Two Tokyo-based firms and Microsoft Japan on Thursday launched an English-language tourism app with an AI agent to target a surge in inbound tourists that is projected to continue. The Japan Trip Navigator app for Apple iOS was released by travel agency JTB Corp., navigation firm Navitime Co. and Microsoft Japan. The companies said they aim to make the free app a dominant resource for tourists. The app allows travel plans to be made by tapping JTB's network and answers questions with the help of an AI concierge devised by Microsoft. Navitime's technology was added to help people find their way around.

Most women who work from home spend the day makeup free, but an unexpected video conference can often force them to scramble for their handbag to look presentable. Now, a Japanese cosmetics firm has designed an app that could save them - by applying Snapchat filter style virtual make-up to your face that can be seen by others on the screen. Called TeleBeauty, users align their face in the center of the screen, and can then select one of the four styles of makeup available, and the amount to be applied. TeleBeauty applies virtual make-up to your bare face (left) and is seen by others on the screen. Users align their face in the center of the screen and the technology scans over the face.