旅かえる (Tabikaeru — “Journey Frog”) is a new mobile game by Hit-Point, the software studio behind Neko Atsume (ねこあつめ). The name is a pun, “Tabi” (旅) meaning “Journey” and “Kaeru” (かえる) meaning both “Frog” (蛙) and “to return” (帰る).
It's a game about a Frog that goes on many journeys, sends you pictures of its many adventures, and returns with gifts (collectibles), mainly specialties from the regions it visits.
In this game you need to prepare the Frog's Bag (かばん) for the journey, and collect all the souvenirs (いっぴん) it brings back (you can also collect the pictures it sends from these journeys if you wish.)
You start in the garden.
Begin by pressing the Start button (スタート).
You first need to agree to the terms of the game, so press the Agree button (同意する) on the lower left. The top button is to read the Terms of Use (利用規約), and the bottom right is the Disagree button (同意しない), and you will be brought to the start screen if you press it.
As soon as the game loads, you'll see our hero sitting in the garden by the door, and you will be asked to give it a name. You must use no more than 5 characters. Since Japanese names are writen in kanji (漢字) or kana (仮名), 5 characters can go a long way... Just be creative!
Press OK after you've decided on a name.
You will then be presented with a mini-tutorial that will teach you how to harvest clover (you will find a four-leaf clover that you can use as a lucky charm), go to the store to buy a grape scone (the only food you can afford), and prepare the bag for the frog's first journey (putting the scone as food and the four-leaf clover as charm in the top two spots.)
After you put everything in the bag, you press the “Finish” button (かんりょう), and the frog will leave the house on its first adventure. There's no need to know Japanese to complete the mini-tutorial, just be aware that Yes is written “はい” (and is usually placed on the left side of the window), and No is “いいえ”
After you finish the tutorial, you will be awarded with 500 clovers and 1 lucky four-leaf clover that you can use in the next journey. It'll be wise to use the generous ammount of clover to buy a couple expensive things, like a tent or a hand-towel. And maybe a bagel as food, because your frog won't go far if you only give it scones...
To get these prizes, just go to the Mailbox (ゆうびん) and press on the Acceptance button (受け取り) on each item.
After this, you need to wait for your frog to return. It's adviced to close the app and re-open it, since your frog won't return unless you do this. After a while, the frog will be back to its home, ready to start a new journey. Prepare its bag again, or leave items on the desk for it to pick up.
Important: If you receive a picture from your frog, and want to keep it, don't forget to press the Save button (保存する), otherwise, you won't be able to recover that image!
Lets see all the elements of the game, to get a deeper grasp of it.
The Garden
The Garden is the area where you begin. Here you can see the clover (よつば) that serves as currency, the mailbox and the many visitors you may encounter from time to time (Hello snail!) You harvest the clover to buy food for the frog, and it re-spawns after some time. Occasionally you can find a four-leaf clover you can use as a lucky charm.
The elements you have here are:
Counter Shows the ammount of clover (♣) you have.
Menu (メニュー) Press to see the menu options.
Shop (おみせ) Press to go to the shop.
Home (おうち) Press to go inside.
Menu
Belongings (もちもの) Press to see the items in your inventory.
Back Room (うらべや) Press to see the souvenirs and pictures.
Help (ヘルプ) Press to go to the Help screen.
Belongings (もちもの) Items are divided by Food (おべんとう), Tools (どうぐ), Charms (おまもり) and Specialties (めいぶつ).
Back Room (うらべや) Here you have the Encyclopedia (ずかん) and the Album (アルバム).Back RoomThe Back Room is the place where the frog stores all the Souvenirs, Specialties and Pictures from its journeys. You can get to the Back Room by pressing the Back Room button (うらべや), or pressing the Back Room area inside the house:
In it you have the Encyclopedia (ずかん) and the Album (アルバム), that you get by pressing the appropriate button.
Encyclopedia (ずかん) It's divided in two sections: Souvenirs (いっぴん), and Specialties (めいぶつ). Press each tab to see the items in that category.
Album (アルバム) All the pictures that the frog sends you and you Save will be stored here. One press selects the picture, and another opens it.To go back, press the Back button (もどる).
After each journey, your frog will return with one or more specialties from the region it has visited. These will be recorded in the Specialties (めいぶつ) section of the Encyclopedia, and the actual items will be in the Specialties tab of the Belongings section (もちもの), with a little number indicating how many of those you have.
Also, from time to time you will receive the visit of some of the frog's friends (a snail, a turtle and a bee). These friends will bring a flyer to earn a lottery ticket that will be left in the mailbox. If you check this flyer, you will be asked to watch an ad in exchage for the lottery ticket. Press Yes (はい) if you want to watch the ad, or No (いいえ) if you don't want to watch it.
If you press on the visitor, the Specialties menu will open, and you can choose an item to feed the visitor. In return, they will give you regular clovers or a four-leaf clover, that will be sent by mail. You can only give one item to the visitor.
ShopThe shop is the place where you can buy things for the frog's journey. You can get to the Shop by pressing the Shop button (おみせ). It has three different kind of items: Food (おべんとう), Tools (どうぐ), and Charms (おまもり), though there's no visual separation of each category.
All of the food is vegetarian, and you can buy as many items as desired. Touch an item to see a brief description. The only charm is a Bell, and the rest are tools the frog can use to travel certain places. These items can be bought only one time: it will display a “Sold Out” sign (売り切れ) over the price of items no longer available. Tools can be used as many times as needed. Charms dissapear after a few uses (except, probably, for the bell.)
The items available are:
Grape Scone (えびづるのスコーン) (10♣) – Can't go really far with this (and won't bring back souvenirs.)
Chickweed Sandwich (はこべのサンドイッチ) (20♣) – With this sandwich it can venture a little further.
Pumpkin Bagel (かぼちゃのベーグル) (50♣) – With the bagel, it can travel to far away places. 
Japanese Garlic Quiche (のびるのキッシュ)(80♣) – When it has this, it comes back earlier.
Wormwood Focaccia (よもぎのフォッカチャ) (100♣) – With this in the bag, it can travel to warm places.
Chives Pierogi (あさつきのピロシキ) (100♣) – With this in the bag, it can travel to cold places.
Lucky Charm Bell (幸運の鈴) (3000♣) – This charm brings good luck.
Hand Towel ~Earth~ (てぬぐい~地~) (150♣) – With this item on, it can travel to towns.
Hand Towel ~Tree~ (てぬぐい~本~) (250♣) – With this item on, it can travel to big towns.
Hand Towel ~Camo~ (てぬぐい~装~) (400♣) – With this item on, it can travel to cities.
Natural Tent (ナチュラルテント) (300♣) – Using this tent, it can go camping to the countryside.
Fashionable Tent (スタイリッシュテント) (450♣) – Using this tent, it can go camping to famous places.
High-Tech Tent (ハイテクテント) (750♣) – Using this tent, it can go camping to remote places.
Clear Bowl (透明の器) (450♣) – It will use this bowl to go on a trip over water (maybe lakes?).
Wooden Bowl (木の器) (700♣) – It will use this bowl to go on a trip over water (maybe rivers?).
Lacquer Bowl (漆の器) (1200♣) – It will use this bowl to go on a trip over water (maybe the sea?).
Candle (ろうそく) (600♣) – With it, it can go exploring caves.
Hand Paper Lantern (手提げちょうちん) (900♣) – With it, it can go exploring big caves.
Oil Lamp (ランタン) (1500♣) – With it, it can go exploring bigger caves.
At the top right part of the Shop window, you have the Lottery icon:
Lottery (ふくびき) Press to go to the Lottery page.
LotteryIn the Lottery, you play to win different prizes, depending on the color of the ball you get. To play the Lottery, you need 5 tickets that you get from watching the ads from the flyers the visitors leave in the mailbox.
If you have 5 tickets, press the Turn button (まわす), and you'll get a ball. The ball can be yellow, red, green, blue or, most often, white. To see the different prizes you can get, press the yellow Prize List button (景品一覧 ).
A Yellow Ball will give you a ticket (きっぷ). Each ticket will take you on a trip to a distant location, with each color corresponding to a cardinal direction (East, West, South and North.)
A Red Ball will give you a bag of “Konpeito” candy (金平糖), in four different flavors: strawberry, lemon, grape or melon. You can put this candy in your frog's bag for its journeys.
A Green Ball will give you a bag of Egg Biscuits (たまごぼうろ), in five different flavors: carrot, pumpkin, soybean, milk and burdock. This can also be given to the frog.
A Blue Ball will give you a charm (お守り) in one of five colors: yellow, white, red, blue or pink. Each one offers protection for your travel in one cardinal direction (Yellow for East, White for West, Red for South and Blue for North), while the pink protects in an unknown place.
A White Ball means you've lost, and will only reward you with 1 ticket (ふくびき券) for the lottery.
To go back, press the Shop button (おみせ).
The last part we're going to examine is the interior of the house.
HomeTo go to the interior of the house, you press the Home button (おうち).
This is the frog's home. It'll be there before a journey, and upon its return. You can see it there doing various activities, like reading, eating or sleeping. When it's home, the candles are lit, and the hat is hung on the rack. When it's gone, the candles are off, and the room is empty.
The elements you have here are:
Counter Shows the ammount of clover (♣) you have.
Menu (メニュー) Press to see the menu options.
Shop (おみせ) Press to go to the shop.
Garden (にわさき) Press to go outside.
Preparation (したく) Press this button to arrange the bag for a journey, or to leave items on the desk for future journeys.
PreparationWhen you press on the Preparation button (while the frog is at home), you get the Bag screen (かばん)
You have three main sections: Food (おべんとう), Charms (おまもり) and Tools (どうぐ) below. Press on each section to get the Belongings screen, and fill the slots as you wish. After you put the necessary items in the bag, press the “Finish” button (かんりょう), and the frog will be ready for its journey!
If you swipe left (or if you press the Preparation button while the frog isn't at home) you'll find an additional section called Desk (つくえ). It works very similar to the Bag, but here you leave items for future journeys, so you don't have to be always looking to prepare the frog's bag before every journey. The frog can get things from the desk, and leave without further notice.
The main difference between the Bag and Desk windows is the button at the bottom. While the button in the Bag window prepares the bag for the journey, the button in the desk window is used to Clean (かたづける) the desk, and will put away all the things you have there!
Tip: If the frog leaves without any food (because you haven't prepared its bag and haven't left any food on the desk) and won't come back, you just need to put some food on the desk, and it'll return.
The last thing you need to know is that, when the frog is there, you can press on it to bring up an information window. There you can see the frog's name, and change its title (it gets different titles as it goes into more journeys.)
Press OK to change or Cancel (キャンセル) to leave things as it were.
So, here ends my tutorial. I hope you have fun learning about your frog's adventures, and the friends it makes along its journeys. Thanks for stopping by!
