Travel to Japan 11

Short-term Cell Phone Rental for Japan
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Tallahassee, FL 32306

I have been researching for quite some time to a get a cell phone for my short-term stay in Japan of 10 days or less. I read the www.japan-guide.com forums and travel blogs. Finally I decided to go with www.rentafonejapan.com. This company is based in Kyoto, Japan and seems to be popular and favorite company to rent a cell phone in Japan. The Japanese cell phone system is unique and therefore most of the cell phones (both SIM based and non-SIM) don't work in Japan. Therefore, my global SIM Card from www.mobalrental.com won't work here.

So I contacted them about a month ago and told them that I needed more than one phone so that I could carry one and my travel party could carry another. They were quite happy to comply stating that they could even send one to my home (Florida, USA) for extra charge.

This company will charge me ¥ 3900/for a week/phone and additional days charges are ¥ 300/day/phone purely in rental fees. Additional charge of ¥ 1000 will apply for the phone that will be sent to my home address in the United States.

Besides the rental charges I have shown above, you will pay for usage just like a pre-paid phone. The company says that typical charges for calls in Japan is ¥ 90/minute (a cheaper rate of ¥ 35/minute is available if you put in a special code) and international calls range anywhere between ¥ 45-60/minute depending upon the country. The charges are taken out in 1/10 minute increments i.e., 6 second increments. There are no charges for incoming calls.

So I placed order for two phones. One to be delivered to my home address in US and another to be delivered to Hotel that I will be staying in Osaka. The first phone arrived today. It came with a Softbank Sharp 420SH type phone with a 1.3 Mpx camera, universal charger, instruction sheet, pre-paid return envelope (with Japanese stamps) and a pouch. I charged it and is ready for use when I travel to Japan.