As you are making your free and easy trips in Japan, you are probably thinking how can I remain connected. How do I get access to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp and maybe email. Of course you could use your existing phone and SIM card with roaming but that’s a rather expensive option. Today, let’s look at some of the cheaper options such as:
1. Renting a phone
This is the traditional approach, renting a phone with a local number and SIM card. In the past this was necessary as Japan is using the CDMA cellular system. However, for most of us today, we are probably more concerned about data plans and internet connectivity rather than voice.
2. Buying a data SIM card
I wasn’t able to find a voice plus decent size data plan combined SIM option. All the plans with a decent data size that I could find were for data only SIM cards. However, I didn’t feel this is an issue at all as I was planning to make calls using Whatsapp.
3. Renting a mi-fi router
This is the other common option available. Typically, this plan consists of a daily rental fee for the mi-fi router plus a separate daily rate for unlimited data access. For those of you wondering what this is, well a mi-fi router is typically a small battery operated router which you inserted a SIM to connect to the phone data network. It also operates as a wireless access point so you can hook up several devices.
Now the next question would be where do I get these. You can get any of these on the spot from various places at Narita airport. In terminal 1, there are telco stores/booths in the central building, such as this one below:
Telco booth at Narita airport
For data SIM cards, there are more options. You can buy them from a vending machine or from the convenience store.
For myself, I decide to try out the Docomo “Yokoso SIM” card. I bought it locally from JTB, before leaving for Japan. Price was around USD26 for the 8 days 3 GB plan, comparable to the offerings onsite at Narita. I had done an online search and there didn’t seem to be a cheaper option. Plus, for these, it meant having the SIM card mailed to you or collecting it at Narita after your order.
The data size wasn’t huge, but I reckon it was good enough for my needs – Whatsapp messaging, Whatsapp calls, Internet browsing, Google maps, tenki (local weather app) and hotspot for my laptop. Anyway, I would have access to Wi-Fi when I am in the hotel. I decided against the mi-fi option as it was rather expensive having to rent the router daily and having another device that I would need to carry around and charge.
Some of you might be thinking of leveraging the free wi-fi hotspots provided by NTT East for visitors to Japan. Probably because I was travelling through the less popular areas, I only found 1 hotspot during my last self drive trip. So I was very happy that my data SIM was there to provide coverage.
Stay in touch on your trip!
Ja
KL