Hi everyone! I am not a resident in Japan, but i have a friend who works and lives in Sendai. He will be coming home in a few weeks and I asked him to bring the new iPad for me.

Now here is the catch, apparently the salesperson in the Sendai Apple Store told him that the the iPads available are all Japanese language only and would cost extra if he were to get one that has English iOS support. Can anyone please confirm whether this is actually the case for iPads available in Japan?

Thanks a lot!

It would be safe to say 95-99% of the electronics in Japan aren't English friendly. I don't know if you would save any money having your friend get an English version here and bring it to you.

So yes the salesman is accurate that seems fairly normal here. I have a friend that got a good deal on a PC that has Japanese only Windows 7 on it, he can get English but it will cost him a few hundred more to update the language pack.

This isn't really an iPad questions, it's an iOS question. iOS is the operating system that drives iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. There are system settings and regionalizations which can be set. My Mac has 5 languages set. All were pre-installed; I just had to activate them. They are: English, Thai, Romaji, hiragana and katakana. My iPhone (bought in Japan) has all of those plus emoji, which is an alphabet of emoticons.

These are all pre-installed; you simply select them in your keyboard settings. After that, they are easily accessible from the GUI. But you can change more than keyboard settings; you can select regional date/time formats, currency, and I think GUI labels. In other words, any iPad bought anywhere can be set to any regional setting. Here is one discussion about it; google around & you will find more.
http://iphone.appstorm.net/how-to/c...ge-in-ios/

To directly answer your question, I'm not 100% certain that you can achieve 100% Japanese compatibility but I tend to think you can. Keep in mind, all the above relates to the OS and GUI; it says nothing about 3G or LTE compatibility. If you have the wifi only device, you'll have no problem. If you have a cellular-enabled device, that connectivity probably will NOT work outside the country it was purchased. You'll need to use it in wifi-only mode. And Softbank's new iPad (aka, iPad 3) LTE connectivity works ONLY in the greater Tokyo area. This is why Softbank isn't selling the new iPad since they can't promise connectivity nationwide.

Out of curiousity, why are you wanting an iPad from Japan? They are more expensive here.

Anyway, I misread the question. I thought it was bringing an English-language iPad to Japan. I agree with Evan; it's silly to bring a Japanese one to the States. They do cost more in Japan.

I'm using my iPad here at the moment and I just checked under settings for alternate languages I have at least 50 to choose from, under regions there are at least 50 countries listed too.

This isn't a Japanese iPad though it came from the Exchange but it looks like any iPad should be able to adjust them.

Like the others have said though why..... Imagine if you had to return it for any reason and not being able to mail it because of Lithium batteries.

I think what the Sendai dealer said was BS.
My wife uses a US version ipad bought from the exchange and has no issues. She just switched it to Japanese and added additional international keyboards. Works better than my windows desktop which doesn't like more than one Asian language at a time on it's keyboard. The ipad seems to function perfectly fine in all languages... my wife uses it in Japanese, Korean and US without problems.

Buy the US version.

You guys that have the Ipad, do you have the 3G/4LTE service that you can use or did you just stick with the wi-fi version?  I am interested in the data packages. We are stationed in Yokosuka, but I am visiting the states right now.  My macbook is on it's last legs and would need new hardware in order to upgrade to the new operating system.  I would like to get the new ipad here, just because my mac is driving me nuts.  

There is no 4LTE in Japan, except in the Tokyo area, and maybe around Osaka. This is why Softbank isn't selling the new iPad on base. I'm not really sure if US 3G is compatible with Japan service providers. Certainly wifi would work. (see my comment above from 5/22).

If it were me, I'd buy the wifi-only version in the US, bring it to Japan, then get Softbank's mobile wifi device. It's about $40/mo and you only pay if you use it. This would allow your iPad, computer, or anything else to connect by wifi anywhere there's a SB signal. I have the older version of this thing & I absolutely love it! No more looking for public wifi or using the over-crowded wifi at the food court which slows to a crawl about 4 PM.

I have the WiFi only version, there are places to use it for free besides the obvious places. I have a wireless router in the house, our food court/ BX area is free, most all of the hotels I stay at offer WiFi on ski trips, I used it all over Hong Kong and Bali too. I guess if I had the mobile WiFi I could use use it anytime nearly anywhere or the 3G/4G but I don't really need it 24/7.