Japan eSIM
SmokeSpot needs data for the live map and directions. An eSIM gives you mobile internet the moment you land — no SIM swap, no airport queue, and it usually costs less than roaming. Install it at home, activate it on the plane, and you're online before passport control.
Get a travel eSIM →Pocket Wi-Fi
Travelling as a group or with a laptop? A pocket Wi-Fi router shares one fast connection across all your devices. Pick it up at the airport, drop it in a mailbox before you fly home.
Rail pass & transport
Visiting more than one city? Compare a rail pass against single Shinkansen tickets before you go — for some itineraries it pays for itself in one Tokyo–Osaka round trip. Inside cities, trains stop around midnight: check the last train in SmokeSpot's transport phrases.
Get a rail pass →Smoker-friendly hotels
Smoking rooms are disappearing from Japanese hotels, but they still exist if you know where to look. We keep a curated list of hotels with real smoking rooms, city by city.
See hotels with smoking rooms →Luggage storage
Between check-out and your next train, station lockers fill up fast — especially in Kyoto. Luggage storage networks let you book a spot near the station and explore hands-free.
Travel insurance
Japanese healthcare is excellent but not free for visitors, and a simple clinic visit is paid upfront. Travel insurance costs a few euros a day and covers medical care, cancellations and lost luggage.
Portable ashtray
The most local thing a smoker can carry. Littering a butt can be fined even where smoking is allowed, and many designated areas have no bin. Pocket ashtrays cost ¥100–300 at any konbini or 100-yen shop — buy one on day one.
IC card & cash
Get a Suica or Pasmo (now available in Apple Wallet) for trains, konbini and vending machines. Keep some cash too: smaller izakaya, shrines and cigarette vending machines are often cash-only.
Offline maps
Signal drops in metro tunnels and rural areas. Save your city offline — with SmokeSpot+ the whole spot catalog, the map tiles you've visited and the phrasebook work without any connection.
Go offline with SmokeSpot+ →Translation & phrases
Smoking signage is often Japanese-only. A camera translation app helps with ward notices — and our built-in phrasebook covers the smoker's essentials (« Where can I smoke? », « Do you have an ashtray? ») with audio in 10 languages.
Open the phrasebook →Smoking rules guide
Rules change ward by ward: walking-smoking bans, on-the-spot fines, designated areas. Five minutes in our Japan guide saves you a ¥2,000 lesson on the street.
Read the Japan smoking guide →Einige Links sind Affiliate-Links. SmokeSpot erhält ggf. eine Provision ohne Mehrkosten für dich.