Cellular phones running in Japan

[Roberta]

Hallo everybody,
I leave in 2 days from Italy (Milano) to Japan and I needed a cellular working both in Italy and in Japan.
Well, you can't imagine how difficult has been to find one, nobody knows (even people working in cellular shops) which are Japanese standards, I had to search in Internet but also there information are few, so at the end I've bought a cell WCDMA quad band GSM-EDGE UMTS, do you think it will run?
I'm quite worried about that also because I've spent about 200 euro (more or less 33.200 yen) for buying it and if when I will arrive in Tokyo and I turn it on, if it does't work I think I will cry!!!!!!
Hoping someone will comfort me, bye

 

[alantin]

Hallo everybody,
I leave in 2 days from Italy (Milano) to Japan and I needed a cellular working both in Italy and in Japan.
Well, you can't imagine how difficult has been to find one, nobody knows (even people working in cellular shops) which are Japanese standards, I had to search in Internet but also there information are few, so at the end I've bought a cell WCDMA quad band GSM-EDGE UMTS, do you think it will run?
I'm quite worried about that also because I've spent about 200 euro (more or less 33.200 yen) for buying it and if when I will arrive in Tokyo and I turn it on, if it does't work I think I will cry!!!!!!
Hoping someone will comfort me, bye

WCDMA/UMTS will propably run, but I guess even taking call's will cost you honey..
Japan doesn't use GSM so that would be quite useless. Plus you can't use the phone mail with your "kaigai"-phone anyway I guess..

My advice would be to buy a cheap prepaid phone in Japan (need a gaijin card for it though!) or to rent one at the airport if you aren't staying long. I had the cheapest phone softbank had to offer and I really only had it to receive calls. Whenever I had to call myself, I would use a phone booth. Calling with a mobile phone just seems to be darn expensive there.

Someone could give some more info on the prices. I didn't really take my time to dig deep on the subject.

Anyway. Bringing a phone from outside the country doesn't really seem wise to me.. I wonder if they even offer subscriptions that go with any phone yet..?

In my understanding the subscription is usually tied to the phone in Japan..

 

[Roberta]

Thanks for yr answer, my provider in Italy offers a very interesting rate for calls to and from Japan because of an agreement with Softbank, so I won't spend a lot of money. I don't need e-mail on the phone and renting it in Japan is too complicated for me (what is a gaijin card?).

Have a nice day, bye

 

[alantin]

Thanks for yr answer, my provider in Italy offers a very interesting rate for calls to and from Japan because of an agreement with Softbank, so I won't spend a lot of money. I don't need e-mail on the phone and renting it in Japan is too complicated for me (what is a gaijin card?).
Have a nice day, bye

In that case, I'd think, youre good to go.

I take it, you aren't going to stay long? How long a trip are you making?

Gaijin card is for people that are going to stay in Japan for longer than the tourist visa allows, and thus need to register.

 

[Roberta]

I wish I could stay longer but I have a job here and I have 1 month a year for
holidays, so I will stay in Japan from August 2 to 29.
If you wonder why I need a telephone for such a short stay well, I have old parents in Italy and so............never say never

 

[ifjames]

You need a G4 phone: quad band: Motorola V3's do it, but not the V6 as we found out

 

[tigermilk]

Only there 4 weeks? I've done the rental route at Narita for that duration (and less). It's not difficult at all. I always use JAL ABC, which has multiple locations in each terminal. Even if you know no Japanese it's a snap. I always get the plan that is 250 yen/day with free incoming calls. For making calls, I just use my toll free international calling card from the hotel or pay phone.

Forgot to add - working with Italians is great, except for August. I do work with an Italian engineering firm. Great bunch of folks but it's tough to overcome schedule issues with August always in the way. I work with the Japanese as well, but fortunately the only downtime where things come to a grinding halt is Golden Week. Sometimes it's hard for different cultures to get synched!

 

[Roberta]

Thanks for suggestion, I'll remember it.

Concerning August I agree with you, in Italy August is a "dead month", quite all companies close for 2/3 or 4 weeks because this is a tradition, unfortunately, so most of people are obliged to have summer holidays during this period, me too..... and everything is more expensive, flights, hotels ecc.

The conceiving of work that Italians have is completely different from the Japanese one and we don't work so hard as Japanese people do but it would be a very long speech concerning different mentalities, culture and way of life.