Fukuoka eSIM
In Fukuoka you connect to KDDI or SoftBank, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The typical speed across the country is 74 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- KDDI and SoftBank
- Typical speed in Japan
- 74 Mbps typical, 21 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- yes, standalone and non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Fukuoka
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $5.89 | $5.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $2.96 | $8.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $2.18 | $10.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $1.59 | $15.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $1.19 | $23.89 | |
| 50 GB | Never expires | $0.94 | $46.89 |
How Japan compares across Asia
- Regional typical speed
- 42.95 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, KDDI, SoftBank
- 5G
- Yes, standalone and non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Macau, 84 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Malaysia, 61 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 5: Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Sapporo, Fukuoka
Landing at Fukuoka Airport (FUK)
- Airport
- FUK / RJFF
- Distance
- 3 km from the centre of Fukuoka
- Wifi on arrival
- Free wifi in the terminalFree wifi on the SSIDs AirportFreeWiFi-2.4G and AirportFreeWiFi-5.0G. No membership registration and no phone number are needed: connect, open a browser, agree to the terms and click the link shown. The airport warns that traffic on it is not encrypted.
Getting into Fukuoka
- Fukuoka City Subway Airport Line to Hakata and Tenjin (FUK), about 10 minutes. Runs through tunnels, where a signal drops
- Inter-terminal shuttle bus from the international terminal to the domestic terminal and subway station (FUK)
Underground and on the metro
Fukuoka City Subway runs 3 lines. It opened in 1981. The operator does not publish whether the tunnels carry a mobile signal, so we do not claim either way.
Worth knowing about Fukuoka
- Fukuoka Airport sits only about 3 km east of Hakata Station, and the Airport Line is the only subway line in Japan that connects directly to an airport roughly ten minutes to the business district.
- That subway station serves the domestic terminal only: the international terminal is reachable by road, with a scheduled inter-terminal bus across to the domestic side.
- The Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau is unusual among Japanese operators in running subways only, with no bus lines of its own.
- Fukuoka Airport's free wifi uses the SSIDs AirportFreeWiFi-2.4G and AirportFreeWiFi-5.0G. There is no membership registration and no phone number step, just agreeing to the terms in a browser.
- The airport states plainly that data between your device and its wireless LAN is not encrypted, which is a reason to use your own connection for anything sensitive.
- An unmanned WiFiBOX locker rents pocket wifi routers on the first floor of the international terminal, before security by the arrival gate, from 05:00 to 21:40.
- All 36 Fukuoka City Subway stations take a contactless bank card at the gate: Visa, JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Discover and UnionPay, in credit, debit or prepaid form.
- Tap to pay on the subway is capped at 640 yen a day on the same card, so repeated trips stop costing more once you reach it.
- You tap the same card on the blue tap to pay reader on entry and again on exit, and the charge appears the next day rather than immediately.
- Fukuoka's own IC card, Hayakaken, was launched by the city transportation bureau on 7 March 2009 and uses Sony's FeliCa technology.
- Hayakaken began interoperating with nimoca, SUGOCA and Suica on 13 March 2010 and joined the nationwide mutual usage service in 2013, so a Suica or ICOCA bought elsewhere in Japan works here.
- A second runway opened on 20 March 2025 for international departures only. The two runways are too close to be used at the same time.
- Because the airport sits among houses it has a nightly curfew from 22:00 to 07:00, so a delayed evening flight can be diverted rather than land late.
- Fukuoka Airport handled about 26.8 million passengers in 2024, making it Japan's fourth busiest.
- The subway is 31.4 km on three lines, the Airport, Hakozaki and Nanakuma lines, with 36 stations. The Nanakuma Line extension to Hakata opened on 27 March 2023.
- Fukuoka City Wi-Fi covers every subway station as well as sightseeing and commercial sites. First use asks for a name and email address or an SNS account, the registration then lasts six months, and there is no cap on session length or number of logins.
- NTT Docomo's list of subway stations with 5G, dated 30 June 2026, names only the Airport Line in Fukuoka. The Hakozaki and Nanakuma lines are not on it, and Docomo warns that parts of a listed station can still lack 5G.
- Fukuoka City has charged accommodation tax since 1 April 2020: 200 yen per guest per night when the room rate is under 20,000 yen and 500 yen at 20,000 yen or more, each including 50 yen of prefectural tax. Hotels, inns and private lodgings collect it.