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Renting Mobile Services in Japan

Apr 19, ’10 11:19 AM
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Traveling to Japan? Will you need a means of communication? Prepare your pocket if you are up to rent a phone, a SIM card or a Data card in Japan. Most providers give you different choices for rental devices, but be careful because prices from one to another might vary a lot. Please read carefully the following information and then check all the links. Prices can vary from one another, and through time as well.

Do you want to rent a 3G SIM card in Japan?

If you have an iPhone, or a NOKIA compatible with Japanese WCDMA2100 technology, then you are able to rent it. (Sorry, Android seems too new at this moment). Though you have some providers who give you the possibility to rent it, using Softbank might be one of the best choices.

http://www.softbank-rental.jp/en/phones/sim3g.php

Though renting might be cheap (105 yen a day), using it can turn your bill a nightmare.
Check the rates here

You can apply for it directly from your sofa at home. Get it online, and be ready to pick it up when you arrive at the airport. If you aren’t so sure yet about which provider you would like to use, just spend some extra time at the airport to rent your 3G SIM card. Note that you won’t be able to rent a 3G SIM card anywhere else.

What if I want to use my own phone?

If your phone uses a 3G GSM SIM card you will be able to use this option. You can rent just the handset and use the GSM SIM card. But remember that you must check your roaming agreements with Softbank (vodafone) prior to come to Japan.
http://www.softbank-rental.jp/en/phones/roaming.php

What if my phone has nothing of the above?

Then your only choice is to rent a Japanese phone. You can try the following services:
Softbank (quite cheap at the moment)
Pururu (with a special offer for 30 days)
E-phone
G-Call
Jal ABC

I also need a Data Card!

If you want to use internet wherever you go, to rent a Data Card for your Mac or PC might be a good idea. The most popular is called e-mobile.
The following companies offer data card services:

Pururu
E-phone
G-Call
Jal ABC

If you check the rates, Pururu has the best rental fees at the moment. But remember that this can change at any time. So please check all providers before flying to Japan.

What about a pocket wifi?

Unfortunately, at the moment, it seems that providers are not offering that option.

Where can I rent it?

At the Airport. You can check the list of providers in Narita International Airport here:

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/guide/service/list/svc_19.html

Providers only have rent options at the Airport, so once you exit it, you’ve lost all opportunities to rent a phone, 3G SIM card, or Data Card. Unless, that is, you go back to the airport just for that.

UPDATE Nov. 3 2010: Read Visiting Japan? Mobile Phone and Data Plans to Keep You Connected

  • Michael Leuker

    A very well written article that unfortunately shows one thing: If you come to Japan and need a SIM card, prepare to be bent over. I’ve been in Germany for the past two weeks and got a prepaid 15 EUR (roughly 1900 Yen) card that apart from relatively cheap call and text charges (9 cent each) includes a 1 GB data option. Ordering is a breeze, too and can be done weeks ahead over the internet. If you have no address to send it to, you can also get the card at a few of the major electronics discounters all over the country. In other words: Japan has A LOT to catch up to when it comes to offering customer-friendly prepaid services.

  • shu

    Unless Softbank changed their policy since February, you cannot rent a sim for a smartphone (including iPhones). They charge for data, and since smartphones use a ton of data, they’ve had cases where customers end up with enormous bills that they refused to pay. So now their policy is no sim rentals for smartphones, even if you promise to turn off data.

    I’ve ended up going to Telecom Square at Narita to rent a Docomo sim for my unlocked Android or Blackberry. It’s 105yen/day plus 1.5yen/second, incoming calls are free. But they don’t have data, so I have to make do with wifi hotspots.

  • Ben Duivendrecht

    When owning an iPhone, and you just want to be able to receive calls or be able to make emergency phone calls / very few short phone calls, I recommend just using your own sim card.
    Of course you can’t use 3G internet, that will be VERY expensive.

  • http://mobileinjapan.com/2010/08/06/b-mobile-releases-micro-sim-for-unlocked-iphone-and-ipad-in-japan/ B-Mobile Releases MicroSIM for Unlocked iPhone and iPad in Japan « Mobile in Japan

    [...] Inbound business (and geek) travelers? Unlikely. The information site b-mobile provides is in Japanese only and it wouldn’t, again, be a very interesting market. Not mentioning that it’s only a matter of time until SoftBank starts renting microSIM for those iPhone tourist addicts (see Pietro’s excellent summary of options if you’re travelling to Japan). [...]

  • Michael

    um…. not sure if already shared before, but I was in Tokyo for 3 weeks and I rented a pocket wifi as well as iphone sim card from the below. with unlimited internet access…

    ain’t cheap. but worked perfectly. (use english page as they’re not providing sim card rentals to Japanese page readers)
    https://www.globaladvancedcomm.com/

  • Danny Tsang

    My wife n I recently travelled to Japan for 3 weeks and rented a 3G GSM SIM card for our iphone; we were fully aware of the web data charges and therefore were very careful not to use internet or check emails and changed emails checking to PUSH manual. At the end of our holidays, 2 weeks later we received a bill with hefty charges on unexpected data usages, at some instances on the bill where the data charges ranging from $10-$30, and one was over $100 (4.3MB), total was near $400. I am now been engaging in a dispute with them (SoftBank), they claimed that these unexpected usages caused by these apps automatically check for updates – “Mail, Safari, Weather, Stock, Map, Youtube, iTune, App Store”..this is baloney, I agrued that some of these apps ONLY check for updates when you manually access them. Wish I found your web site before my trip to save me all these troubles. I’m hoping others stumble across this blog, evaluate your options and avoid Softbank especially because they aren’t CHEAP. They are ware of these issues with SmartPhones using their rental 3G sim and had many disputes in the past with numerous travellers but in denial and still providing the serices.

  • http://mobileinjapan.com/2010/11/03/visiting-japan-mobile-phone-data-wifi-plans-connected/ Visiting Japan? Mobile Phone and Data Plans to Keep You Connected « Mobile in Japan

    [...] Pietro has previously covered renting mobile phones in Japan, until now we’ve not looked at data options, something that many visitors to Japan might [...]

  • Simon

    Not sure how you missed Rentafone Japan- http://www.rentafonejapan.com – from this list.
    I rented a mobile phone from them as well as a pocket wifi – http://www.rentafonejapan.com/Mobile -
    and they seem to be the cheapest

  • Simon
  • guesstt

    Only for unlimited data usage, this is the cheapest company.
    http://www.sallysrental.com