Osaka Airport SIM Cards: A Guide for International Arrivals

A guide to the best SIM cards and their locations for travellers arriving at Osaka Airport. To help anyone arriving in Osaka, I included in this guide a map to shops selling SIM sim cards, which SIM cards can be purchased, and other options available for visitors arriving in Japan. 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 Osaka.

When arriving in Osaka, the airport has three shops selling SIM cards:

In Osaka airport, SIM cards can be purchased in the Terminal 1 arrivals area from:

• Anyfone, located near the North Arrivals area, pricing starts at 4,500 JPY¹
• Softbank, two stores each located near the North or South Arrivals area, pricing starts from 5,610 JPY²
• JAL ABC, with prices starting from 2,647 JPY³

I believe the JAL ABC shop is to the left of the South Arrivals area, but I’ve never seen it myself.

There is also a Docomo shop on the 4th floor (departures area) that sells SIM cards for arriving visitors too. While I’ve generally found Docomo’s network NTT to offer the best experience for visitors to Japan, I would prefer the convenience of JAL ABC, Anyfone or Softbank when arriving at Osaka.

Overall, I find the JAL ABC shop to be the best option for SIM cards when arriving in Osaka. The JAL ABC shop SIM cards include:

• TRE SIM with 2GB of data and 30 day validity for 2,647 JPY;
• Japan Prepaid SIM with 5GB of data and 30 day validity for 4,073 JPY;
• Unari-kun with unlimited data and 7 days validity for 4,073 JPY (15 day and 30 day options available as well)

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 Osaka airport that I found. Smash Mobile has options for 2,500 JPY +tax⁴ and Klook (a travel company) can arrange a SIM card with prices starting from roughly 1,050 JPY. These options tend to use the NTT network. Pick up should be at the Easy Go counter near Anyfone, or at the post office (not on the 1st floor).

If transiting to a domestic flight at Osaka airport a SIM card can be purchased after collecting luggage and passing through security. As transit passenger join all international arrivals, the directions above help transit passenger as well.

SIM cards discussed in this article either use the NTT Docomo network 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)⁵
• Hong Kong carrier Birdie offers day pass roaming for 15 HKD (roughly 210 JPY per day)⁶
• Australian carrier Optus offers 10GB of roaming data for 20 AUD (roughly 740 JPY and lasts for 14 days)⁷
• American AT&T includes Japan in their $70/month roaming passport or day pass for $10 (roughly 1,085 JPY) per day⁸

Comparing the SIM cards available at Osaka Airport

For visitors spending less than a week in Japan, ordering online is probably the best option with SIM cards available for little over 1000 JPY.

For visitors spending less than a month in Japan and more than a week, the Anyfone 3GB SIM card for 4,500 JPY is the best option I found when arriving in Osaka.

For visitors spending more than a month in Japan, Softbank sells a 10GB SIM card with 90 days validity for 7,150 JPY. If staying longer than this, or after more data, Smash Mobile (see ordering online below) likely offers a better deal - they have SIM cards targeted at foreigners who will be living in Japan.

I’ve found three options for SIM cards when arriving at Osaka Airport from overseas:

1. Anyfone, which offers 3GB of data with 31 day validity for 4,500 JPY
2. Softbank, with 3GB of data and 30 day validity for 5,610 JPY
3. Ordering online

Ordering a SIM card online for collection at Osaka Airport is the cheapest option, though it means planning ahead (which I don’t always have time for). 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 called EASY-GO at and is open 8:30am to 22:00pm. Smash Mobile is collected from the post office (open 9am to 5pm, 7 days).

Anyfone also offers a 10GB SIM card for 6,000 JPY with 31 day validity. I’ve never been able to figure out how to extend the validity of Anyfone SIM cards.

Softbank SIM cards include:

• 3GB of data, 5,610 JPY, 30 day validity (as mentioned above)
• 3GB of data, 6,500 JPY, 31 day validity - this one can be extended and topped up with 500mb for 1,620 JPY
• 10GB of data, 7,150 JPY, 90 day validity (no extension)

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 Osaka Kansai Airport

Free Wi-Fi is available at Osaka Airport. Connect to osaka-airport-free-wifi and agree to the terms and conditions to get started.

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/

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