Renting Mobile Phone in Japan

Japan Traveller Questions
1

We (2 people) plan to travel to Tokyo, Kyoto, etc. for about 14 days. One of us has an iPhone, the other does not. So we are thinking of getting a Pocket Wifi for one phone, and rent a temporary phone (with web/data and voice access). I can find good info for Pocket Wifi, but not sure how to go about renting a new phone for 14 days (returnable at Narita or via prepaid postal service). Is it possible to rent a phone with an assigned voice number and web/internet access from Narita?

Which companies would you recommend? Most companies seem to assume you have a phone and want to sell a SIM card or Pocket WiFi. We are looking for a new temporary phone with voice/data (Not sure if such phones will come with temporary data/voice access or will this new phone have to be also connected via a separate Pocket Wifi or SIM card).

Much thanks for any guidance!!

2

Hi jedi
Sorry I’m not too familiar with phone rental, but I did a quick search and there seems to be a few options.

softbank is a reputable telecom company in Japan, so that might be an option

Perhaps an alternative would be to borrow an old smartphone from a friend and purchase a 14 day data sim in Japan

cheers
Q

3

The costs are really prohibitive and the service levels are low.

I strongly recommend getting any phone, with a working sim or not, and renting from LightPocket. https://lightpocket.jp/en/.

You don’t need a sim, just turn on the wifi button and you can use your phone (or two or three phones on the same unit!) next week ctrip charge.

I use over 100gb a month (sometimes 30gb a day) and am never throttled. There is no limit on usage. The service is great and the prices are the same or better than other providers.

Check out LightPocket!

4

I would like to use my European sim card (I must stay connected with my own phone number, and most reservations are made with that number). So I would like to rent a smartphone and put my sim card in it. This seems to be a very rare deal! Has anyone found out where to get it?
Of course I’ll take a pocket wifi for data, but I need to take a few short calls from Europe, so I’ll gladly up pay for those. My own smartphone (GSM in stead of W-CDMA) does not work in Japan. It would do wifi, but no calls.
We will visit Tokyo and Nara for about 14 days.
Thanks in advance,
Tom

5

Why don’t you just get an eSIM for data in Japan? You can roam with your European SIM for calls and use the eSIM for data. No need to carry two phones around. Also, you’ll be fine with GSM in Japan unless you have a very exotic or extremely old handset.