Get your smartphone ready for your Japan trip

Here is a list of useful tips to get ready your smartphone before you go to Japan:

1. SIM card (for Internet access)

From my understanding, foreigners cannot get any SIM card with call capability in / outside Japan. They are all data plan only. Furthermore, it seems that getting a SIM card outside Japan is cheaper than getting in Japan.

We get our SIM card from Hello1010. It normally lasts for 7 or 10 days, from the day you activate the SIM card. The drawback of the SIM card is it does not allow top-up. So, if you travel more than 10 days. You may want to consider buying two SIM cards, and only activate the second SIM card on a later date to cover the second half of your trip.

If you search on the Internet, you will probably come across some information regarding free WiFi available in Japan. An example is the Travel Japan app (available in both Android and iOS). In Kansai airport, we even found their booth and have them helped to setup for us. However, our personal experience is the WiFi spots are very limited, mostly at stations, and the speed is slow. So it is still the best to rely on the 3G/4G connections provided by the SIM cards.

2. Translation

We have Google Translate installed on our phone before our trip to Japan. The input source of Google Translate does not restrict to typing only. It can be photo, voice, or handwriting. We found that photo input is extremely useful for people with special dietary. We can just take a photo of the ingredient information on the food package, Google Translate will get it translated for us. A small tip is to get Japanese keyboard installed on your phone too. When you cannot communicate with any Japanese in English, you can ask them to type into Google Translate.

A big drawback of Google Translate is it requires Internet connection. So, get a SIM card!

3. Maps and navigation

Google Maps is definitely a good option. It has most updated information, but remember it requires Internet connection (just like Google Translate).

If you are looking for offline map, MAPS.ME is a good one (available in both Android and iOS). Download the app and the offline map, then you are good to go. Although it may not be as updated as Google Maps, the main attractions are definitely searchable in the app.

4. Public transport (Train)

Travel by train is convenient in Japan. However, trains in Japan are run by several organizations. Therefore, whatever travel pass you purchased may work on JR lines but not local trains. When you travel by train in Japan, two main challenges await you:

1. How much is the fare? Most of the time you may find that knowing only your destination is not enough. It is because when you purchase your ticket using ticketing machines, they only show the fare but not station names. So you need to know how much you need to pay to get to the destination.
2. Where to transit? When there is no direct line to your destination, you need to know where to transit.

Luckily we found this app, Hyperdia, to be extremely helping. Just put in your departure-arrival stations and time, it will show you options of trains you can catch, the platform you should wait for the train, the time, and also the fare.