WiFi and Sim Cards in Japan

Let’s face it: It’s nice to be connected when you’re abroad (if you want to be). I know that getting lost is often part of the adventure, but I find that when you’re out looking for adventure it can be really helpful to have Google Maps, email to check on reservations, and a little bit of internet to pull of that article about amazing coffee shops that you forgot to drop into Evernote. When this information is at your fingertips, you can muster more energy for the things that matter (like sharing pictures of Squid Man).

Everyone on line says that you’re not going to find many places with wifi in Japan. I didn’t really find that to be the case.  A majority of the cafes, hotels, and even sites we visited in Japan seemed to have wifi. All the same, it’s nice to not have to depend solely on wifi especially if you’re moving from place to place a lot.

My cel carrier is AT&T and the international options for data are brutally expensive. For this trip I decided to get a local SIM card.

I used eConnect Japan and would highly recommend this company for your trip. I ordered a pre-loaded card with 5gb of data and opted to pick it up at Terminal 2 post office in Narita Airport. If you don’t want to plan ahead and get your sim card from the post office, there are similar sim cards available from vending machines around the airport (about $50 for 5gb), but I can only vouch for the service I used. My eConnect sim card gave me strong, consistent data signal throughout our time in Japan and generally worked extremely well even in the mountains.

Mophie Juice Pack charging an iPhone and MiFi Unit 

BUT I DON’T HAVE AN UNLOCKED PHONE!

Yes, it’s true. You have to have an unlocked phone to use the Japanese sim cards, BUT if your phone is not SIM unlocked, you can also rent a pocket WiFi unit from eConnect Japan. One of our Air BnB hosts provided us with one of these mobile wifi units and I absolutely loved that my backpack was effectively transformed into a blazing fast internet café signal. Just get a Mophie pack to keep that puppy going…

NOTE: When you get a SIM card in Japan, remember that you cannot make phone calls from that phone. In Japan, non-residents and temporary visitors are not allowed to have Japanese phone numbers. So you have text and data capability only.