Frequently asked questions

A SIM card built into the phone as software. You install a plan by scanning a QR code instead of pushing a chip into a tray, and the plastic SIM you already have stays exactly where it is.

Most phones sold since 2018: iPhone XS and newer, Samsung Galaxy S20 and newer, Google Pixel 3 and newer, and most current Android models. The phone also has to be carrier-unlocked — worth checking early if yours came with a contract. Our setup guides show where to check on your model.

At home over Wi-Fi, a day or two before departure. Nothing starts running at that point: the clock begins when the eSIM first connects to a network in Japan. Installing early costs you nothing and saves you doing it on airport Wi-Fi with a queue behind you.

Yes. The eSIM is data-only, so your home line stays active for your number, your SMS codes and your messaging accounts. Point mobile data at the eSIM and leave the rest alone. What you do not get is a Japanese number — see below for what that means in practice, which is less than most people fear.

It runs on Japan's networks: LTE wherever they reach and 5G in the cities. Enough for maps through a station with fifteen exits, camera translation of a menu, video calls home, and working from a laptop over the hotspot.

No. Both lines run at once. The only setting that matters is which line carries mobile data: point it at the eSIM, and switch data roaming off on your home line so it cannot connect quietly in the background.

Top up in the app. The data goes onto the eSIM already installed in your phone, so there is no second QR code and nothing to reinstall.

Yes, tethering is included. One plan can carry a laptop, a tablet and everyone else on the trip — which is the job a rented pocket wifi used to do, without the second device.

Yes. The download itself needs Wi-Fi or a working connection, which is why you do it at home. Once installed, it activates on arrival with no connection of its own.

Not on this plan. It carries internet, not a phone line, so ordinary calls and texts stay on your home SIM, as does your number. In Japan the place this surfaces is bookings: a restaurant reservation form or a ticket pickup sometimes asks for a phone number to reach you on. Give your home number, which stays live on your own SIM, or ask your hotel to book — a normal thing to ask in Japan. Calling over the internet works as usual.

Every plan shows its own validity before you buy, and the range covers everything from a short city stay to a month along the whole archipelago. The countdown starts when the eSIM first connects in Japan, not on the day you paid.

It is sold for the country as a whole — Hokkaido to Okinawa, one plan, no regional add-ons. Signal is a separate question. Cities, rail corridors and towns are covered to a standard most visitors never think about, while long mountain trails, deep valleys and some small islands have thin coverage or none — from any operator, on any plan. Take offline maps for those. South Korea, Taiwan and other nearby stops are not included; the app sells those separately.

Payment runs through the App Store or Google Play, so your card details never reach us. If an eSIM will not install or activate on a compatible phone, message support in the app and we will fix it, or refund it where that is the right answer.

For a visit, usually. The airport counters sell workable tourist SIMs and rent pocket wifi, but they keep counter hours, they queue at exactly the moment you least want to stand in one, and a late arrival can miss them entirely. Pocket wifi is also a second device: collected at a desk, charged every night, carried everywhere and returned before departure, with the meter running by the day. The eSIM does the same job from inside the phone, at a price you saw before leaving home, and it is online in the arrivals hall rather than after the errand.