Handy How-To's

How to connect to the Internet in Japan Part 1  of this series of articles explores some very useful smartphone apps that make visiting Japan much more fun and convenient. But these apps are nearly useless if your smartphone cannot access the Internet. So here are some handy tips for getting online in Japan. You have several options: International roaming promos The most convenient (and expensive) way to access the Internet overseas is through international roaming. International roaming enables your smartphone to make and receive phone calls, send and receive SMS and access the Internet. In exchange for such convenience, every phone call and text message is charged at international toll rates plus a roaming charge. Similarly, Internet access is metered and charged at premium rates. So, use international roaming sparingly. This means keeping your smartphone’s Mobile Data (or Cellular Data) switched off unless you absolutely need to access the Internet, and calling and textin...

Miscellaneous preparations Buy travel insurance that covers medical emergencies, lost luggage, and delayed flights. Make photocopies and softcopies of your passports, visas, plane tickets, travel insurance and other travel related documents and store them separately them from the originals. Upload the softcopies to your cloud storage or email them to yourself. Test all the important apps on your smartphone. Then, do not update your apps anymore until after you get back from your trip. The reason for this precaution is that an update may log you out of an app or, worse, cause the app to not to work anymore. For Android, open the Play Store app and, under Settings, select “Do not update apps.” Also, postpone Android upgrades when prompted. For iPhone, postpone software updates when prompted. Sometimes, your smartphone will prompt you to log on again to your email or other app. For this reason, make sure that you know the passwords of the various accounts that you have in your sm...

Take advantage of your smartphone’s capabilities Your smartphone can greatly enhance your travel experience and make life on the road more convenient. Complete as many of the following preparations as you can before your next trip. Activate international roaming Your first task is to ensure that you can call and be called through your mobile phone when you are overseas. The surest way to do this is to activate international roaming on your mobile number. Before traveling abroad, contact your service provider and ask them how to get international roaming. International roaming allows you to make long distance phone calls from abroad through your smartphone and instant access to the Internet via your smartphone’s mobile data. Compared to the alternatives mentioned below, international roaming is very convenient and more reliable. However, such convenience comes at a steep price, so resort to it only when the suggested alternatives have failed. For more on international roami...