How to activate an iphone 5 with no sim?

So my brother from japan sent me an iphone 5 with no sim, i just want to use it as a camera and some apps. But he restored it to factory settings and i can't activate it or anyhting. Is there anyway i can't get through this problem? I tried taking it to the apple store etc. But they told me that because it's a japanese version they can't really do anything about it

  • My iPhone 5 says I need a sim card to activate, and I have Verizon I was trying to restore my phone and in the process of doing that it now is asking for me to insert a sim card. I have Verizon and we don't require sim cards. What is my next step? Also, my phone has not yet been activated. This requiring of the sim card is keeping me from activating it.
  • Iphone says invalid sim how do i activate it? So i just bought the iphone 4 today and put my o2 sim card in first it said no service but not it says invalid SIM what do i do to activate it?
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