What does a card shop trip to Japan need your phone online for, and which connection covers it?

Where the trip uses data

Shop tournaments run on phone apps. Pokémon's beginner page says you log in to Players Club on your own smartphone or tablet beforehand and scan the QR code the shop shows on the day. Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG shop events accept check-in only by the barcode in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Neuron app. BANDAI TCG+, used for ONE PIECE, Gundam, Union Arena, Fusion World and other Bandai games, handles event entry, check-in, pairing notices and result entry. The play space and tournament guide covers what each system asks for at sign-up.

Shop information is mostly in Japanese. Of the 32 shops in our guides, 13 have an English page on their own site; the rest publish hours, event schedules and closures in Japanese only, so a translation app does a lot of the work. The map buttons on our shop guides open Google Maps directions, which also need a connection.

Paying can involve the phone too. Card Labo Ikebukuro lists code payments including PayPay, Alipay and WeChat Pay alongside credit cards and transit IC cards, and the guide to shop rules shows how the accepted methods differ by chain.

The SMS step for Pokémon events

Players Club registration needs an email address and a mobile phone number, followed by SMS authentication. The registration page says you can't enter events until that step is done. It says nothing about overseas numbers or residence.

A data-only eSIM gives you no phone number, so the SMS has to reach whatever number you registered with. Try the sign-up at home before you fly: if your own number passes the SMS step, the account is ready when you reach the shop, and if it fails you find out before the event rather than at the counter.

Mobal's Japan eSIM page lists Voice+Data eSIMs as a separate product. Voice eSIMs need ID verification under Japanese law, with the access code either posted to the address on your ID or collected in person, while data-only eSIMs need no ID and arrive by email.

A data-only eSIM

Mobal's Japan Travel eSIM is a typical data-only plan. The product page lists unlimited data on the KDDI network, 5G where the network and phone support it, and fixed lengths from 3 to 31 days. It arrives by email and needs an unlocked phone that supports eSIM; the page says dialling *#06# shows whether yours does. It activates on arrival in Japan, or on a date you schedule. The page also states plainly that it has no voice or SMS.

Personal hotspot use is capped by plan length. On the 3-day plan the page gives 2GB, which matters if a tablet is the device you'd check in with.

Free Wi-Fi at stations

Fukuoka City runs Fukuoka City Wi-Fi, free at major transport facilities, subway stations and some sightseeing and commercial sites. You register once with an email address or a social media account, the registration lasts six months, and each spot follows its facility's opening hours.

In Osaka, Nankai's network Osaka_Free_Wi-Fi(OWF) runs on all its limited express trains, including the Rapi:t between Namba and Kansai Airport. The connection resets every hour, with no overall cap, and you register on first use. Namba is also the station for eight of our 11 Osaka shops. Neither service says it reaches inside the shops in our guides.

At the airport on the way out

Japan Customs lets you do the tax-free customs check through Visit Japan Web at Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu Centrair, Fukuoka, New Chitose and Naha, using a dedicated Wi-Fi network in the international departure lobby before security. You need Visit Japan Web set up before that point; if it doesn't work, the Tax Refund Kiosk is the alternative. The tax-free guide covers the refund rules, and the airport guide covers the order of shopping, customs check and bag drop at Narita.

If you are travelling between Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka by train, the JR Pass guide works out the fares, and the Japan travel tips page lists the other guides for the trip.