# Balloon Journey Japan — Drift across the real Japan

> Drift across the real Japan (iPhone/iPad app by unvell inc..)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/balloon-journey-japan/id6802740313 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [unvell inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1677241177)
- Category: Games, Travel, Adventure, Simulation
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16.0 · 136 MB
- Languages: American English, Japanese
- Released: 2026-09-11
- Data updated: 2026-10-11

## What is Balloon Journey Japan?

Your balloon, your call.

Balloon Journey Japan is a slow travel game set over the real Japan — the real Mount Fuji, the real Japan Alps, the real Lake Biwa. If a place exists in Japan, you can drift over it.

There is no steering toward a destination. The sky drifts a different way at every altitude, so you find the layer that is going where you want to go, rise into it, and let the wind carry you. You choose your height; the wind chooses everything else.

■ IT KEEPS FLYING WHILE YOU ARE AWAY Close the app and the balloon stays in the air — our server flies it in real time. Open it a few hours later, or the next morning, and a "welcome back" is waiting: how far the wind carried you, and what you passed over on the way. This is not a game that asks you to hold your phone all day.

■ TWO CONTROLS, AND NOTHING ELSE Burn to rise, vent to sink. Both act only while you hold them, and the balloon settles at the height where you let go. There is no screen for typing in an altitude. Altitude is the result, not the instruction — what you are really choosing is which wind to ride.

■ A DIFFERENT WIND AT EVERY HEIGHT Open the wind sheet and it lists, altitude by altitude, where you would be six hours from now. Read it, climb, and wait. That is the whole game.

■ THE REAL JAPAN The ground is baked from Japan's national elevation data: real mountains, real coastlines, real lakes, all at full size. The weather is not decoration either — cloud cover, cloud base, rain and visibility are generated from where you are and what time it is, so one evening is grey and drizzling and the next night is full of stars. The same sky never comes back twice.

■ THE LOGBOOK FILLS ITSELF 47 Prefectures, 100 Famous Peaks, Lakes, Capes and Edges, Seasons, Distance. Anything you drift over is written down without you aiming for it — including everything you passed while the app was closed, handed to you the next time you open it.

■ ONE DESTINATION AT A TIME "Somewhere near there, within so many hours." Offered only from the directions today's sky can actually reach, so you are never dealt an impossible card.

■ QUIET COMPANY Balloons flying nearby appear in a list, and you can send them a fixed greeting. You never type a message to anyone — even your name is assembled from words the game offers you.

■ FUEL IS A REASON TO COME DOWN Holding altitude burns fuel. Run out and the balloon descends and moors. Every time you open the app, a little is replaced.

■ FREE TO FLY, AND FREE TO KEEP FLYING No ads: no banners, no videos, no advertising ID, nothing tracking you. And nothing you can buy will carry you further than the wind does — fuel is not sold, altitude is not sold, and no badge or destination sits behind a purchase. Everyone flies the same sky.

iOS 16 or later / Languages: English, Japanese. Place names are shown in Japanese — they come from the national survey and are not transliterated. Terrain data: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) elevation tiles / MLIT PLATEAU / OpenStreetMap (ODbL)

## Is Balloon Journey Japan safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess Balloon Journey Japan.

## Is Balloon Journey Japan legit?

Balloon Journey Japan appears legitimate, with a few gaps. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Balloon Journey Japan is 65 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 3 releases)

### 1.2 — 2026-09-21

Notifications now actually arrive.
The notifications we announced in 1.1 were not being delivered. Sorry about
that. You will now hear when you run out of fuel, land on a mountain,
receive a greeting, complete a destination, and more.

Other balloons now appear on the map.
The 30 most recently opened balloons show up as white dots. Tap one to see
its pattern, name, owner, altitude and where it is. If it is within 60 km,
you can send it a greeting.

Favorites added.
Tap the star on a balloon's card to keep it. The other player is never told.
Your favorites always appear on the map as green dots.
The social sheet is now three tabs: Inbox, Favorites and Nearby.

You can now let your balloon rest (≡, General tab).
While resting, it waits on the ground where it is and does not drift.
A balloon left unopened for 3 days now comes down and rests on its own.
Burn to take off again.

Also:
- Screens with many pixels no longer slow the game down.
- The map zooms to 10x and remembers its zoom.
- Clouds have crisper edges and deeper shading.
- Coastlines no longer show a jagged staircase.
- Reasons a greeting could not be sent were shown in Japanese. Fixed.
- The scroll bar no longer covers text at the right edge.

### 1.1 — 2026-09-16

Altitude works differently now.
Your balloon holds an altitude above sea level, not above the ground.
It no longer drifts through the wind column as the land rises and falls,
so the winds you read are the winds you get.
The trade: a mountain in your path is no longer cleared automatically.
Touch down on one and you moor there — raise your altitude to set off again.

Notifications added.
We will let you know when you run out of fuel and come down, when you land
on a mountain, when you are recovered from the sea, when a greeting
arrives, and when you complete a destination.
You can turn them off in your device's Settings.

The menu (≡) is now three tabs: General, Settings and Account.
Account holds everything your journey has added up to — distance flown,
prefectures crossed, badges collected, time played, day streak — on one
screen. Your transfer code moved there too.

Also fixed:
- Landing on a mountain could leave you unable to take off again.
- Opening after a long time away could fly you on hours-old wind.
- The wind table read while moored was frozen on the day you stopped.
- The "stamp book" is now called the badge book everywhere.

### 1.0 — 2026-09-11

No release notes.

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## More apps by unvell inc.

- [Distance Memo](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/distance-memo/id6761127233)
- [絵スゴい](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/id6761271823)
- [F-2 Missions](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/f-2-missions/id6787146575)

All apps by unvell inc.: https://appshunter.io/developer/1677241177

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-11.*