Exploring Japan should be about experiencing the culture, not worrying about how to navigate language barriers or drowning in an overwhelming amount of tourist information. Sakura Guide is here to solve those problems with real-time, location-specific travel recommendations in both English and Japanese.

Imagine walking through the streets of Tokyo, wondering what to do next. With Sakura Guide, you get immediate, tailored recommendations based on exactly where you are and what you want to experience.

• Language Barriers: International tourists often struggle to find accurate, real-time information due to limited English-language resources.
• Information Overload: Domestic travelers, especially during peak times like Golden Week, are faced with too many choices and irrelevant suggestions.
• Outdated Travel Guides: Static guides can’t keep up with the changing pace of travel trends and tourist needs.

Powered by the latest in AI and cloud technology, Sakura Guide adapts to each traveler, offering dynamic, personalized recommendations and helping users experience Japan with ease. Whether you’re an international traveler looking for recommendations in English or a local navigating the crowded streets during peak travel seasons, Sakura Guide ensures you’re never stuck with outdated or irrelevant advice.

The user asks for top recommendations in Kyoto, and Sakura Guide provides real-time, location-specific travel insights using Azure Cognitive Search.

Here’s what powers the seamless experience behind Sakura Guide:

• FastAPI ⚡: A lightweight, fast web framework that processes user queries instantly, ensuring a smooth, uninterrupted travel experience.
• Azure Cognitive Search 🔍: Delivers real-time travel recommendations by pulling the most relevant, up-to-date information about your location. It’s not just search—it’s about finding exactly what matters to the traveler.
• Cosmos DB 🗄️: Logs every user query, allowing us to learn from interactions and continuously improve. This helps personalize future recommendations and ensures that Sakura Guide gets smarter the more people use it.
• Azure Translator 🌐: Breaking down language barriers, this technology allows Sakura Guide to seamlessly switch between English and Japanese, ensuring inclusivity for both international and domestic tourists.

A diagram illustrating how FastAPI, Azure Cognitive Search, Cosmos DB, and Azure Translator work together to provide seamless travel recommendations.

Imagine a travel assistant that understands not only where you are, but what you’re looking for—right now, in real time. That’s Sakura Guide.

By solving the key challenges travelers face in Japan, we’ve built a system that provides immediate travel recommendations in English and Japanese, using AI-driven insights from Azure Cognitive Search. Every query is logged in Cosmos DB to ensure that as more people use the app, it only gets better at providing tailored advice.

Whether it’s navigating Kyoto’s temples or finding the best ramen in Osaka, Sakura Guide is built to be scalable, reliable, and ready for future personalization.

• Sakura Guide provides users with instant, location-specific travel recommendations based on their exact needs at that moment. For example, asking, "What’s the best thing to do in Kyoto today?" results in recommendations tailored specifically to your preferences.

Azure Cognitive Search JSON output for real-time travel recommendations. The app retrieves the most relevant travel data based on the user's location and query.

• By integrating Azure Translator, the app ensures that both English-speaking tourists and Japanese travelers have access to the same depth of information, removing language barriers from the travel experience entirely.

• Every query is stored in Cosmos DB, enabling future versions of the app to offer personalized recommendations based on the user’s past interactions. Imagine an app that remembers the types of places you love—and gives you suggestions even before you ask.

Example of user queries stored in Cosmos DB, allowing for personalized future recommendations based on interaction data.

• If a user asks a broad or vague question, like "What should I do in Japan?", the app responds with intelligent fallback suggestions, guiding them toward the best activities and attractions.

Sakura Guide is just getting started. Here’s what we’re planning for the future:

• Personalization: By analyzing the stored queries in Cosmos DB, we’ll introduce personalized travel suggestions, ensuring users receive recommendations that match their unique preferences.
• Multi-Turn Conversations: We’re adding support for interactive, follow-up conversations, making the travel planning process even more fluid and intuitive.
• Scalability Across the Globe: Built on scalable architecture, Sakura Guide is ready to expand beyond Japan and provide real-time, personalized travel experiences in any part of the world.

• The app currently operates using English and Japanese, with plans to expand into more languages in the future.
• Cosmos DB logging ensures the system can handle peak travel times, but further testing in real-world conditions will help refine performance during high-demand periods like Golden Week.

• Python 3.x
• FastAPI
• Azure SDK for Python
• Cosmos DB Account
• Azure Cognitive Search Account

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/mneang/Sakura-Guide
   

2. Install Dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

3. Run the Application

   uvicorn app:app --reload
   

4. Configure Cosmos DB and Azure Cognitive Search: Ensure your Cosmos DB and Azure Cognitive Search accounts are set up and credentials are available as environment variables.

5. Access the App: Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/ to interact with the app locally.

At Sakura Guide, we believe that travel should be seamless, intuitive, and always focused on the experience—not the logistical headaches. Built with passion and precision, our app is designed to grow, adapt, and continually improve based on the needs of its users.

This isn’t just about getting information—it’s about enhancing the travel experience, making it more accessible, personalized, and enjoyable for anyone, anywhere.