Pocket Wi-Fi rental in Japan

Updated 5 September 2026, rebuilt around Japan’s radio-equipment rules — what the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications actually permits visitors to use, the published hours of the rental counters at Haneda, Narita and Kansai, and how the options compare. No prices: they change weekly and are not something we can source.

Almost every guide to pocket Wi-Fi in Japan opens with a price table. Start somewhere more useful — with the reason the product exists at all. Radio equipment used in Japan has to meet standards set by theRadio Act, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) publishes a short, official list of which foreign devices a visitor may and may not switch on here. Awireless LAN router you brought from home is on the “must not” side of that list. Your phone and laptop are on the “may” side, with conditions and a 90-day clock.

That is the whole logic of the market: you rent a hotspot in Japan because you are not allowed to bring one. Below is what MIC actually says, in its own English wording, followed by the practical comparison and the airport pickup hours each airport publishes.

The mark that makes wireless equipment legal here

“To prevent interference in the use of radio waves, radio equipment used in Japan must conform to the technical standards listed in Chapter 3 of the Radio Act. (Whether a device conforms to the technical standards can be confirmed via the technical conformity mark (Figure 1).)” (MIC, Radio Use Portal, official English)

That mark — giteki mark, 技適マーク — is what a Japanese-market phone, router or Bluetooth speaker carries. MIC then carves out an exception so that visitors are not stranded:

“However, to allow tourists visiting Japan to easily use their wireless equipment (mobile phones, BWA devices, wireless LAN devices, etc.), even devices that do not have the technical conformity mark may be used in Japan as long as they meet certain conditions, such as the equivalent technical standards defined in the Radio Act and what not.” (MIC)

MIC’s leaflet for visitors makes the same point with pictures. It prints two lists, and the second one has exactly two entries:

Wording taken verbatim from MIC’s English-language leaflet Attention Visitors to Japan. The Bluetooth side of the leaflet lists wireless headphones, wireless speakers, selfie sticks and wireless mice as devices that may be used, on the strength of the Bluetooth logo.

What the 90-day exception actually covers

The exception is narrower than “foreign gadgets are fine for 90 days”. It applies to low-power data communication (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth), it requires the international logo on the device, and — for Wi-Fi — it only permitsthree specific ways of using it. MIC’s leaflet states the headline condition:

“However, when the device conforms to the following requirements, they are exempt from this rule and may be used for 90 days after entering Japan.” (MIC leaflet, official English)

For Wi-Fi, the device must carry the Wi-Fi logo showing it meets, in MIC’s words,IEEE 802.11a/b/n/ac/ax/be standards; for Bluetooth, the Bluetooth logo showingBluetooth Core Specification Version 2.1 and later standards. Then the permitted uses, band by band — this table is MIC’s, reproduced from the leaflet:

MIC prints ○ and ✕; we have written Yes and No. *MIC’s footnote: When two devices directly communicate with each other via 6 GHz band VLP, one of the devices must be a smartphone. The bands are defined on the same page as 2.4 GHz (2,400–2,483.5 MHz), 5.2 GHz (5,150–5,250 MHz), 5.3 GHz (5,250–5,350 MHz), 5.6 GHz (5,470–5,730 MHz) and 6 GHz (5,925–6,425 MHz). The leaflet also notes that Since December 2023, even some 6 GHz band wireless LAN devices now fall under the 90-day usage-exception rule in Japan.

Two consequences people miss. First, the tethering row is why your own laptop is fine but your own router is not: hotspotting from your phone is a listed permitted use, running an access point of your own is not. Second, there is an indoor rule. MIC: 2.4 GHz, 5.6 GHz, and 6 GHz band VLP is for both indoor and outdoor use, whereas 5.2 GHz, 5.3 GHz, and 6 GHz band LPI is for indoor use only.

And the clock is a hard stop. MIC’s FAQ, question 3 — What should I do if my stay in Japan is longer than 90 days? — answers: The above devices cannot be used for longer than 90 days. Please use wireless equipment with a technical conformity mark.

Phones, roaming and SIM cards are a separate rule

Mobile phone and BWA devices are handled in their own section, and the default there is stricter — the mark is required — with two named ways out:

“To use mobile phones and BWA devices brought into Japan from overseas, they must have a technical conformity mark (Figure 1). However, in the following cases, even devices without this mark may be used: When you use an international roaming service provided by a Japanese mobile or BWA carrier with devices that supports international roaming… When you use a device from overseas that supports international roaming… with a SIM card from a Japanese mobile or BWA carrier.” (MIC)

Note what that wording does and does not say. Both routes run over a Japanese carrier’s network — one as roaming, one on a Japanese carrier’s SIM. MIC’s page says SIM card and does not use the word eSIM anywhere, and it refers you to the carriers for detail: For details, please contact the mobile or BWA carrier. We are not going to extrapolate beyond that. If you are buying a visitor eSIM, the sensible question for the seller is which Japanese network it runs on and under which of those two arrangements.

What the law says happens if you get it wrong

MIC attaches a standing note to the answers in its technical-conformity-mark Q&A. In the original, and translated:

「電波法違反の場合、１年以下の拘禁刑又は１００万円以下の罰金の対象となります。また、公共性の高い無線局に妨害を与えた場合は、５年以下の拘禁刑又は２５０万円以下の罰金の対象となります。」
“A violation of the Radio Act is subject to imprisonment of up to 1 year or a fine of up to ¥1,000,000. And where interference is caused to a radio station of high public importance, it is subject to imprisonment of up to 5 years or a fine of up to ¥2,500,000.” (MIC, technical conformity mark Q&A, translated)

Those figures come from the Radio Act itself. Article 110 sets imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to ¥1,000,000, its first item covering operating a radio station without the licence required by Article 4. Article 108-2 sets up to five years or ¥2,500,000 for interfering with radio equipment used for telecommunications or broadcasting business, or for the protection of life and property, public order, meteorological services, electricity supply or railway train operation — the weather-radar interference MIC illustrates on the back of its visitor leaflet is precisely that category.

Realistically, nobody is arresting a tourist over a hotel-room router. But this is also why you should be suspicious of a “technical conformity mark” that has been added after the fact: Article 38-7(3) of the Radio Act forbids anyone in Japan from putting that mark, or a confusingly similar one, on equipment that has not been certified, and Article 112 makes that punishable by a fine of up to ¥500,000.

Five ways to get online, compared

No prices here, deliberately: rental rates, data caps and plan names change constantly and no official source publishes them. What follows is what each option requires of you, which is the part that does not change. OureSIM & SIM guide covers the phone-side options in more detail.

Where each option sits under the Radio Act

Picking one up at the airport — the hours nobody checks

“Rental kiosks are located at all major airports,” says JNTO, and that is true. What it does not say is that most of those counters keep shop hours while international flights do not. Here is what each airport publishes on its own site.

Hours are as published by each airport operator on 2026-09-05 and change with the flight schedule and with operators moving in and out — check the airport’s own page for your terminal before you rely on a counter being open. Terminal 1 at Haneda notes its 05:00–24:00 shops are open (during museum opening hours), which is the terminal building’s wording, not ours.

The alternative to any counter is delivery. JNTO: Alternatively, make a prior reservation via the internet and have your device delivered straight to your hotel. That removes the queue, at the cost of your first hours in Japan being offline — worth pairing with a roaming day-pass or the free Wi-Fi below.

Free public Wi-Fi: useful, and not a substitute

Japan’s big airports all put free Wi-Fi in their terminals, so you are online before you reach any counter. Beyond the airport it thins out. JNTO is blunt about both the coverage and the quality: don’t expecttraditional ryokan hotels and smaller minshuku style accommodation to offer it, andthe signal on some of these free services can be patchy and slow.

The most widely available visitor service is SoftBank’s FREE Wi-Fi PASSPORT. Its own English page sets out the terms, and they are more restrictive than the name suggests:

• The Service has no charge and can be used for 2 weeks (the Service can be used continuously by obtaining a new password).
• In order to use this Service, the customer must provide their mobile phone number, password, gender and age group.
• Mobile devices that do not support LTE cannot be used.
• The Service may not be available depending on your contract with your mobile provider, for instance prepaid contracts.
• Up to 5 devices can be connected.
• And the one worth reading twice: This Wi-Fi service is not encrypted. Please use this service after taking into consideration of a security risk.

You connect to the SSID .FREE_Wi-Fi_PASSPORT, then obtain a password by phone call or email; SoftBank’s current guide describes those two routes. Because the network is unencrypted, treat it the way you would any open hotspot — fine for maps and messaging apps that encrypt themselves, not the place to do your banking. A rented pocket Wi-Fi, by contrast, is your own WPA-protected network.

Checking the mark on a device you already own

If you want to know whether a device is certified for Japan, do not just look for a printed logo. Japanese rules allow two quite different placements, and modern phones use the second:

• Printed on the equipment — MIC: 「特定無線設備の見やすい箇所…に表示することができます。」(“It may be displayed in a readily visible place on the specified radio equipment…”, translated)
• Shown on the device’s own screen — 「特定無線設備本体のディスプレイに技適マークを表示することができます。この場合、技適マークは、特定の操作によって直ちに明瞭な状態で表示できないといけません。」(“The technical conformity mark may be displayed on the display of the specified radio equipment itself. In that case, the mark must be capable of being shown clearly and immediately by a specific operation.”, translated)

So the mark for a phone normally lives in a certification screen in the settings, not on the back of the case. MIC also runs a public search of equipment that has been granted technical conformity certification, if you want to check a specific model by name or certification number.

Frequently asked questions

General information, current as of 2026-09-05; not legal advice. The radio-equipment rules above are set by law and summarised from MIC’s own English and Japanese pages — where our translation and the original differ, the original governs, and MIC lists contact numbers for questions about specific devices. Rental prices, data allowances, counter operators and opening hours are set by private companies and change without notice; this guide explains how renting works and does not endorse any provider.