How to get a Japanese phone number with voice/SMS (for non-residents)

Last updated: 2026-03-30

To sign up for many Japanese event ticketing sites (and increasingly, other websites too), you will need a Japanese phone number to use for SMS or call verification.

Where do I get a number?

Get your own SIM

If you live overseas, the easiest option may be the Mobal eSIM: they offer overseas voice/SMS for an additional fee on top of the eSIM plan. You can receive the eSIM activation code overseas via shipping or you can pick it up in Japan. Only the Voice+Data 5G eSIM supports overseas roaming. (I have not tried it myself yet, but in theory it should work without needing to go to Japan at all.)

There are more options, but they require you to go to Japan—starting from the most expensive option:

  1. Sakura Mobile (both eSIM and SIM): overseas voice/SMS, pick up in Japan
  2. Mobal Physical SIM: no overseas voice/SMS, pick up in Japan or receive overseas via shipping
  3. Hanacell (both eSIM and SIM): no overseas voice/SMS, pick up in Japan or receive overseas via shipping (Make sure you are getting the correct SIM. Their home page mainly advertises their US SIMs for Japanese people in the US; you want the "Japan SIM".)

Since they match these to your ID, I do not recommend trying to get more than one (per provider) for yourself. If you need one for a friend or family member, they should be applying for themselves. (This is related to the point below about not buying SIMs for other people.)

If you get a SIM that does not have overseas voice/SMS, make sure you make all the accounts you need before leaving. You should be able to get signal at airports, so if you have a layover in Japan, this might work too.

If you know a resident/citizen of Japan that's willing to help you...

Either:

  1. They can let you use their own phone number and help with the verification process. Or,
  2. They can sign up for a SIM, activate it, and then do the phone number verification with it.

In either case, the phone number is theirs, so it may be troublesome to coordinate if you have to use it again later on—for example, Ticket Pia sometimes makes users call to verify upon logging in.

(One alternative to this process that people have thought of is that you can get your friend to mail the SIM to you. But passing your SIM to other people without the permission of the provider is technically illegal.)

Tips and warnings

Getting your SIM to work

You may have to fiddle with APN settings to get it to work:

Calling while overseas or with SMS-only numbers

If your phone number won't work overseas or if it only has SMS without calling, you can still make calls, even overseas, using Viber Out.

Update (November 2024): There are several reports that Viber Out no longer works for e+ account verification. (It may work on other websites.) Don't procrastinate on setting up your account.

For people using phone numbers for event tickets

Ticketing guides

These may be relevant to your journey!

You might not want to cancel your plan...

After you've gotten your phone number and your account(s) sorted out, you might want to cancel your plan.

But there are reasons you might not want to do that:

  1. Ticket Pia is known to ask for call verification on login, and it's not clear what conditions cause it to do so.
  2. Digital tickets are increasingly popular, with many events only having digital tickets, and several ticket apps are known to require SMS verification (e.g. Rakuten, L-tike). If you go to events in Japan, you might end up having to use one of these at some point.
  3. If the phone number is released to someone else and they sign up for a new account using that number, your account may become un-verified. This can cause problems when you try to use the ticket. For example, some tickets make you receive an SMS at your original phone number to download them. (To some extent, you can ask for help from support, but if you are constantly asking, they will probably notice you are trying to game the system.)

Alternatives

Temporary visitor SIMs

You can get time-limited SIMs as a temporary visitor to Japan and get SMS messages this way.

For event-goers, this can work if you just need it for event(s) while you're there and can buy tickets after you land in Japan. But for ticketing on a longer-term scale, this is not so great. See the "You might not want to cancel your plan..." section above.

VoIP numbers (e.g. Skype numbers)

Most Japanese sites I've used that require SMS/phone verification don't allow VoIP phone numbers.

Japanese cellular service plans aimed towards domestic users

They'll likely ask for a Japanese ID and possibly proof of residence. They might also only accept Japan-based payment methods.

In the past, there were providers in this category that did not require a Japanese ID, like b-mobile and Linksmate, but enforcement is more widespread now—both of them currently require ID.

If you do have such a valid ID, b-mobile still takes foreign credit cards and offers SIMs (e.g. the 190PadSIM) which let you receive SMS outside of Japan.

(The original version of this page, published in August 2020, had directions on how to apply for a b-mobile SIM, back when it did not require a Japanese ID. But since this page is aimed towards non-residents/citizens, and it is likely the information will become outdated, I removed that section.)