There is now an app for both Android and idevices that uses the camera to instantly translate written Chinese and Japanese to English. The app, called Waygo, works offline so no internet connection is needed. Waygo is free to download and test, however, it does have a US$2.00 1 week price or a US$7.00 outright purchase price. This is a link to the developer website: http://www.waygoapp.com/
Word Lens does something very similar, in realtime and it's free. Their Glass app is pretty neat too. I think it does need internet access though, which would be a minus when traveling