The short answer
Japan is outside the EU and outside Vodafone's EasyTravel countries, so a German contract gets there through a ReisePaket World: €9.99 (about $11) for a day with 500 MB, or €34.99 (about $39) for a week with 4 GB. For the trip itself I would pay once for Ringo Light instead: 3 days at $9.99, 2 weeks at $21.99, 30 days at $54.99, unlimited data at full speed. Vodafone has what a contract does best, and I credit it with your own number, calls and texts and no eSIM slot.
The Japan trip is paid once, $9.99 for three days, $21.99 for two weeks or $54.99 for thirty, at full speed on a Shinkansen or a hotspot. Vodafone World Tag holds you to 500 MB a day and World Woche to 4 GB a week.
Your German number rings in Tokyo as it does in Cologne, texts come through, and the pass sits on the Vodafone bill you already pay. The World pass switches on when you arrive, and a phone with no eSIM slot works too. Ringo Light does data and nothing else.
Prices read on 31 October 2026: Vodafone, 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, 31 October 2026. Vodafone is two World Woche passes at €34.99 (€69.98). The euro prices turn into dollars at the ECB reference rate of 30 October 2026, the latest published, 1 euro = $1.1172, rounded to the nearest dollar. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed for the whole 2 weeks.
Vodafone's pages show no monthly pass for Japan, so 30 days is four World Woche passes plus two World Tag days (€159.94). ECB reference rate of 30 October 2026, 1 euro = $1.1172. Ringo Light is one payment for 30 days.
Three days of use at each, at the ECB reference rate of 30 October 2026, 1 euro = $1.1172. Vodafone is the only one of the two that also carries your calls and texts.
Side by side
Swipe to compare →
Head to head
- Best eSIM for Japan
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- Verizon vs Ringo Light for Japan
- AT&T vs Ringo Light for Japan
- Airalo vs Nomad for Japan
- Airalo vs Saily for Japan
- Holafly vs Saily for Japan
- Airalo vs Ubigi for Japan
- Nomad vs Ubigi for Japan
- Holafly vs Nomad for Japan
- Airalo vs Ringo Light for Japan
- Airalo vs Holafly for Japan
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?
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Vodafone ReisePaket vs Ringo Light in one paragraph
For data in Japan, Ringo Light costs a fraction of a Vodafone ReisePaket. A long weekend is $9.99 against about $33, two weeks is $21.99 against about $78 and a month is $54.99 against about $179, and Ringo Light has no megabyte limit to watch. I grant Vodafone honest strengths: the same number, calls and texts that need no workaround, no eSIM slot and no setup. Land for a night and a World Tag is perfectly sensible. For a fortnight on the rail network or a month in Japan, my pick is Ringo Light.
Price: the same trip at each
I read Vodafone's ReisePakete page on 31 October 2026, and it lists Japan among more than 100 non-EU countries for the World passes. World Tag is €9.99 (about $11) and is charged only on days you use the phone abroad. World Woche is €34.99 (about $39) for seven days. Three days of use is €29.97 (about $33), two weeks is €69.98 (about $78) and a month is €159.94 (about $179). Japan is not on the EasyTravel list, so there is no cheaper day rate to fall back on, and no monthly pass is shown for it.
Vodafone's euro prices turn into dollars at the ECB reference rate of 30 October 2026, the latest published, 1 euro = $1.1172. Ringo Light is priced in US dollars, and the checkout shows the amount in euros before you pay. The trips are $9.99, $21.99 and $54.99, each paid once. The gap is $23.01 for three days, $56.01 for two weeks and $124.01 for a month. One more option exists: WorldTravel is €4.99 a month (about $6) for 2 GB, but it is a 12-month subscription, €59.88 (about $67) in all, so it suits people who travel to Asia several times a year, not one trip, and I would not buy it for a single holiday.
Data and speed at each
World Tag gives 500 MB for the day and World Woche gives 4 GB for the week. Vodafone's page says nothing about the speed once the volume is gone. For train apps, maps and messages I think that is workable; a hotspot, video calls or a day of streaming passes 500 MB quickly. WorldTravel stops at 2 GB and then slows to 5 kbit/s, and customers on Vodafone Mobil L or XL get its 2 GB free. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed with no daily or weekly figure. Fair use policy, see Terms.
Calls, texts and your own number
This is the row Vodafone wins outright, and I do not argue it. The World passes include up to 50 minutes and 50 texts a day to Germany or within Japan, on your own number, so banking codes sent by text to your German number keep arriving. Ringo Light is data only. Calls go over apps that use data, and your number stays on your own SIM next to it.
Setup and billing
The World passes switch on when you arrive, as long as data roaming is on in the phone settings, and the day or week appears on your Vodafone bill. The Woche pass can be booked ahead in the MeinVodafone app or by sending a text to 70127. Ringo Light arrives by email after you pay and installs in one scan of the QR code. I would install it at home on Wi-Fi before the flight and switch the eSIM on for data when you land at Haneda or Narita. The phone must support eSIM; the Vodafone pass has no such requirement.
What Ringo Light is, and what it is not
Ringo Light is Ringo's own data eSIM, and since I write for Ringo you should read my view with care. It is sold to fund the full Ringo, the single plan that works worldwide. For Japan it has three trips, 3 days at $9.99, 2 weeks at $21.99 and 30 days at $54.99, each unlimited data at full speed, paid once with no renewals.
It has no phone number, so it cannot take over your Vodafone line for calls and texts, and the phone must take an eSIM. Vodafone is simpler and keeps everything on one bill; Ringo Light is the lower price for the same weeks in Japan.
The comparison of the travel eSIM brands for Japan is at /blog/best-esim-for-japan. The card to buy Ringo Light is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Which to pick
- ✓Ringo Light, for most Japanese itineraries. This is the one I would buy: $9.99 to $54.99 once, unlimited at full speed, against €9.99 for each day of use on Vodafone with only 500 MB in it.
- ✓Vodafone World Tag, for a transit night. One day, nothing to install, your own number.
- ✓Vodafone, if your phone has no eSIM slot. The pass rides on the contract the handset already has.
- ✓Both, for a long assignment. Ringo Light for the data, your own SIM for the calls you need.
Pick by trip
Ringo Light, 3 days, $9.99, against €29.97 of World Tag, about $33.
Ringo Light, $21.99, unlimited at full speed. Two World Woche passes come to €69.98, about $78, with 4 GB in each.
Ringo Light, $54.99, with the laptop on a tether. Vodafone would run to €159.94, about $179.
A World Tag is the easy answer: one €9.99 day and your own number.
Stay on the Vodafone pass, or pair Ringo Light with your own SIM.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Vodafone, Ringo Light, European Central Bank, Ringo Light
We priced Vodafone and Ringo Light for Japan on 31 October 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: Other eSIM brands. Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad and Ubigi sell Japan data too and sit in the wider table at /blog/best-esim-for-japan. Here I weigh only Vodafone against Ringo Light. Left out: Vodafone with nothing booked. Outside the EU a contract with no pass falls back to the Vodafone World tariff, whose per-minute and per-megabyte rates sit in a separate Vodafone PDF that this page did not read, so that route is not priced here. The two addresses first given for the Vodafone roaming pages returned not found on the day, so the figures come from the ReisePakete and WorldTravel pages under vodafone.de/de/mobilfunk/ausland-und-roaming.
- Vodafone: www.vodafone.de/de/mobilfunk/ausland-und-roaming/reisepakete, ReisePakete page, read 31 October 2026: World Tag €9.99 for 500 MB, World Woche €34.99 for 4 GB, 50 minutes and 50 texts a day, Japan in the World list; the WorldTravel page at vodafone.de/de/mobilfunk/ausland-und-roaming/worldtravel for €4.99 a month, 2 GB and the 12-month term. The addresses vodafone.de/privat/hilfe-support/roaming.html and vodafone.de/privat/mobilfunk/roaming.html returned not found on the same day
- 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 31 October 2026, used for the dollar figures (1 euro = $1.1172)
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 31 October 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.
