What this guide covers
- Getting ready to enjoy listening and reading on board
- What to do on your phone before you leave
1. Listen: audiobooks
Watch the clouds out of the window while listening to a story or an essay. With audiobooks, you can enjoy a book even with your eyes closed.
PR 🎧 For long flights (Japanese online store)
With the Premium plan, you can listen to hundreds of thousands of eligible titles as much as you like. Besides mysteries and literature, there are travel and language-learning genres, so you can read up on your destination or tune your ears to a new language. Download titles in the app and you can listen without a connection on board.
Audible (Amazon.co.jp)
2. Read: Kindle
The writer has used a Kindle since 2017, so it has been nearly 10 years. The writer takes a Kindle on trips in Japan and abroad (and sometimes on business trips). Now there are two: a Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition and a basic Kindle. The basic Kindle in particular is light and small, so it goes anywhere without getting in the way.
The writer took one on a trip to Korea and to Osaka. Reading is comfortable on planes and on the shinkansen. You can read on trains too, though on a packed train the writer usually just uses a phone.
The battery lasts a long time, and the writer finds it easier on the eyes than a phone, especially at night.
The writer sometimes reads with the Kindle app on an iPad. For books with lots of color or diagrams, the iPad is easier to read. But honestly, an iPad is a little heavy to take on trips and business trips. And unless you set up notifications carefully, extra notifications get in the way of reading. For reading anywhere, easily, a Kindle is by far the easiest.
PR 📖 A Kindle to take on trips (Japanese online store)
140g, it slips into your travel bag. A 6-inch screen and up to 6 weeks of battery. The writer also takes a basic Kindle on trips; this is the latest model (released in 2026).
Kindle (2026 release) (Amazon.co.jp)
PR 📖 A Kindle to take on trips (Japanese online store)
Warm up the light for night reading. A light you can adjust from white to amber, auto-adjusting brightness and IPX8 water resistance. Battery up to 12 weeks (brightness 13, wireless off, 30 minutes a day). The writer regularly uses this series.
Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (32GB) (Amazon.co.jp)
3. If you use a phone or tablet, check the battery rules too
On board, charging a power bank and charging a phone or other device from a power bank are prohibited (from April 24, 2026). Charge your phone and tablet fully before you leave.
→ Power banks on board: charging, use and where to keep them
Source: Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT): new rules for carrying power banks on board (announced April 14, 2026; applied from April 24, 2026) [in Japanese] (retrieved 2026-09-27)