Short term SIM card for Japan

posted by  banzaitokyo | 4 years, 8 months ago in Gaijin

This September I will be travelling to Japan for the Rugby World Cup and I am planning to spend almost a month there. I’ve heard that free WiFi is not that widely spread in Tokyo let alone smaller towns. I will be more reassured if I had a local SIM card while I travel. I don’t care about voice calls, but I need a stable data connection. Hopefully at a low price.

I have had a quick look at what kind of SIM cards are available for tourists and I found a few options.

Japan’s major providers SoftBank, DoCoMo and AU do not sell prepaid SIM cards, but it looks like there is a number of virtual network operators that do that. And their offerings are quite attractive. The data is not expensive, they can send you the SIM card worldwide and you can activate it when you arrive and it switches off at the end of the term for which you bought it automatically. No need for you to contact the provider or fill in any forms, you can just throw it away at the end of your trip hassle-free.

The best offer I found is that from Mobal.com There are actually two very similar options for a month long trip that both have unlimited (kinda) data and cost ¥7,500 one of them even includes voice calls! The subtle difference is that the option that includes voice doesn’t allow tethering (turning your phone into a hotspot to share your connection with other devices). This is a deal breaker for me. Luckily I don’t need voice calls and the other option that is data only does allow internet sharing. I think this is what I’ll be taking. Unless you guys can recommend other options?