The land of bicycles, broken Prius and cell phones

The day after I landed, I walked into Softbank and bought a phone with the wife.

whoops--rewind a bit.

Cell phones in Japan are amazing, you don't SMS, you email, although SMS is available now days. There are hundreds to choose from and this number includes the US phones that are here as well, like iPhone4, and Galaxy S.

There are three phone companies still alive in Japan: Docomo, Softbank (ex vodafone), and Au. These are the big boys. Each have different phones and different plans. I wasn't sure who I wanted to go with or get a phone from, so the wife and I headed to Yodabashi Camera, as all the companies where set up there and you could play with the phones, and see what you liked.

I loved the Galaxy S but Docomo were sold out and on back order (the Galaxy seems popular). So I went looking for something else. The options were amazing and I couldn't make a decision. And being on a tight schedule, we decided to get a phone the next day as we had to catch a bus to Kochi--a nice little countryside town. On the bus I decided to go with what I know: iPhone4.

The next day I was the proud owner of an iPhone (forgetting how inflexible and anal Apple is) and my wife chose a pink phone. We joined a family plan, which has also changed drastically since we were here last, and chose the best package for us. I picked the 5,600 yen plan which as far as we are aware is for unlimited Internet and all contracts are two years now (all companies are the same), they need to lock you in as a customer for their company and their range of phones. They offer a points system that after two years allows you a drastic discount on your next phone. 

So when you choose a phone over here, choose well. Also, if you are only here for one year, I wouldn't suggest you get a phone, the penalty for canceling a phone and breaking the contract is quite high. If you cancel within one year on a two year contract, you have to pay for the unused year in one hit.

A friend on Facebook said data fees would rape me. I haven't seen that yet. There are some phones I wanted but to access FB and Twitter, Stuff, and email accounts online, would cost me 90,000 a month. That's is shocking. I am interested in seeing my cellphone bill and see if I am right and 5,600 is the only fee or if I am being data fee raped or rocking out on my iPhone4.

Also forgot, you pay off the phone in the two year contract, you don't have to pay for it outright. If you are lucky and get the phone on a campaign (like I got the iPhone4 -- didn't know it was on campaign), the phone can end up being free.

(Then you have a added hassle of apples inflexible sign up pages and you need a credit card and the card has to be registered to the country you are living in, or else you can't join itunes like I wanted to do so I could get the FB app and some other free apps. Once it reads you are in Japan all the forms turn to Japanese. So to bypass this, lie and say you are in the country where the credit card is from. Works a charm.)