Getting online in Japan
A travel eSIM is a data plan you install before departure and switch on when you land, so your phone is online in Japan without roaming charges and without hunting for a SIM counter at arrivals. Your home number stays where it is — the eSIM sits alongside it.
Plans, prices, data amounts and validity are set by our partner and shown on their own page. We do not repeat them here because they change and we do not measure them.
Where you land in Japan
These are the airports in Japan with scheduled flights and an IATA code. The minute you step off one of them is the minute an eSIM stops being optional.
| Airport | Code | City |
|---|---|---|
| Aomori Airport | AOJ | Aomori |
| Chubu Centrair International Airport | NGO | Tokoname |
| Fukuoka Airport | FUK | Fukuoka |
| Hakodate Airport | HKD | Hakodate |
| Hiroshima Airport | HIJ | Hiroshima |
| Kagoshima Airport | KOJ | Kagoshima |
| Kansai International Airport | KIX | Osaka |
| Kitakyushu Airport | KKJ | Kitakyushu |
| Kobe Airport | UKB | Kobe |
| Kochi Ryoma Airport | KCZ | Nankoku |
| Komatsu Airport / JASDF Komatsu Air Base | KMQ | Kanazawa |
| Kumamoto Airport | KMJ | Kumamoto |
Where you will actually use the data
The largest towns and cities near those arrival airports, by population (GeoNames). Coverage is the partner's to state, not ours — this is simply where travellers in Japan tend to be.
- Osaka2 753 862 people
- Nagoya2 332 176 people
- Fukuoka1 612 392 people
- Kobe1 525 152 people
- Kyoto1 463 723 people
- Hiroshima1 200 754 people
- Kitakyushu940 978 people
- Sakai826 161 people
Before you buy
Two things worth checking on your own handset, because they decide whether any eSIM works at all: the phone must be eSIM capable, and it must be carrier unlocked. Most phones sold in the last few years are both; phones bought on a carrier contract often are not until the contract ends.
We do not test handsets and cannot tell you whether yours qualifies — your phone's settings screen and your carrier can.