Moshi Moshi · 16 plans · KDDI and SoftBank
Airalo in Japan
The one everybody has heard of, and for a Tokyo to Osaka trip it is a genuinely good answer. It also prints both numbers of its unlimited cap.
Every Airalo Moshi Moshi plan
USD, checked 2026
Airalo sells the same gigabyte in three validities at three prices, which is unusual and genuinely useful: you are not forced to buy a month when your trip is a week.
| Plan | Price | Per GB | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB / 3 days | $4.00 | $4.00 | GigSky's 1GB is $2.99 and lasts a week. |
| 3GB / 3 days | $7.50 | $2.50 | Three days is a short window for three gigabytes. |
| 3GB / 7 days | $8.00 | $2.67 | Fifty cents buys four more days. Take this one. |
| 5GB / 7 days | $10.00 | $2.00 | Cheapest 5GB for Japan, if a week is enough. |
| 5GB / 15 days | $10.50 | $2.10 | The sweet spot for a ten-day first trip. |
| 5GB / 30 days | $11.00 | $2.20 | A dollar over the 7-day version for 23 more days. |
| 10GB / 7 days | $17.00 | $1.70 | Heavy week. GigSky's 30-day 10GB is cheaper at $16.79. |
| 10GB / 15 days | $17.50 | $1.75 | |
| 10GB / 30 days | $18.00 | $1.80 | $1.21 more than GigSky for the same size and window. |
| 20GB / 15 days | $24.00 | $1.20 | Cheapest 20GB for Japan anywhere on this site. |
| 20GB / 30 days | $25.00 | $1.25 | Saily's 20GB/30d is $24.99. A one-cent race. |
| Unlimited / 3 days | $11.50 | $3.83¹ | 3GB a day, then 1 Mbps for the rest of the day. Both numbers are printed on the product page. ¹ Per-GB assumes you use the full 3GB every day. |
| Unlimited / 5 days | $17.00 | $1.13 | |
| Unlimited / 7 days | $26.50 | $1.26 | |
| Unlimited / 10 days | $34.50 | $1.15 | |
| Unlimited / 15 days | $48.00 | $1.07 | |
| Unlimited / 30 days | $69.00 | $0.77 |
Prices in USD, checked 2026, before promo codes. Airalo's own Japan page geo-serves local currency depending on where you open it, so if the numbers on your screen do not match these, check the currency selector rather than assuming a price change.
Airalo rides KDDI and SoftBank, and that is the one thing to think about
no Docomo
Airalo publishes its Japanese networks: KDDI (au) and SoftBank, the same pair Saily names, and the name that is not on that list is NTT Docomo.
For a first Japan trip this genuinely does not matter. KDDI is excellent across Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, along the entire Tokaido Shinkansen, on the big islands and in every city you have heard of. If your itinerary is the standard two weeks on the tourist spine, buying Airalo costs you nothing in coverage and gets you the cheapest 20GB in the country.
It starts to matter at Kamikochi, on the forest sections of the Nakasendo, in rural Hokkaido, along the Sanriku coast, on the mountain temple stages of the Shikoku pilgrimage and on the small islands. Those are Docomo places, and the brands here that list Docomo are GigSky, Yesim (on some plans) and Ubigi, the last of which we earn nothing from.
Is Airalo unlimited really unlimited in Japan?
3GB a day, then 1 Mbps
Every "unlimited" plan sold for Japan is a daily allowance with a throttle behind it. What separates them is whether the company will tell you the two numbers that matter: how much full-speed data you get per day, and how slow it goes afterwards.
Airalo publishes both. 3GB per day, then 1 Mbps for the rest of the day. GigSky prints 3.5GB a day but not the speed after it, Ubigi 5GB a day then 2 Mbps on its 8-day plan, Nomad 2GB then 1 Mbps. Saily publishes both too: 5GB, then up to 1 Mbps until midnight. Yesim publishes neither. The one 7-day plan we found with no daily cap at all is a local KDDI plan from Sim Local, which we cannot link. All caps compared.
One megabit per second is not nothing. It carries maps, LINE, transit apps, email and voice calls perfectly well. It does not carry video, and it does not carry a laptop hotspot with any dignity. So Airalo's unlimited is a plan you can actually reason about: 3GB of real speed, then a usable floor.
The arithmetic still favours a fixed bucket for most people. Thirty days unlimited is $69.00. Thirty days of 20GB is $25.00. Unless you are genuinely using more than 700MB a day, the bucket wins, and the unlimited page works that out in detail.
If you want unlimited and you want to know what you bought, this is the one where both numbers are on the page before you pay.
See Airalo Japan plans Compare every capAiralo against the other three
size by size
| Airalo | GigSky | Saily | Yesim | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB | $4.00 / 3d | $2.99 / 7d | $3.99 / 7d | $4.44 / 30d |
| 5GB | $10.00 / 7d | $10.29 / 30d | $10.99 / 30d | $10.56 / 30d |
| 10GB / 30 days | $18.00 | $16.79 | $17.99 | $19.20 |
| 20GB | $24.00 / 15d | none | $24.99 / 30d | $29.76 / 30d |
| Unlimited, 30 days | $69.00 | $65.99 | $71.99 | from $4.20/day |
| Unlimited cap | 3GB/day, 1 Mbps after | 3.5GB/day, then slowed (speed not published) | 5GB/day, speed not stated | not published |
| Japanese network | KDDI + SoftBank | Docomo + SoftBank | not published | KDDI; Docomo on some plans |
| Trustpilot | 4.2 · 48,959 | 4.3 · 8,403 | 4.7 · 32,870 | 4.3 · 2,996 |
Airalo wins two rows outright, 5GB and 20GB, and loses 1GB and 10GB to GigSky by about a dollar. Its Trustpilot score is the lowest of the four, at 4.2, which is worth reading in context: it also has by far the most reviews, 48,959, and a large review base regresses toward the middle in a way a small one does not.
What Airalo actually buys you that the others do not is ubiquity. Every setup problem you can have with it has been answered on a forum somewhere, in English, with screenshots. On a first eSIM in a country where you cannot read the error message, that is worth a dollar.
Asialink, and when a regional plan beats a Japan plan
rarely
Airalo also sells Asialink, a regional plan covering Japan and most of the rest of Asia on one profile. The two sizes worth knowing: 50GB for $59.00 over 30 days and 100GB for $89.00 over 180 days.
For a Japan-only trip these are bad value. Fifty gigabytes at $59.00 is $1.18 a gigabyte against $1.20 for the 20GB Japan pack, and you are unlikely to use fifty. The regional plan wins in exactly two situations: a multi-country Asia route where you would otherwise buy four separate plans, and a repeat visitor who wants 100GB sitting on a profile for six months.
Japan plus South Korea specifically is usually cheaper as two country plans than as one regional one. We priced that route both ways.
Buying and activating Airalo
four minutes
- Buy on the Airalo website rather than in the app. Check the currency selector first: the site serves local currency by location, and the USD figures on this page are what the plans cost in dollars.
- Look for "Moshi Moshi", which is Airalo's Japan brand. If you are seeing "Asialink", that is the regional plan and a different product at a different price.
- Install the profile at home on wifi. It does not start counting until it connects in Japan. Label the line "Japan" when the phone asks, because you will be toggling it.
- On landing: eSIM line on for data, home line on for calls with data roaming off. If it will not attach, set network selection to manual and pick KDDI, then SoftBank. Full setup and fixes.
Buy Airalo if, skip it if
the short version
Buy it if
- Your trip is Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and the Shinkansen between them, where KDDI is excellent and the Docomo question never comes up.
- You want 20GB. At $24.00 for fifteen days it is the cheapest 20GB for Japan we found.
- You want unlimited with a cap you can actually plan around: 3GB a day, then 1 Mbps.
- It is your first eSIM and you want the brand with the most troubleshooting written about it in English.
Skip it if
- Your route includes the Japanese Alps, rural Hokkaido, Tohoku, inland Shikoku or the small islands. No Docomo means gaps there.
- You want 10GB and a dollar matters: GigSky is $16.79 against $18.00, on the better network.
- You want the largest unlimited allowance. Saily publishes 5GB a day against Airalo's 3GB.
- You want 30GB, which only Yesim sells for Japan.
Airalo Japan questions
short answers
Which network does Airalo use in Japan?
KDDI (au) and SoftBank, per the plan text on Airalo's own Japan page (its structured network list also shows Rakuten), checked 2026. Airalo's plan details add: "You may notice an alternative IP address with this eSIM." KDDI is the stronger of the two and is excellent along the Tokyo to Osaka corridor and on every Shinkansen line. Airalo does not have NTT Docomo, which is the network with the deepest mountain and rural coverage.
Is Airalo or Ubigi better for Japan?
Ubigi on network access, Airalo on everything else. Ubigi lists Docomo, KDDI and SoftBank; Airalo rides KDDI and SoftBank. Outside the cities that gap is visible on the screen. Airalo wins on app quality, on small short-trip sizes and on the amount of help available in English. We earn a commission on Airalo and nothing on Ubigi, which is why we are telling you this. Full comparison here.
What is Airalo Moshi Moshi?
もしもし is what Japanese speakers say when they answer the phone, and Moshi Moshi is simply the name of Airalo's Japan eSIM, the way its Greece plan is called Alfa and its Thailand plan Maiaisim. It is not a different product or a different company. If you are looking at "Asialink" instead, that is Airalo's regional Asia plan, which costs more for a Japan-only trip.
Does Airalo have unlimited data for Japan?
Yes, with both numbers published: 3GB per day at full speed, then 1 Mbps for the rest of the day. Three days is $11.50, seven $26.50, thirty $69.00, checked 2026. For most travelers a 20GB bucket at $25.00 is cheaper, unless you are genuinely using more than 700MB a day.
How much is Airalo 10GB for Japan?
$18.00 for 30 days, or $17.50 for 15 days, or $17.00 for 7 days, checked 2026. GigSky's 10GB is $16.79 for 30 days, which is the cheapest 10GB we can link and is on Docomo rather than KDDI.
Is Airalo trustworthy?
Trustpilot 4.2 across 48,959 reviews, checked 2026, which is the lowest score and by far the largest review base among the four brands we link. Sixty per cent are five-star and seventeen per cent are one-star, mostly about refunds and plans bought for the wrong country. It is a real company with real support and a normal amount of unhappy customers for its size.
The cheapest 20GB in Japan, $24.00
Moshi Moshi on KDDI and SoftBank, 20GB over fifteen days, and an unlimited option with 3GB a day and 1 Mbps after it printed on the page before you pay. If your route leaves the cities, read the network section above first.
See Airalo Japan plansSources & freshness: Plan prices, the 3GB-a-day and 1 Mbps fair-use text, networks and the IP-routing note from Airalo's own Japan page with USD selected (airalo.com/japan-esim), checked 2026, before promo codes. Trustpilot 4.2 across 48,959 reviews, checked 2026. How we test.