate from archaeological remains. Their location data uses the GSI vector-tile experiment, supplemented where needed by geoBoundaries administrative boundaries derived from OpenStreetMap and Wambacher data. The geolocated shrine and temple database is provided under ODbL 1.0; © OpenStreetMap contributors. Wikidata information remains CC0, and GSI and National Tax Agency material retains its own applicable terms. Candidate names from the National Tax Agency Corporate Number Publication Site without verified locations are not added to the map as confirmed places.
Special Historic Sites and Special Places of Scenic Beauty are checked against the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ designation statistics and nationally designated cultural-property database. Scenic places, castle and pilgrimage routes, and sacred rock sites use the sources recorded with their datasets, including field research on sacred rock sites. App categories and representative locations should not be mistaken for official boundaries or access guidance.
Public datasets include their source registers and selection notes. File contents and some source materials are in Japanese:
- Scenic places: locations and sources (JSON / ZIP)
- Special Historic Sites: public data and sources (ZIP)
- Special Places of Scenic Beauty: public data and sources (ZIP)
- Shrines and temples: collected data, sources and regional totals (ZIP)
- Castle and pilgrimage routes: places, sources and exclusions (JSON / ZIP)
- Sacred rock sites: coordinates, sources and selection notes (JSON / ZIP)
The detailed Japanese source register includes collection dates, category counts and title rules. None of these datasets is a guarantee that every listed place can currently be visited.
Location and visit records
Location is used for nearby searches and on-site visit checks. If permission is denied or a position cannot be obtained, the map starts near Heijō Palace in Nara; that display location is not used as your current location or as proof of a visit. The default visit radius is 200 m for manual recording and 100 m for automatic recording. Location accuracy and freshness are checked, and recording may fail if positioning is unreliable.
Automatic visit recording and nearby alerts are off by default. If enabled, nearby searches send your current position to the server. Background operation requires a separate setting and the device’s permission; Android shows a persistent service notification while it runs. Switching the feature off or signing out stops it. The default automatic-recording speed limit is 10 km/h, with 10, 15 or 30 km/h options. Recording waits if speed cannot be checked. Connectivity, battery settings or force-stopping the app can interrupt operation.
Visit-check coordinates and movement routes are not stored as a travel history. Personal visit dates and notes are normally visible only to you. If you enable guild adventure-log sharing, eligible visits and their dates are shown to guild members; personal notes are not shared.
Photos, comments and profiles
Photos and comments are published in the app with your handle after moderation. Upload only photos you took and have permission to publish, and respect the privacy of people shown. Copyright remains with the photographer. Uploaded photos are resized and converted for display, with embedded location and other extra metadata removed. You can delete your own photos and comments in the app.
Your user page is private by default. If you make it public, signed-in users can see the information you choose to share, including your handle, biography and approved contributions. An optional setting displays titles, level and activity progress. Email addresses, private visit history and personal notes are not included. Your handle still appears on published contributions even if your profile is private.
Favorites and personal tags are stored with your account and are private. Correction proposals and reports of missing places are reviewed before changes are applied. A place coordinate that you explicitly submit in a report can be saved and published after approval; this differs from the temporary coordinates used for visit checks.
Home country, EXP and regional titles
The app suggests a home country using the device region or a permitted location check during setup; you can correct it in your profile. It stores the country code, not the address or position used for that suggestion. Traveling to another country does not automatically change your home country.
Visits, approved public photos and approved public comments earn double EXP outside your configured home country. Regional titles count 1, 3, 5 or 10 countries in the same region, with at least one recorded visit in each. Your home country is excluded, and each country counts only once. Until a home country is set, standard EXP applies and regional country progress is not counted.
Guilds, boards and adventure plans
Guilds start with up to five members, including the leader. Anyone can create one, and all invitations and public applications require the leader’s approval. Replies, reactions, board posts and shared adventure-log entries are visible within the guild. Visit sharing is off by default and applies to eligible visits after it is enabled. Personal notes and movement routes are not shared. Board posts remain after a member leaves, so delete any posts you no longer want to keep before leaving. Read positions and notification preferences for replies, reactions and new posts are stored.
Adventure plans are private when created. If you share one with your guild, members can see its name, description, places and votes, suggest places and cast one vote per place. Visited status reflects the viewer’s own personal records; it does not reveal another member’s private visit dates or notes.
Unsharing removes places added by others and all votes, keeping the creator’s places in a private plan. Departing members lose access to guild plans, which remain with the guild. Deleting a plan or one of its places does not delete personal visit records. Dissolving a guild removes shared plans and votes, while private plans and personal visit records are kept.
Sign-in, account deletion and storage
Android supports Google sign-in and email verification codes. Native Apple sign-in is included in the iPhone testing build. Your Google or Apple password is not sent to ISEKI WALKER. To use Apple sign-in with existing records, sign in through your existing method first and link Apple under Settings. Matching email addresses do not automatically merge accounts.
You can request deletion of your account and related data in the app’s Settings or through the web account-deletion process (Japanese). Identity verification, the deletion scope and a final confirmation are required.
We store the account information, preferences, visit records, contributions and progress needed to operate the app. Protected device storage holds sign-in credentials, rather than your provider password. The device also stores relevant offline data and optional alert or automatic-recording settings. See the full policy for details about deletion and retention.
Server access logs record source IP addresses, request times and requested paths for maintenance and abuse prevention. Query strings, including coordinates used for nearby searches, are excluded from these access logs. Backups containing personal data have a maximum retention period of 30 days. The full Privacy Policy (Japanese) explains deletion, retention and restoration.
This website and its operator
This introduction website does not request your device’s location or use third-party advertising or analytics services. Images are served by this website. The operator’s administration interface uses cookies to maintain sessions and protect against unauthorized actions.
Operated by ETNET Co., Ltd. Contact: webmaster@isekiwalker.com.
This English page is an introduction and summary. The linked policies, detailed source register, public dataset files and some app screenshots are currently in Japanese. Translating this website does not announce availability in additional countries.