Getting WiFi In Japan

So, Japan isn't the easiest country in the world for getting connected to the internet. It has been getting better in the last few years, but it's not like you can just walk into any cafe and there will automatically be wifi. Anyway, today we're going to go around Tokyo and we're going to show you exactly how to do it. The easy and quick ways, and hopefully cheaper ways of getting connected. So are you looking to connect to the internet? No problem. There are many cafes all over Tokyo that offer free wifi. Just look for the free wifi sticker or ask in store. So how to get connected using Starbucks wifi. So I'm using my iPhone here. First thing to do is to connect to their wifi hotspot. So I go to settings, I go to switch on wifi, and I choose the wifi network. And it's usually called Starbucks Wii 2, something that's usually along those lines, and I connect to the network. If it doesn't automatically open the web browser, you can just go straight to your web browser. And next is the login screen. Now for the login screen, if you haven't pre-registered, your means of connecting is by using your social media accounts. So I'm going to go and log in using my Twitter account. So I go to the Twitter button, type in my username and password, and sign in, and I'm connected. Simple as that. Without the internet, it may be hard to contact others, especially in the dense population of Tokyo. So here is another option of how to connect to the internet. So another option for connecting to the internet is train stations. When you go down to the platform, you usually find a Tokyo Metro or JR wifi signal which you can connect to. And they're usually very easy to log into, you just have to click an agree to terms button. You don't need to put your email in or pre-register or anything. Typically they have a limited amount of time you can use them from, but lately they've been quite generous, like 3 hours or something. So if you're in a pinch and you don't have any other kind of internet connection, you know, you need to email somebody who's got lost, then the train stations are a good option. Are you paying attention? Yeah. Thanks. Another easy option is most major convenience stores have free wifi. So here we are at Lawson, going to connect to their wifi. It's very simple, just turn wifi on, find the Lawson wifi connection. They're normally pretty obvious, like Family Mart, it's Famimart wifi, 7-11 is 7-11 something. So I just find a network, connect to it. If it doesn't automatically open up with the login page, then I just go to a web browser and enter in a URL or something and it will come up with the login page. I switch to English, press the access internet button. Now you do need to register an email address, so I'm just going to register Tokyo Cheapo. Click agree to terms of service. You can read them if you want, we're not going to read them right now. That would take some time. And press the register button. Japanese internet is all about confirmation, so user entry confirmation. Press the register button again. And agree to the terms of service again. And now finally I'm connected to the internet. So let's just go and double check that worked. There we go. When it comes to convenience stores, everyone has their favourite. I actually prefer 7-11, whereas Chris prefers Lawson. The reason I like 7-11 is because connecting to the internet is really easy. For Wi-Fi, you just have to tap a single button and you're in. OK, so now we're going to look at SIM cards. Of course, there's vending machines selling SIM cards at the airport. You can book them online first through our website or whatever. But, if you arrive in Japan and you still don't have a SIM card, do not fear, because you can buy them at electronic stores like Big Camera here. So, let's go inside and get a SIM card. So it may be pretty confusing as in which SIM card to buy, especially when you can't read the language. However, let us break it down for you. Prepaid data SIM cards are usually just 1-3GB of data and it lasts for a short period within 1-3 months. If you want to buy a long-term SIM card, then your best option would be to be on the monthly plan. They also come in different sizes, so make sure to get the one that is compatible with your phone. If you're still confused on which one to get, then ask a staff member. So we've just been to Big Camera and we picked up a Nano SIM card. This is a travel SIM. So we're going to go and put this in the phone now. So we're just going to tell you a little bit about this particular one we chose. This is not the only company that provides these travel SIMs. There are a few other companies. One is B-Mobile. This one is done by a company called Eshmio. And there's also another one called SamuraiSim. So this particular one is 1GB for 30 days. Some other alternatives are 2GB or 3GB. The prices of those are around ¥3,000 to ¥4,000. And you can also buy top-ups. So we're just going to open it up and put it into a phone. Yeah, so put it in here. First of all, this stuff is pretty much rubbish. Show them the map. I'm going to show them the map. It's not a map. It's a beautiful Japanese scene. Sorry, it's not a map. We can use this as a backdrop for our little demonstration. If we look in here... You threw what we needed. Great job. Where is it? The SIM. We've lost the SIM. Don't throw the SIM away. Don't do what we did. Oh, I found it! It's stuck to the back. This is a very good demonstration of exactly how this would go for you as well. Is this your first time doing this? No, I've actually done it before, but not with this particular one. I've done it with multiple different SIM cards. But I think this beautiful scene just put me off a little bit. Here is the travel SIM. It's a nano-SIM. I think we might have mentioned it before, but you have to be very careful you get the right size for your phone. So if you've got a modern iPhone like this one, it would be a nano-SIM like this. Let's just pop that out. There we go. So that's out. Don't throw this card away, because it has some useful information on there. There we go, it's in. OK, switch it on. And then is it pretty straightforward from there? We're not quite there. There are a few steps. First we have to build the origami crane. Oh, this is very interesting. Before you complete the process, this is before you activate the phone, you must build the origami crane. I was wondering what this was. I thought it was a map. Step 1, start with a square sheet of paper. Step 2, place your thumb. Yeah, let's do what we're here for. OK, so it's 20 minutes later, and we've finally worked out how to get internet with this travel SIM. The key thing we need for this travel SIM to work is Wi-Fi, which is kind of ironic, because we're doing this so we can get internet, but we need internet so we can get internet. So we're going to open up Safari, and we're going to download a profile. So if we download that, and tap install, and there we go, we've installed the profile. So now if we go to turn off Wi-Fi, it's back here, let's turn off Wi-Fi, and if we go to internet, we should be able to load it. Let's try a popular website. There you go. Yay, it worked. Simple. Very simple, yeah. But it has English instructions, so if you do ever get confused or lost, you can just look at the instructions and follow them. It's pretty self-explanatory. You guys didn't get confused and lost after all. Well actually, the reason we kind of got a bit lost is because I didn't bother reading the instructions. So if you're interested in these different sims, you can also look on our website. We've got a comparison of all the different options. We'll link it somewhere. I'll put a picture here, and link it. So this is the Wi-Fi router, is it? It is. Here's one I made earlier. This isn't actually from Japan, this is one I brought with me from England, and it's actually about 5 years old. But this symbolically represents the idea that you can get Wi-Fi router rental in Japan. That's a really easy way of connecting to the internet. And it's good if you use a lot of data, if you've got several devices like a laptop, a phone, another phone. Basically, there's a number of suppliers that will rent you one of these. Normally, you can book one online before you come here. They'll ship it to your hotel, you can pick it up at the airport, and you can have it for anything from 3 days to a month. Often, you can get an unlimited data package, or at least the data package will be like 10 gigabytes or something. And the advantage with these, unlike the sim cards, there's no faffing around. You just turn it on, and you connect to it, connect to the Wi-Fi, and it works. The only possible drawback is if you're in the countryside and you're somewhere where there's no cell phone reception, it won't work. But that's the same with the sim card. That wouldn't work either. Those are the ways you can connect to the internet. There were quite a few ways, weren't there? There were a number. So many, I can't remember the count. Yes, yes, yes. So those are the ways you can connect to the internet. I hope you found it helpful, and we will see you next time. High five. Marvellous. Yay! That's a wrap.