Visitor SIM Cards at Nagoya Airport: A Guide for Arrivals

A guide to the options for travellers arriving in Japan via Nagoya Airport. To help anyone arriving in Nagoya, I put together this guide based on my own experience and research. It can be tough figuring out what to do when landing in a foreign country, even if you’ve been there before. I travel a lot and know what it feels like. Hopefully this guide makes it a bit easier for you when you’re arriving in Nagoya.

When arriving in Nagoya, there are four places to buy a SIM card at the airport:

At Nagoya airport, SIM cards can be purchased from the:

• NTT vending machine in terminal 1, starting from 2980 JPY +tax¹
• Ninja vending machine in terminal 1, starting from 4,900 JPY +tax²
• Softbank counter & vending machine in terminal 1, starting from 5,610 JPY³
• Anyfone vending machine in terminal 2, starting from 4,500 JPY⁴

I’ve found credit card the best way to purchase a SIM card from a vending machine. The Softbank counter should take cash.

Prepaid SIM cards can also be ordered online for collection at the airport or at any postal address (house, hotel etc.). Ordering online is the cheapest way for getting a SIM card when arriving at Nagoya airport that I found. Smash Mobile has options for 2,500 JPY +tax⁵ and Klook (a travel company) can arrange a SIM card with prices starting from roughly 1,050 JPY.

Ordering a SIM card online for collection is available at Nagoya airport. An example is Smash Mobile for 2,500 JPY +tax.

SIM cards discussed in this article either use the NTT Docomo network (most of them) or the Softbank network (the Softbank and Anyfone SIMs). I’ve found NTT to provide slightly better coverage when using foreign phones due to the use of similar frequencies; the difference isn’t very often noticeable though. The other network in Japan is au by KDDI is mostly unavailable to foreigners as it uses a different technology.

Wi-Fi rental is advertised heavily in Japan. It is pitched at visitors who can have a hard time figuring out if their phone will work on local Japanese networks; this is also different for different parts of the country. I’ve never liked renting Wi-Fi or a SIM card when visiting a country, it means having to find the shop to return it upon departure (and what if it’s not even open!).

Roaming into Japan with a foreign SIM

Many countries nearby have cheap Japan roaming SIM cards available. These can be a good option if stopping over at such a country on the way to Japan. For example:

• Singaporean carrier Starhub offers 1GB of prepaid roaming data for use in Japan - 8 SGD (roughly 640 JPY, starting from 7 days)⁶
• Hong Kong carrier Birdie offers day pass roaming for 15 HKD (roughly 210 JPY per day)⁷
• Australian carrier Optus offers 10GB of roaming data for 20 AUD (roughly 740 JPY and lasts for 14 days)⁸
• American AT&T includes Japan in their $70/month roaming passport or day pass for $10 (roughly 1,085 JPY) per day⁹

Comparing the SIM cards available at Nagoya Airport

Ordering a SIM card online for collection at Nagoya Airport is the best out of the dozen-or-so options available. Examples of SIM cards available for collection include:

• Smash Mobile, 1GB with 7 day validity for 2,500, more details here
• Klook, 1GB with 6 day validity for 1,050 JPY, longer validity and more data available, order online here

Klook is a voucher website that will arrange a SIM card for collection upon purchase of their voucher. Show the voucher at the counter to collect the SIM card. The counter is EASY-GO at Japan Holiday Travel and is open 9:30am to 6:30pm. Smash Mobile is collected from the post office (open 9am to 5pm weekdays only).

Alternatives to ordering online include:

• Visits less than 7 days: NTT Vending Machine SIM card for 2,980 JPY +tax
• Visits around a month: Ninja Vending Machine SIM card for 4.900 JPY +tax
• Visits for a few months: Softbank has a 90 day SIM card for 7,150 JPY or Smash Mobile has options for around 10,000 JPY +tax that include unlimited data.

Wi-Fi rental is available at the Wi-Fi rental counter. If SIM cards are available, they likely offer more flexibility and less hassle (i.e. no need to return it) than Wi-Fi rental.

From what I could find, this is a list of all the SIM cards that can be found at Nagoya Airport:

• NTT (Terminal 1):
  7 day validity, 100mb/day, 2,980 JPY +tax
  14 day validity, 100mb/day, 3,500 JPY +tax
• Ninja (Terminal 1):
  30 day validity, 3GB, 4,900 JPY +tax
  30 day validity, 7GB, 7,700 JPY +tax
  Can be extended with 1GB for 2,000 JPY +tax valid until end of calendar month
• Softbank (Terminal 1):
  30 day validity, 3GB, 5,610 JPY
  31 day validity, 3GB, 6,500 JPY, can be recharged with 500mb for 1,620 JPY
  90 day validity, 10GB, 7,150 JPY
• Anyfone (Terminal 2):
  31 day validity, 3GB, 4,500 JPY
  31 day validity, 10GB, 6,000 JPY

Receiving a delivered SIM card at a residential address

Many SIM card providers in Japan offer to deliver a SIM card to a hotel, office, home address, or selected post offices (such as at major airports). While this offers some alternatives to the above, I find the Klook voucher hard to beat.

Some of the SIM cards that can be bought by delivery include:

• Smash Mobile, 1GB of data for 2,500 JPY (including delivery, plus tax), more data options available
• b-mobile, 5GB of data for approximately 2,400 JPY, more data options are also available
• Japan Travel SIM (with VOIP card), 1GB of data for approximately 2,800 JPY (including delivery)

If staying more than 21 days, order a Smash Mobile SIM. Other providers tend to have short expiry.

Smash Mobile SIM cards are valid from 7 to 90 days. Top-up options:

• Extra data costs 3,800 JPY plus tax for 3GB
• Extra validity (only available on the unlimited plan) costs 5,500 JPY for 30 days

b-mobile SIM cards are valid for 10 or 21 days. Top-up options:

• Extra data costs 500 JPY per gigabyte
• Extra validity costs 500 JPY per day

Details of Smash Mobile can be found here: https://smashmobile.jp/travelers/

Details of b-mobile can be found here: https://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/product.html

Details for the Japan Travel SIM can be found here.

Making phone calls with a Japanese SIM

Prepaid SIM cards for short-term visitors to Japan do not usually include local phone calls.

To make phone calls while in Japan I like to use a service such as Skype. Skype usually works well with a data connection and calls are 2-10 cents (USD) per minute depending on whether the call is going to a landline or mobile. For calling back home, I prefer using an app such as WhatsApp.

To receive phone calls in Japan, I’ve only ever tried using the app Line. I haven’t found a good solution to receiving phone calls from Japanese numbers while visiting Japan; let me know if you have a good idea.

It is apparently possible to receive calls with the Japan Travel SIM card (and its associated VoIP card) but I’ve never tried. I’ve also heard it’s possible using Softbank or a provider called Wi-Ho. These are the only ways I know of to get a phone number as a short-term visitor to Japan, a number that could be used by people outside the country can also use to call.

To find out more about the different options for calling people (and being called) while travelling, I wrote a helpful guide that can be found here: https://landinglastminute.com/calling-while-travelling-guide/

Wi-Fi at Nagoya Airport

Free Wi-Fi is available at Nagoya Airport. Connect to FreeWiFi-centrair and agree to the terms and conditions to get started. The Wi-Fi may not cover the entire airport, there are signs posted where it is confirmed to work.

Roaming a Japanese SIM card to another country

The only Japanese SIM card I found that offers prepaid roaming (to other countries) that can be sold to a visitor to Japan is the IIJmio Global Travel SIM Service. This is the same company behind the Japan Travel SIM mentioned earlier in this guide. Prices start from around 6,800 JPY and it can be purchased from Bic Camera or online (Japanese only): https://www.iijmio.jp/gts/

References: