My First Japanese Phone

Konbanwa minna!

I finally got my Japanese phone with Japanese number at Japan!

Tada!!

 

Seriously applying for a phone in Japan requires a lot of works and it's super troublesome!ヽ(｀д´)ノ

Apparently, if you are under tourist visa or if you don't have a resident card. Applying for a phone with a Japanese number (for voice call) is totally IMPOSSIBLE!! (>Д<;)

My situation was exactly like those! I enrolled late into my school, hence my resident card got delay and couldn't process on time.
Whereas on the other hand, your worried/loving family wanted to call you and you couldn't rely on Malaysia roaming all the time because you will get charged even if you picked up the call.

So there's one way you can contact your family if they know how to use a smartphone with communication apps (LINE, Skype, Whatsapp, etc).

I think most of you has heard of B-mobile. You can buy the 1G DATA only plan (cannot voice call) at Yodabashi Camera at Akihabara for ￥3480. The plan last for 1 month and you can top up later at ￥3100 but before 10 days of the expiration date (I haven't tried to top up yet but I heard that from people). They come in various sim card sizes (normal, micro, etc).

To activate the plan you need a Japanese mobile phone to activate it. So, you can maybe pay or ask around for those who has Japanese mobile. I'm sure some nice people will help you.

Inside, you will get a simcard with a number beside the card. And inside the booklet, there is a phone number you can call to activate it. Press 2 for English language and then key in the number for the simcard.

After activation, you need to set APN settings. You can refer to this page. REMEMBER after you finish all the setting, TURN OFF your phone and ON again for it to work. (Mine didn't work for 2 days because I didn't turn off my phone LOL XDDD)

After that, you can ENJOY THE INTERNET! (=´∇｀=)

HOWEVER, what if your situation was like me. My mum does not know how to use smartphone. So what left is really down to voice call.
Well, you can always ask someone who has a resident card to apply for you XD. I am super grateful  to my senpai again to help me apply a prepaid card by using his resident card. But they will not hand that simcard easily to you. You need to have their phone then they need to synchronize the sim with that phone.

Best way is to buy a cheap 2nd hand phone. (Eg. If you're applying for a Softbank sim, get yourself a Softbank phone).

But applying for prepaid sim card is not cheap.

Here's the cost you need for prepaid:
1. Cost of buying a phone
2. Cost of application fee for prepaid sim (￥3150)
3. Top up for prepaid (￥3000 or ¥5000, both last for 2months)
So to sum up, it was rougly ¥10k++

I'm not gonna say too much. I believe there are lots of guide posts on the internet regarding to Japanese phone stuff.

If you have any questions, you can feel free to ask me. I will try my best to help.

That's it for today!

おやすみ！ (-_-)zzz