How do I get a cellphone in Japan?
 

I've heard many people say that most international plans don't work in Japan, so I should get a Japanese cellphone. I know there's a long, probably hard process I have to go through to get a cellphone - I'm just not sure what the process is. Can someone post the steps to getting a cellphone?

I don't know for sure, But I imagine you could go with a Pre-paid cellphone. It might be much easier, if so.

That's true, I'll have to look into that.

If you are going as a tourist, a Japanese law that went into effect in late 2006 (I think) made it illegal for gaijin to actually own their cell phones. Some sort of anti-terrorism thing. I used to have a Dokomo account but was not able to re-activate the phone after that law was passed.

If you want to buy a Japanese capable cell phone.... let me know. I still have it <g>. You'd need to re-activate it.

In order to actually own a phone now, you need to have a resident alien card. Which means that you have to be living in Japan "long term".

Now I rent them when I am there since I am only there about 2 months at a time. The best deal that I have found is RentafoneJapaan. They are very easy to deal with and the price is right.

Rentafone Japan - Cell phone rental in Japan

best,

..................john

If you have AT&T, you can get an international plan which will allow you to use your phone while in Japan. The only drawback is that you need to have a later-model 3G phone. I used an AT&T tilt on a visit a couple of years ago and had no troubles. AT&T is partnered with the Docomo network, so that's the carrier you will use when roaming here.

When I use my Docomo phone in America, the phone says "Cingular" (I thought the name Cingular had stopped being used a few years ago), but the phone works well enough.

I'll definitely look into this! I really want to use an American phone in Japan, because I don't know if it makes any sense to buy a phone in Japan that I can't use once I leave.

Oh. I knew there was a form that needed to be signed out, but I didn't know why or what it was for. If I can't find an American phone with an international plan I'll look into this, thanks.

You can rent mobile phones at narita airport terminal ... 2, I believe. Once you get past immigration and security you will be in this long hallway where you will find a bunch of desks lined up against the far wall next to the exits where you can do everything from get train tickets to rental cars to mobile phones to rent. You might want to go there because they can speak English. Once out of the airport and you can pretty much forget about English for the most part.

Believe me, if you dont speak Japanese you wont want to try renting a mobile phone using Japanese.

One thing not to do: get an "international cell-phone add-on" when you are buying your plane ticket. I did that through Orbitz; it sounds really reasonable--$40 USD--but then you learn AFTER the fact that, for Japan, you have to upgrade to a 3g model (as others have noted). That upgrade is an additional $170 USD, for a total of $210. (I know, you'd think their online booking would be sophisticated enough to tell that you are traveling to Japan and need the extra-expense info up front . . .)

I've decided just to not have a cellphone for the time we're there; but we're only going for 16 days, not so bad. Actually, I think it will be kind of nice to be liberated from the phone for awhile!

Have a great trip.

tumblingwater,

Take a look at the cell phone link I posted above. It is VERY inexpensive (both rental and usage) and VERY convenient to do.

I leave for Japan next Thursday, and I just got an email with my keitai (cell) # from them. It will be waiting for me when I get to my first night's ryokan.
When I leave Japan I just drop it in the pre-paid padded envelope and in any standard mailbox.

best,

................john

I'm pretty sure, there are phone stores available in Japan..

Absolutely... but they are rther expensive. And unless you have a resident alien card.... you can't actually buy one anymore (post 1996).

best,

............john

Pre-pay is about 10,000 yen for the phone and the PP cards come in 3000 and 5000 yen amounts.

Also if you are in Japan for more then 2 weeks it is a simple matter to get the alien reg card. I suggest it is also a good souvenier.

I don't know what sort of deals the providers in the US have but make sure on the pricing before you go. As long as you do have a 3G phone, you should be able to use in Japan, but roaming charges were about $2 a minute when I was there.

The rent-a-phone companies at the Narita airport was pretty pricey the last time I checked, but free to receive calls, so I have rented from there once before, but for the most part, had friends and family call me, not vice-versa. You can just rent a sim card rather than a phone if your phone is already unlocked.

Actually buying a phone is a lot of hassle, especially through retail since you have to have proof of residence. If you really want one though, what I did was buy a keitai through yahoo auctions japan (still need a shipping location in Japan or overprice on ebay) and once you leave Japan, you can unlock the phone to be used in the States or wherever with a hypersim. You are, for the most part, restricted to DoCoMo phones, however, and internet options and 1seg TV doesn't work outside japan, even with a dataplan.

I'm in Japan at the moment and a friend and I just went to try to buy him a new phone model (his is 2G and new is 3G) today and transfer his EXISTING personal pre-paid keitai account to a new phone. Without an alien registration card he could not do it. Period.

He already got the same story at the phone stores in Narita airport too.

The only thing he could do was to buy minutes for the existing phone. (And the LOCAL rate is jacked up on that DoCoMo phone to 90Y a minute). As soon as that phone account which he owns lapses (the service contract expires because he is not renewing the minutes cards) ..... his phone becomes a useless piece of junk (just like mine did in 2007).

My rentafonejapan cell I'm using here is only 45Y a minute to the USA. A bit expensive at 35Y a minute local..... bit that is still way less than most plans.

best,

..................john

From SG- If you have a 3G phone, it works perfectly well. Mine did.

Do you know if there's some kind of list of 3G phones, or if Sprint has 3G phones? I've been trying to search online, but I'm not exactly technologically savvy, so I don't really understand a lot of the search results.