Mobile Phone and Bank-account

Firebird · (#1 (**permalink**))

Well, im in Tokyo now and i got 2 main Questions.
As said before i will stay 1 year in Japan so ill get a Bank account and a mobile phone.
Bank account: What i will use it for: Transfer the Money from Germany that i saved up for this year and be able to withdraw it in many places. Also get my payday once i started working. Thats bassicly it.
So i have been reading alot and till now i think my best bet would be the Post Office, because they dont have high charges and they are bassicly in every Town. I will mostly pay cash and plan to use my card just or withdrawl wich should be free. If i´m wrong please correct me and give me some advise. And do you know if i´ll need my Alien Registration card to register it?

Now, more complicated mobile phone:
Well i dont use my mobilephone alot back home, but here i will need one. im mostly sending messages because it is cheaper, so i thought it would be a good option to get a softbank prepaid phonr (message 5 yen, email 15 yen). Now i just wonder, if i get emails, will i need to be online and will get charged extra (on top of the 15 yen) or is that included? Is there any option for a cheap one-year plan? Would you recommend another company than Softbank?
Also i will need a mobile phone wich is in english. Im not fancy on camera and stuff, it just need to able to phone and to send messages, so i hope to get one cheap. Do you think it would be possible to get a used one and than just put in a prepaid card?

well thanks in advance
Greetings from Tokyo
Firebird

P.S. ive got some spare time, so if anyone wants to meet, ill be happy to! Im close to Ueno and Asakusa.

timelesssymphony · (#2 (**permalink**))

softbank is the cheapest generally and offer shortest contracts and prepaid AU would be second followed by Do Co Mo. If your looking for ATM's 7-bank (in most 7-11's) works with most ATM cards, I still don't use my sumito bank account.

Sangetsu · (#3 (**permalink**))

Cell phones in Japan are just plain expensive now. You have the option of paying for your phone fully up front, or making payments over time. Prices range from 30k to 55k yen. My GF recently bought me a Foma 905 (Docomo), and the up front cost was 54300 yen, more than $500. My monthly bill runs about 10000 yen.

The Softbank plan you are mentioning sounds like a decent deal if you don't talk very much. You can receive emails anywhere, you don't have to be online. Most phones have an English language option.

The Iphone is coming out in Japan in a couple of weeks, it's price is actually lower than many (if not most) of the phones offered in Japan now.

Crea · (#4 (**permalink**))

I'm not sure about the post office, but at banks like Mitsubishi/Sumitomo, I believe you do need your alien registration card to make an account, so I'm guessing you would need it too...

Firebird · (#5 (**permalink**))

Yeah i will need my ARC for the bank account and even for the prepaid phone. I decided to get a softbank prepaid phone as it is the easiest and probably best deal for me.
Phone = 5800 yen, Calling card = 3000yen is good for 60 days so that makes around 15 mins of phoning a month, Mail/SMS= 300yen a month for unlimited email (up to 300kb each when im right) runs me close to 30000yen for 1 year wich is ok!

Firebird · (#6 (**permalink**))

Thanks for that! You wont loose your phone number fore 360 days if i got that right. I also want to get a hanko, but ive got some time till the ARC arrives....

Sanchome · (#7 (**permalink**))

Softbank prepaid is easy. You can even get them at convenience stores and some electronics shops. Also, you can recharge them online with a foreign credit card:

Prepaid Service | SoftBank

So when you are outside of the country, you can keep recharging them to keep your phone number alive as long as you want.