Hello guys,
I just moved here this week for my job. While everything else is settled I still don’t have a SIM card yet. My company has been gracious enough to give me a temporary phone for 2 weeks.
This might have been already asked but what are your suggestions to good SIM cards in Japan. I’ve seen there is docomo, sakura, au etc. Do I need to book an appointment beforehand? Btw, I live in Kawasaki right now.
5 comments
It depends on your needs honestly, and when I say needs, I mean how much data you will be using per month; also, if you would be interested in getting a smartphone with the sim card or not.
However personally, I would suggest 3 SIM card providers.
1. **LINEMO (3/20GB for 990/2728yen)**: I personally us this. No registration fee, no cancelation fee, first 5 minutes free for domestic calls for 1 year, and has some generous Paypay cashback offers.
2. **IJIMO (2/5/10/15/20GB for 850/990/1500/1800/2000yen):** Has one of the best data packages offered for the price, unfortunately has a registration and sim insurance fee. Sometimes they have good offers for terminal sets (smartphones) if you shift from other sim cards (MNP), wiser to take an eye on their website.
3. **LIBMO (3/8/20/30GB for 980/1518/1991/2728yen):** Their 20GB and 30GB packages are the least priced among the most I have seen, so if you are a heavy user, this might be one of the options you can consider. They also have a registration fee, however they often give away terminal sets (smartphones) for new users at a low price and sometimes free, so that’s a plus.
These are my recommendations, hope you find the sim card which best suits your needs.
I suggest Rakuten mobile or Ahamo. Both have good speeds and offer some free data to use when abroad.
Is your company paying for the telephone? If so, go with Docomo, which has the widest coverage. If not, try one of the ones suggested by u/Renz1er. I, too, use Linemo. The signup process was all online.
You can just walk in to a Docomo service center. I’m not sure they have any appointment system. (**N.B.:** I used to use Docomo back in the *keitai* days and when I had my first smartphone, but switched to another provider because the service at Docomo was so slow.)
I have Rakuten mobile, costs ~3K a month but has, among other things, 2GB of free data when abroad (additional GB is 500 yen) which is convenient as I travel outside Japan often. Usually 2GB is enough as hotels etc have wifi. Most of their app is in English which is also good. I think data for inside Japan is unlimited as are some calls and sms per month (I only use WA for calling people anyway, and sms only for authentication stuff) so have never got close to whatever the limit is. They have some phones that are cheap or almost free when you sign up.
HIS Mobile is very cheap.