Updated October 2026
Japan SIM Card for Long Term Stay:
Plans Beyond 90 Days
Every travel SIM and eSIM in Japan stops at 90 days and carries no phone number. For a working holiday, a placement or a posting, that is the wrong product entirely.
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A Japan SIM card for long term stay means a resident monthly plan, not a travel one — and the English-language option we link is Sakura Mobile, whose resident Voice + Data SIM or eSIM is published from ¥2,980/month (¥3,278 tax included) with a Japanese 070, 080 or 090 number, data tiers from 5 GB to 100 GB, and a minimum use of one month; data-only is from ¥2,480/month (¥2,728 tax included) and Home Internet from ¥6,980/month (¥7,678 tax included) with “No Annual Contract”. What a resident plan needs and a travel one does not is a Residence Card, Japanese driver's licence or My Number Card registered to your current address — no Japanese bank account, though: an international card is accepted. Cancelling is a form, and the deadline is the 25th of the month. The reason none of this can be solved with a tourist eSIM: every travel product in Japan, Sakura Mobile's own included, is sold “Up to 90 Days” and the ones we price carry no number at all. All Sakura Mobile figures read off sakuramobile.jp on 28 Oct 2026.
With a Japanese number
From ¥2,980/month
Data only
From ¥2,480/month
Minimum term
One month, then rolling
What you must have
Card with current address
In short: fly in on a travel eSIM, because the resident application needs a card showing an address you do not have yet. Switch to a resident plan once the ward office has registered it — Voice + Data if anything in your life will ask for a phone number, which almost everything administrative in Japan does, and Data Only if it genuinely will not.
What Is the Best SIM Card for a Long Stay in Japan?
A resident monthly plan. The table below is the whole argument: the four columns on the right are the ones that separate a product you can live on from a product you can travel on, and the travel rows all fail at least one of them.
| Product | Price | Japanese number | Minimum term | What you need | Getting out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sakura Mobile Voice + Data SIM or eSIM (resident) | From ¥2,980/month (¥3,278 tax incl.) | Yes — a Japanese 070, 080 or 090 number | One month minimum, then rolling | Residence Card, Japanese driver's licence or My Number Card, registered to your current address — or a passport if you collect in person | Submit the termination form by the 25th to end that month |
| Sakura Mobile Data Only SIM or eSIM (resident) | From ¥2,480/month (¥2,728 tax incl.) | No | One month minimum, then rolling | Same documents as the Voice + Data plan | Same — by the 25th |
| Sakura Mobile Home Internet | From ¥6,980/month (¥7,678 tax incl.) | No — it is a fixed line, not a phone | Stated as "No Annual Contract", with speeds up to 10 Gbps | A Japanese address, and an installation at it | No annual tie-in on the company's own page |
| Sakura Mobile Pocket WiFi, monthly | From ¥4,980/month (¥5,478 tax incl.) | No | Monthly | A Japanese address for delivery | Monthly, same termination process |
| Sakura Mobile Travel SIM or eSIM | Travel SIM from ¥3,500 (¥3,850 tax incl.); Travel eSIM from ¥1,250 (¥1,375 tax incl.) | The Travel eSIM listing states a Japanese phone number is included; the data plans we price are data only | Sold as "Up to 90 Days" — the company's own ceiling | Nothing but a passport | It simply expires |
| A tourist eSIM (Klook, Airalo, Holafly, eSIM Go) | From $3.99 across the four providers we price | No — data only — and the same is true of every tourist eSIM in our comparison | No contract at all; plan lengths run in days | Nothing but an eSIM-capable handset | Nothing to cancel |
| Airport pocket WiFi rental | From $2.25/day on the listing | No | By the day, for the length of the rental | A passport at the counter | Returned at an airport counter |
Every Sakura Mobile figure and rule is the company's own, read off sakuramobile.jp on 28 Oct 2026; each is a published “from” price rather than a quote, and the data tier you pick moves it. Tourist eSIM prices come from our daily feed, checked 27 Oct 2026, and the phone-number clauses from the providers' own pages, 22 Oct 2026. Pocket WiFi specs read 2026-10-19 and daily rates 2026-10-09. No Klook price appears on this page: Klook blocks automated reads of its product pages. Our Sakura Mobile review goes through the travel plans in detail, and our SIM card vs eSIM guide is the version of this question for a two-week trip.
Can Foreigners Get a Phone Number in Japan?
Yes — on a resident plan, and only on a resident plan. This is the hinge of the whole decision, so it is worth being concrete about what the resident product buys that a travel one does not.
| What you get | What Sakura Mobile publishes (read 28 Oct 2026) | Why it matters on a long stay |
|---|---|---|
| A Japanese phone number | Sakura Mobile's Voice + Data resident plan carries a Japanese 070, 080 or 090 number. No tourist eSIM we price sells voice or SMS at any price. | This is the line a bank, a landlord, a clinic, a delivery company and most online checkouts will ask for. It is the single reason a long stay is a different problem from a holiday. |
| Data tiers sized for a month, not a trip | The resident plan is published with 5, 15, 30, 40, 60, 80 and 100 GB options. | A travel plan is priced per trip and tops out at 90 days. A 100 GB month is a different product from a 20 GB fortnight. |
| No fixed term | Sakura Mobile states "The minimum use is just one month", then it rolls monthly. | Japanese carriers have historically asked for a visa with a year or more left on it. A one-month minimum is what makes a six-month placement possible without a two-year contract. |
| No Japanese bank account | Sakura Mobile's own monthly page says no Japanese bank account is needed and that an international credit or debit card is accepted. | On arrival you have neither a bank account nor a hanko, and opening one often wants a phone number — which is the circle this breaks. |
| A home line, if you need one | Home Internet from ¥6,980/month (¥7,678 tax incl.), published with "No Annual Contract" and speeds up to 10 Gbps. | A mobile plan is not a substitute for a flat's internet if you work from it. The absence of an annual tie-in is the thing to check against any alternative. |
One thing worth saying plainly, because it surprises people arriving from countries where a prepaid number is a vending-machine purchase: in Japan the number is the identity document of everyday life. Bank applications, residential leases, clinic registrations, parcel redeliveries and the two-factor codes from Japanese online services all assume a domestic mobile number. Buying three months of data without one is not a cheaper version of the same thing; it is a different thing.
Do I Need a Residence Card to Get a SIM in Japan?
For a resident plan, effectively yes. For a travel plan, no — a passport is enough. The detail that catches people out is not the card itself but the address on it.
| How you get the SIM | What it accepts | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| eSIM, or a SIM delivered to your address | A Residence Card (Zairyu Card), a Japanese driver's licence or a My Number Card | Whichever you use must be registered with your current address. A card still showing the address you left is the most common reason an application stalls. |
| Collecting in person at an airport or office | A passport | This is the route that works on the day you land, before any card exists — but it is the travel product, not the resident plan. |
| No residence card at all | Passport only | You are limited to travel products: a travel SIM, a travel eSIM or a pocket WiFi rental. None of them is a resident plan and all of them stop at 90 days. |
Sakura Mobile's own wording for the resident plan is that the Residence Card, Japanese driver's licence or My Number Card “must be registered with your current address”. In practice a mid- or long-term status gets the residence card at the airport, but the address goes on it at the ward office after you have somewhere to live — which can be days after landing or several weeks. That window is why this page recommends arriving on a travel eSIM rather than waiting to sort a phone out: it is the one gap no resident plan can fill for you. Read on 28 Oct 2026.
Is a Tourist eSIM Enough for 3 Months?
For data on its own, nearly. For a stay, no — and the reason is a number rather than an opinion. Sakura Mobile sells its travel products as “Up to 90 Days” and its resident plans as “90+ Days”, which is the same line the immigration categories draw. A stay of “three months or more” therefore runs out of travel product at precisely the moment it becomes a long stay.
The second problem is the one the price comparison hides. Every tourist eSIM we price is data only — Sakura Mobile states a Japanese number comes only on its separate Voice + Data product — so three months on a travel eSIM means three months in which no Japanese institution can reach you by phone. The third is simply that renewing is not cheap: data-only resident service at ¥2,480/month (¥2,728 tax included) is hard to beat with three consecutive travel plans, and it does not stop at 90 days.
There is one honest exception. If the stay is genuinely under 90 days, you need nothing but data, and you would rather have no contract at all, a travel eSIM is the right answer — our best eSIM for Japan guide ranks them on current prices, and our eSIM guide for students is written for the study-abroad version of the same calculation. For everything longer, use the eSIM as the bridge rather than the plan. eSIM prices checked 27 Oct 2026.
What Covers the Gap Before a Resident Plan?
A resident application needs a card showing an address you will not have on the day you land, so the first week or two is a travel product by necessity rather than choice. There is nothing to cancel afterwards, which is the point.
- ▸Klook Japan eSIM — A monthly plan needs a residence card registered to a Japanese address, which you do not have on the day you land — a travel eSIM covers the week between arrival and the ward office with no contract to cancel afterwards. See eSIM options on Klook →
These go to Klook, which pays us a commission at no extra cost to you. Prices and availability are Klook's — we do not quote them here because its product pages block automated checks.
What Is the Minimum Term, and How Do You Cancel?
One month, and then a form by the 25th. Sakura Mobile's own guide to the resident Voice + Data plan states that “The minimum use is just one month”, after which the contract rolls and renews automatically each month until a termination form is received.
The cancellation rule is published in one sentence and is worth copying out exactly: “Submit by the 25th to cancel that month. Submit on the 26th or later and your contract runs one more month.” Missing it does not trigger a penalty — Japanese carriers have a reputation for those, and this is not one — it simply bills you another month. The practical advice is unglamorous: on the day you sign up, put the 25th of your departure month in a calendar, because the week you leave Japan is the week you will be closing a bank account, settling utilities and returning a key.
For a flat rather than a phone, Home Internet is published at ¥6,980/month (¥7,678 tax included) with speeds up to 10 Gbps and, explicitly, “No Annual Contract” — which is the clause to compare against any Japanese fixed-line offer, since the standard one is a two-year tie-in. The monthly Pocket WiFi at ¥4,980/month is the no-installation alternative for a short let. All read on 28 Oct 2026.
How Do You Set This Up, In Order?
Work out whether you will have a residence card — and when
A stay of more than 90 days on a work, student or working-holiday status gets a residence card, usually at the airport on arrival for a mid- or long-term status. But the address on it is registered at the ward office after you move in, and Sakura Mobile requires the card to show your current address. That gap of a few days or weeks is the whole planning problem.
Cover the gap with a travel product, not a contract
Buy a travel eSIM before you fly and activate it on landing. It costs from $3.99 across the four providers we price, there is nothing to collect and nothing to cancel, and it carries you through the days between arrival and a registered address. Klook's own Japan eSIM is one option if you are already booking transport there.
Decide whether you need a Japanese number
If yes, the resident Voice + Data plan is the product — from ¥2,980/month (¥3,278 tax incl.) with a 070, 080 or 090 number. If no, Data Only is ¥500 a month cheaper at ¥2,480 (¥2,728 tax incl.). Be honest about this one: almost everything administrative in Japan asks for a number, and it is tedious to add later.
Pick a data tier against how you will actually live
The resident plan is published at 5, 15, 30, 40, 60, 80 and 100 GB. The thing that changes the answer is whether the flat has its own internet: on a plan with no home line, tethering a laptop turns a 15 GB month into a 60 GB one.
Apply once your card shows the right address
No Japanese bank account is needed — Sakura Mobile's own page states an international credit or debit card is accepted, which is what makes this applyable in your first fortnight rather than your second month.
Note the 25th before you need it
Sakura Mobile's rule is published plainly: "Submit by the 25th to cancel that month. Submit on the 26th or later and your contract runs one more month." Put your departure month's 25th in a calendar on the day you sign up, not the week you leave.
Common Questions
1. What is the best SIM card for a long stay in Japan?
2. Can foreigners get a phone number in Japan?
3. Do I need a residence card to get a SIM in Japan?
4. Is a tourist eSIM enough for 3 months?
5. What is the minimum contract for a Japanese SIM?
6. How do I cancel a Japanese SIM when I leave?
7. Which is cheaper over six months — a resident plan or renewing travel eSIMs?
8. Can I get home internet for a short lease?
9. Can I keep my home number while on a Japanese plan?
10. What should I sort before I fly?
Bridge the gap, then sign the monthly plan
A travel eSIM for the days between landing and a registered address, then a resident plan from ¥2,980/month with a Japanese number and a one-month minimum. Remember the 25th when it is time to leave.