Telephone / Own contact information when in Japan

14 comments

1. If you have an iPhone they allow wi-fi calling over internet, which might work!

2. I have never had a hotel try to reach me over the phone, however if you want to number to call mobal sim cards provide you with a Japanese phone number.

3. You can get a little WiFi hotspot instead which you connect your phone to. This has the Japanese SIM card in it

4. Mobile Wi-Fi can be rented upon arrival.

5. I put my cell phone number when booking and I it was not possible to reach me while I was in Japan as I had a Japanese SIM card in my phone for internet and do not want to pay ridiculous fee in case my phone use data/voice while in Japan, that is if I even had a cell phone as I did some of my trip without any internet connection.

   I’ve been in hotel in Japan for about 10 weeks over all my trips and this include a part when I had a Japanese phone (lived in Japan for a year) and it only happened once that I got called, it was by a hostel to ask if I wanted to eat with them as they were doing an okonomiyaki party and once I called to say I was late but I was coming.

   Let’s say it is unlikely they will try to call or that you will need to and even if it happen, then most likely it would have to be in Japanese, so unless are at least comfortable having a conversation in Japanese, I would not even bother.

   If anything, hotel will try to reach you by e-mail, as you are likely giving your e-mail address or put in in the booking website.

6. If you’re travelling with friends it might be cheaper and more effective to rent a pocket wifi router (don’t need to swap out your own SIM card or worry about compatibility, I find the signal is way more reliable than hotspotting via phone).

7. assuming you are travelling from the US, many cell phone carriers will sell you an international plan so you do not need to buy a local to japan sim card. this also eliminates the need for a wifi hot spot that some people get. your phone will perform just like when you are at home.

8. What kind of phone do you have? If you have a dual sim or eSIM enabled phone (pixels and iPhone X on up) you can have your US number embedded in your phone and buy a local internet only sim and use that for data and then use WhatsApp/FaceTime or something for phone calls

9. You can use google voice. They will give you a US number for free! Calls to and from the US are also free. Just tell your family and friends to call you to your google’s voice number.

   Getting an internet sim card is cheaper than getting an international plan with your carrier.

   Sakura mobile is cheap. I use them all the time.

10. Facetime, whatsapp, line, google hangouts, skype. I had a good experience with Sakura Mobile for rental sim a few times. Pickup from NRT post office was easy.

11. What’s app

12. I had (and still do) Google FI when I went to Japan. It worked perfectly when I was there. No additional fees or anything.

    Other suggestions of getting a Google voice number should also work.

13. T-Mobile offers unlimited international roaming (all data) for like $5 per month or something, it’s been around for a few years. I actually didn’t know people still swapped SIM cards at this point.

14. A lot of folks are point out companies, but it’s worth a call to your current provider on if they offer service (full or limited) in Japan.

    I had T-mobile a long time ago and I got super slow, but available data.

    This is fuzzy, but a buddy of mine had like full unlimited *everything* in Japan–and he lived there for two years, paying the same plan from home. Maybe he had Sprint, but I’m not sure or if he paid a touch more. But it was enough that he didn’t have internet at home or paid so much that he needed a Japanese plan.

    And, as someone else said, good chance you’ll never get a call. More of a formality really.