Japan Connected-Free WiFi hotspots will save you from getting lost!

Japan has a large network of Free WiFi

Planning to go to Japan? If so, you'll be glad to know that Japan has a large public WiFi hotspot network called "Japan Connected-Free WiFi." This service has been developed to better serve foreign visitors to Japan, and is available in 13 languages, English, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Korean, Thai, Malay, Indonesian, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, and Japanese.

This service is free and available to anyone with a WiFi-enabled device at over 150,000 locations throughout Japan, such as airports, train stations, subway stations, bus stops, banks, convenience stores, and department stores, etc.

Japan Connected-free Wifi App

You can use "Japan Connected-Free WiFi" simply by following the steps below.

1. download the app to your smartphone, tablet, or PC
2. register with your name and email address
3. search free-wifi locations with the app
4. go to the location
5. tap the "Connect" icon to connect to the internet

With this, you won't have any problems finding your way around Japan!

The following signs show a few of the many free public Wi-Fi services that participate in this network.

For further details, click here.


Pros and Cons of Japan Connected-free WiFi

PROs:

• It is absolutely free.
• It's only necessary to register once to be able to connect to every wifi hotspot participating in the "Japan Connected-free WiFi" service.
• You can download local maps to your device and then use them offline as much as you'd like.

CONs:

• There are time limits depending on the location (e.g. 20 minutes max at a time, up to 3 times a day)
• There is no guarantee that the connection will be secure.
• There are very few spots available in rural areas.
• Speeds may be comparatively slow due to sharing a fixed amount of bandwidth with others. 

More Wi-Fi Hotspots are available in towns

Thankfully, there are a good deal more WiFi hotspots available in Japan besides  Japan Connected-Free Wifi. These hotspots are supported by Japan's mobile carriers, such as Docomo, Softbank, au, etc.  Those spots are found mostly at restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, shopping malls, tourist spots, and other locations where individuals are expected to spend an extended amount of time.  Unfortunately, however, access to these hotspots is limited to customers already paying for service from said carriers.

Docomo Wi-Fi is available for visitors for a small fee

That said, Docomo has recently begun offering "Docomo Wi-Fi for visitors," a service for visitors to Japan as well, allowing users to connect to its Wi-Fi without a preexisting contracting for only a small fee.

For the details, click here.

The service is available at popular locations such as Starbucks, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Denny's, seven eleven, Family Mart, Lawson, etc., throughout Japan.

For the service area, click here.

The fee: 360 yen for 1 day, 900 yen for 1 week and 1,300 yen for 3 weeks, (tax not included)

Here, you'll find an example of the abundance of "Docomo Wi-Fi for Visitors" locations available.

docomo Wi-Fi for visitors locations around JR Toyama Station

PROs and Cons of Docomo WiFi hotspots

PROs:

• Docomo Wi-Fi is a high speed public Wi-Fi service that achieves a maximum data rate of 72.2 Mbps.
• Good for the times when a safe internet connection matters, as the security is covered between your device and Docomo's public wireless LAN with WPA2 encryption.
• You can apply online with a credit card, (VISA, MasterCard, JCB, Diner’s Club, AMEX are accepted.)

CONs:

• You have to be over 18 years of age.
• It is not clear how to pay for the service unless you have a credit card. They say a "coupon" can also be used, but it's unclear where such coupons can be found. I will welcome your feedback if you know the answer!