What's New

Stay up to date with the latest improvements to Goshuin Journey.

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April 2026

New

• AI Goshuin Analysis — Each goshuin stamp is more than ink and paper: it encodes a seal, shrine or temple text, a date, and symbolic motifs. Claude, our AI assistant, can now decompose any confirmed stamp in your collection into its components, transcribe the Japanese inscription (even tricky cursive sōsho), translate the date, and explain the symbolism. Look for the ✨ "Analyze with AI" button on each stamp in your book. The first collector to analyze a particular variant at a shrine creates a shared community record — everyone else who later collects the same variant gets the analysis instantly, with only their personal date translation generated fresh. You get 10 analysis credits per week (resetting Monday), and credits are only spent when a brand-new variant is registered; matching an existing variant is always free. Analysis unlocks for a stamp once an admin confirms the goshuin report you submitted with it.

• Analysis Credits on your Profile — Your profile page now shows your remaining analysis credits, the weekly Monday reset schedule, and when credits were last refilled.

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March 2026

New

• Trusted User Badge — The first badge in our new Badges & Achievements system! Admins can grant the "Trusted User" badge to active collectors. Trusted users' goshuin availability reports are auto-approved — no more waiting in the review queue. This is just the beginning: more badges and achievements are on the way.

Improved

• Smarter Name Backfill — The bilingual name enrichment pipeline now tracks when each shrine was last attempted. Shrines that can't be resolved enter a 7-day cooldown instead of consuming batch slots every hourly run, freeing up capacity for new shrines.

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February 2026

New

• Interactive Shrine Map — Explore Japan's shrines and temples through a fully interactive map on the Browse Shrines page. Start with a color-coded choropleth showing shrine density across all 47 prefectures. Click a prefecture to zoom in and see city-level markers with counts. Click a city to reveal individual shrine pins — color-coded red for shrines, indigo for temples, and purple for syncretic sites. Click any pin to visit that shrine's detail page. Use the shrine/temple filter at any level, and navigate back up with the breadcrumb trail.

• Community Sharing — Share your goshuin book collection with the world! Set any book to Public or Unlisted, and it becomes viewable by anyone. Browse shared collections from other collectors on the new Community page. Search by title or collector name, react with emoji, and discover new inspiration for your next shrine visit.

• Featured Shrine of the Week — The homepage now spotlights a different shrine each week. Discover shrines you might not have known about and find your next destination.

• 29,588 Shrines and Counting — We've hit a milestone: every Overpass-sourced shrine in Japan is now in our database. Browse, search, and plan visits to nearly 30,000 shrines and temples across all 47 prefectures.

• English / Japanese Toggle — Switch the entire site between English and Japanese with a single click. Find the language toggle in the navigation bar.

• Custom Waypoints for Visit Plans — Visit plans are no longer limited to shrines! Add custom stops like train stations, rest areas, scenic viewpoints, or trailheads — anything with a name and coordinates. Waypoints are first-class items in your route: they appear in the list, on the map, and in the route optimizer alongside your shrine stops. Perfect for planning pilgrimage routes like the Kumano Kodo where non-shrine stops are essential.

• Manual Route Ordering — Use the new move up/down controls to arrange your visit plan stops in exactly the order you want. Override the optimizer or fine-tune the route by hand.

• Route Optimization for Visit Plans — Planning a multi-shrine day? Your visit plans now show distances between each stop and suggest the most efficient walking order. Pick your starting shrine, preview the optimized route with per-leg distances and travel mode hints (walking, cycling, or transit), then apply the new order with one click. If you have a Google Maps API key configured, an interactive map with numbered pins and a connecting route line appears too.

• Guided Walkthroughs — New to the site? Look for the "Walk me through this" button on the Books and Visit Plans pages. Our mascot Chibi-komainu will guide you step-by-step through managing your collection and planning visits.

• Comprehensive Japan Geography — We've integrated data from GeoNames.org covering all 47 Japanese prefectures and ~2,100 cities and towns. When submitting or editing shrine locations, you can now select from dropdown menus with both English and Japanese names.

Improved

• Advanced Shrine Search — Use "quotes" for exact name matching or id: to jump directly to a shrine by ID. Helpful when hundreds of shrines share the same name, like 熊野神社.

• Smarter Location Selection — Shrine submission forms now feature cascading dropdowns: select a country, then prefecture, then city. No more typos in prefecture names!

Behind the Scenes

• MCP Audit Trail — Admin actions performed through the AI-powered MCP tools (shrine updates, flag resolutions, approvals, enrichment) are now logged to the database activity log, giving a complete audit trail alongside web-app actions.

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January 2026

New

• Community Stats — Shrine pages now show how many collectors have favorited, are planning to visit, or have collected stamps from each shrine. See the community's interest at a glance!

• Profile Page — You can now change your display name, bio, location, and select from an initial set of avatars. Click your username in the navigation to get started.

• Password Reset — Forgot your password? You can now request a reset link from the login page and we'll send you an email to set a new one.

• Email Verification — New accounts now receive a verification email to help keep your account secure.

• What's New Page — You're here! This page will keep you up to date with the latest features and improvements.

• Learn Page — Discover the history and etiquette of goshuin collecting with our new educational guide. Perfect for newcomers wondering "what exactly is a goshuin?"

• Demo Account — Curious about the app? Try it without signing up. Explore sample books, shrines, and visit plans to see how everything works.

• Friendly Guides — Meet Stamp-kun and Chibi-komainu! Our new mascot characters appear throughout the app to help guide your journey.

• Account Deletion — Want to leave? You can now delete your account and all associated data directly from your profile page. We'll miss you, but we respect your choice.

• Privacy Policy & Terms — We've added proper legal pages so you know exactly how your data is handled. Find links in the footer.

Improved

• Satellite Map Previews — Shrine pages now show a satellite map preview so you can see exactly where you're headed. Toggle between satellite and street view to get the lay of the land before your visit.

• Precise Location Markers — We've improved our coordinate accuracy to pinpoint exact locations. Know exactly where the shamusho (stamp office) is before you arrive—no more wandering the grounds looking for where to get your goshuin!

• Site Footer — You'll now find a footer with quick links to Learn, What's New, and Browse Shrines at the bottom of each page.

• Better First Visit — Empty pages now show helpful prompts instead of blank screens. New users get clear guidance on where to start.

• Mobile Experience — Navigation and layouts work better on phones. Easier to use while you're actually out visiting shrines!

• Social Sharing — Links shared on social media now show proper preview images and descriptions.

Behind the Scenes

• Daily Backups — Your goshuin collection is now backed up automatically every day. Your memories are safe with us.

• Faster Deploys — We improved our release process so new features reach you more quickly and reliably.