Hey !Japan,
I’ll be visiting this country for the first time in a few weeks. I know Japan uses different wall outlets than my country, so I was debating about buying adapters, or waiting and buying USB plugs when I get there.
All of my devices can be charged by either USB A or C, and I was wondering if anyone could share their recommendations in this regard.
Is it easy to walk in to any convenience or electronics store and pick up a couple chargers for cheap? Would you recommend this over buying some travel adapters ahead of time?
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Convenience stores and even ¥100 shops sell chargers. The ones at the ¥100 shop are about ¥770 for USB C (less for A), and the ones at the convenience stores are twice the price or more. Most stations also offer portable charger rentals, too.
When I first moved here, I brought a power strip from my home country and just used that with an adapter. It worked well but YMMV.
Hope you have a great trip anyway.
Sweet! I figured they wouldn’t be too hard to find.
Putting a power strip behind an adapter is an interesting idea though, I will have to think about that. Might be nice for the extra range etc.
Thanks for your feedback!
Hey! (1) Existing ones: If you already have the chargers with the Japanese plug shape (looks like [ I I ]) and support 100v/50 or 60 Hz input (most morden chargers support all the voltages over the world) then you can just use them.
(2) Convenience: If you want to buy one in Japan for cheap, just hop into the 100 JPY shops or convenient stores everywhere. They sell cheap ones which most probably cannot fast charge.
(3) Care about choices: If you care about fast charger, you can go to the Yodobashi Camera/Bic Camera/Yamada denki/LABO or whatever electronic goods stores. They will have plenty of choices
(4) Convenience and quality: you can go to the convenience stores and buy the Apple chargers (with Apple store price) and fast charge capabilities. Because you can always trust the quality rather than some unknown brands that the stores have with their limited stocks.
Buy a gallium arsenic charger, and just use it in Japan. I had no issues plugging in my charger in Japanese plugs. I even bought a anker gallium arsenic charger in Japan, and it had US style plugs.
From a security perspective don’t plug any device you really care about into a USB plug you don’t know. There could be malware on the other side of the plug, it’s rare but it’s real. Better to use your own charger, or if you’re paranoid, you can buy USB charge only cables. But that’s yet another cable to carry around
Yeah, duly noted. I want to avoid ever plugging a usb device into some wall - mounted usb plug.
I’m looking at picking up some “brick” chargers - the type that usually come with a phone (at least in the past).
I already have a power bank that I plan on bringing - it’s a bit older tech, But it still boasts a large battery bank and I’m hoping it’ll work for the pocket Wi-Fi and phone during the day.
This photo from a recent trip to Japan of the plugs available in many hotel rooms.
I’d even recommend buying a cheap power strip when you get there, just you can move the plug around in your hotel room. A lot of hotel rooms have inconvenient sockets
it’s rare but it’s real.
It’s rare as in, it’s theoretically possible but there have been no recorded cases of it ever happening6s afaik.
