RResidents in Japan

Applying the SIM phone card in Japan

  • March 9, 2026

I'm the Japanese national spouse visa holder in Japan. I've been in Japan for almost 5 months now, and I want to apply SIM phone card + internet.
1) I haven't had a full time job in Japan. Will I achieve the eligibility to apply for SIM phone card in Japan? I've asked Y mobile counter directly, they answered that they won't know till I applied it. They need:
1. Zairyu card
2. My Number card.
3. Passport.
4. Credit card/ debit card of bank account in JP.
–> If there's no credit card in JP, then can I use overseas credit card to register and to deduct automatically each month?

2) For the requirement 1-3, I have them already. However, for 4th, I still don't have it as I only can open bank account in JP after 6 months residency in Japan. I'm a little bit confused also as when I saw the requirements of opening bank account USD/ JPY in Japan (Shinsei, Sony, SMBC) they also require mobile phone card number in Japan. May you guys advise which one comes first the mobile phone SIM card or the bank account?

3) As my wife already have Y mobile SIM phone card, she encouraged me to have the same Y mobile. As my wife already have the benefit with Tokyo gas + soft bank internet with the package of Y mobile, what if I also use the Y mobile at the same time? Will there be any more benefits?

4) They said that there will be PayPay points if I apply for Y mobile, but for my current mobile phone I can't download PayPay software. Is it only the problem of modifying the territory into Japan in the smartphone? OR are there also another requirements if I want to download PayPay in Japan?

by Unfair_Buy2933

7 comments

  1. Docomo doesn’t seem to care that we used US credit cards. No idea about Y! mobile.

    If you absolutely must have some sort of bank account, Japan Post Bank gave us an account didn’t give us any trouble a couple of months after we moved here. (That doesn’t handle USD, of course.)

  2. 4. It depends, for Y mobile I tried using foreign credit card and it didn’t work (this was 7 years ago). Some operators accept foreign cards, but it’s rather random.
    Main operators (SoftBank, au, Docomo) accept cash cards even if you are a foreign resident they are more expensive however, and you need a Japanese bank account.

    You can apply for a Japan post bank account before 6 months of residency. But you need a Japanese phone number for this, some esim can provide a Japanese phone number for cheap (ex: povo).

    For your smartphone, many Japanese financial services require an “osaifu keitai”, almost only phone sold in Japan are compatible, so you will need a new phone likely.

  3. Does your phone have an esim function? I have a 2nd phone that uses Povo, an MVNO under AU. It’s a pay as you go system so you top up as you use it: https://povo.jp/

    I got a referral from a colleague for a 100GB 3 day trial with a purchase of a top up. Could be a small purchase, I think they had one that was for 300 yen.

    Anyway, reason I mentioned this is because I was able to use my Wise to pay for the top up. It was extremely useful in a pinch.

  4. Unless you are using a weird credit company, overseas cards like VISA, MC, etc will work.

  5. I used a foreign credit card with AU for a UQ mobile sim when I first moved here a few years ago.

  6. just get your wife to open another line under family plan. 2nd line onward get discount.

  7. I applied for a sim card this year at Rakuten with a zairyuu card and my country’s credit card (visa). They prefer JP bank acct but I didn’t have any at that time.

    The only issue I had was the OTP for my credit card took several tries to arrive (probs roaming setring issue). I almost thought it wouldn’t work. Also, the branch near me only spoke Japanese so the conversation was a bit tough. But here I am with a sim card! 😃

    You could try calling your target branch ahead of time to confirm what you need to bring.

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