The short answer
You fly from Canada with a Rogers phone and want to know whether to take the pass or buy an eSIM. I compared the Rogers International Travel Pass, which I read on 1 November 2026 at C$45 for 3 days, C$75 for 7, C$100 for 14 and C$120 for 30, with the five big travel eSIMs and Ringo Light. For two weeks or a month I would buy Ringo Light, at $21.99 and $54.99. For three days with nothing to install, Rogers is the easy answer.
For a Canadian crossing the Pacific, unlimited data at full speed costs $21.99 for 2 weeks or $54.99 for 30 days, and nothing renews. Rogers asks C$100 and C$120 for the same days; the next unlimited month I found is Airalo at $69.
If you only need maps and messages, 10 GB for 30 days is $16 and 20 GB is $23. Its 3 days of unlimited is $11. It rides KDDI au and SoftBank.
Ubigi names NTT Docomo, Japan's largest network, along with KDDI. Its 10 GB for 30 days is $16.50, and its month of unlimited is 60 GB at full speed.
You buy days, not gigabytes, on KDDI and SoftBank, and scan a QR code. A week is $27.50, with hotspot sharing limited to 1 GB a day.
Prices read on 10 November 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, Rogers, Ringo Light, European Central Bank on their own sites or listings, Ringo Light from its catalogue. All in US dollars unless stated. Treat every number as a snapshot.
See the full price index for every country.
Travelling further? Compare the best eSIM for Asia and the eSIM for Asia-Pacific.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 10 November 2026. Ringo Light sells 14 days, the others 15. Nomad's unlimited now stops at 10 days. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps.
The 30-day plan at each brand. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad stops at 10 days.
Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited, and lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days.
Side by side
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Get Ringo Light for Japan, from $9.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 3 days $9.99
- 2 weeks $21.99
- 30 days $54.99
We sell data eSIMs for now to fund the full Ringo service. Ringo is self funded. Every plan bought here pays for the build of one plan that works everywhere.
Want to keep your own number abroad?
That is the full Ringo service: one plan that works everywhere, with your own number included.
It is a separate product from Ringo Light and it is still being built, so it is not on sale yet. Join the waitlist to hear when it opens.
What to see in Japan, and what your phone needs for it
Eight places most first trips include, from Tokyo to Hiroshima. All of them are on the main rail lines and all have good 4G and 5G.
Roam with Rogers, or buy an eSIM
On 1 November 2026 I read the Rogers International Travel Pass for Japan at C$45 for 3 days (about $32), C$75 for 7 (about $54), C$100 for 14 (about $72) and C$120 for 30 (about $86). Ringo Light sells unlimited data at full speed for $9.99 for 3 days, $21.99 for 2 weeks and $54.99 for 30 days. The cheapest rival I priced for two weeks is Ubigi at $39 for 15 days, and for a month Ubigi at $65 and Airalo at $69. Every one of them is under the Rogers price for the same stay.
Rogers wins on things money does not buy from a data eSIM. The pass uses the talk, text and data in your own plan, so your Canadian number keeps ringing, nothing is installed, the cost sits on the bill you already pay, and a phone with no eSIM slot works. For a three-day trip where you will not touch settings, I would take the pass at C$45 over saving about $22. Past three days the gap grows quickly: a fortnight is $21.99 against C$100.
One more point on the pass itself. Rogers says it has no data bucket of its own and draws on what your plan includes, so a small plan is a small allowance in Kyoto too. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed for the whole 2 weeks or 30 days.
Networks in Japan, and what changes for a Canadian visitor
Japan has three big networks: NTT Docomo, KDDI au and SoftBank. All three cover the cities and the Shinkansen lines well, and Docomo reaches furthest into the mountains and rural Hokkaido. Most travel eSIMs ride SoftBank or KDDI. Ubigi is the one brand I found that names Docomo. For Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima, I would not choose by network.
What changes for a visitor from Canada is how the data reaches you. The Rogers pass is bought in MyRogers or the app up to 60 days ahead, you set its start date, and the charge lands on your next bill. A pass that has started is not refundable. Rogers also says calls and texts to other countries carry long distance charges even where the pass applies, and the pages I read show no daily rate. A travel eSIM is a separate line for data: you scan a code at home and it is ready when you land.
If you want a data bucket: Nomad or Ubigi
- Nomad, $16 for 10 GB. It is the cheapest 10 GB I priced, and its 20 GB at $23 is the cheapest 20 GB. Both are on KDDI au and SoftBank with 5G.
- Ubigi, $16.50 for 10 GB. It sits on KDDI and Docomo, the widest coverage of the six brands.
- Saily, $17.99 for 10 GB. Its 20 GB is $24.99, and every Saily price I read is on saily.com.
- Airalo, $18 for 10 GB. This is its Moshi Moshi plan, with 20 GB at $25 and buckets from $4 for 1 GB.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. I would not buy it for a fixed 10 GB, since Nomad, Ubigi, Saily and Airalo are all cheaper for that. Its 2 weeks is unlimited at $21.99 and its 30 days unlimited at $54.99. Rogers has no bucket either, because it uses your own plan.
What Ringo Light is
I write for Ringo, so weigh that. Ringo Light is its own data eSIM, sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For Japan it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed: 3 days at $9.99, 2 weeks at $21.99 and 30 days at $54.99. Nothing renews, and the eSIM arrives by email and installs in one scan, no app.
The eSIM sits next to your own Rogers SIM. Your number stays on that SIM for calls and texts, and the eSIM carries the data. Ringo Light has no number of its own. I read no Rogers rate for calls without a pass, so I would check that before leaving roaming on.
The Rogers-only comparison is at /blog/rogers-vs-ringo-for-japan, and the full brand comparison is at /blog/best-esim-for-japan. The card to buy Ringo Light is further up this page, just after the table.
Pick by trip
I would buy Ringo Light, 3 days, $9.99. If you want no setup at all, the Rogers 3-day pass is C$45 (about $32).
My pick is Ringo Light, 2 weeks, $21.99. The 14-day Rogers pass is C$100 (about $72), and even Ubigi at $39 is below that.
I would buy Ringo Light, 30 days, $54.99, unlimited at full speed for the laptop. The 30-day Rogers pass is C$120 (about $86).
Nomad 10 GB for 30 days at $16 is the lowest price I found for a bucket.
I would keep Rogers for calls and texts, either with a pass or by leaving your own SIM in the phone beside a data eSIM.
The Rogers pass, because every travel eSIM here needs an eSIM-capable phone.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, Rogers, Ringo Light, European Central Bank, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for Japan on 10 November 2026, all on the same day, in US dollars. Each rival's price comes from its own website where it showed dollars, otherwise from an esimdb.com listing, and every source and its date is listed below. Ringo Light's prices come from the catalogue our checkout charges.
We compare the trips people actually book: a week, two weeks and a month of unlimited data, and a 10 GB bucket. We read each brand's fair use and speed rules and quote them as the brands state them. We did not run speed tests, so this page makes no speed claims for any brand.
Ringo Light is our own product. We put it in the table on the same terms as everyone else, and where a rival is the better buy the page says so.
Left out: Revolut. It sells Japan data plans of 1 GB for 7 days up to 20 GB for 30 days inside its banking app, for Revolut account holders only. Its website shows the plan sizes and a starting price in pounds, but no price per plan in dollars, and no unlimited plan, so it has no bar in the charts. Left out: Maya Mobile. I could not read its own prices for this country on the day, so it stays out rather than being guessed.
- Airalo: www.airalo.com/japan-esim?currency=USD, unlimited in dollars on the site, read 10 November 2026; buckets from esimdb.com/japan/airalo, listing dated 4 October 2026, not readable on 10 November 2026, figures kept from 25 October
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-japan/, prices in dollars on the site, read 10 November 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-japan/, prices in dollars on the site, 25 October 2026; not readable on 10 November 2026, figures kept from 25 October
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/japan-esim, prices in dollars on the site, read 10 November 2026; 10 GB and 20 GB on sale at $16 and $23; unlimited now sold for 3, 5, 7 and 10 days only
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/data-plans-and-coverage/ubigi-esim-data-plans/?destination=JPN, prices in dollars on the site, 25 October 2026; not readable on 10 November 2026, figures kept from 25 October
- Rogers: www.rogers.com/mobility/roam-like-home, International Travel Pass prices of C$45, C$75, C$100 and C$120, and the pass FAQ at rogers.com/mobility/roaming/faqs-about-travel-pass naming Japan, the no-separate-bucket line and the billing terms, read 1 November 2026
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/japan, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- European Central Bank: www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml, euro reference rates of 30 October 2026, the latest published on 1 November 2026, used for the dollar figures (C$1 = $0.716)
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 10 November 2026.
Written and priced by the Ringo team. Prices change often; if you spot one that has moved, tell us through the contact page and we will update the table.
