In-processing, going off-post, cell phone mess

On Friday I mostly travelled around on-post and in-processed all the different agencies -- you know, library, education center, dental clinic, medical clinic, child/youth services, etc. I'm just about done with the checklist, though I do have a couple more stops to make.

On Saturday, I gave the family a driving tour of post facilities, and then we went cell phone shopping. I've had a really hard time with this.

Before we came here, I thought Japan would be like Korea -- a very simple "no you can't use your U.S. phone here," but that's not the case. There is very definitely a chance you can use your phone. The question is what kind of setup is best for your needs.

For those without a Japanese spouse, there are a few "easy" options. There's a place on-post called Softbank that caters to foreigners, and that's "easy." You can (maybe) use an unlocked phone to set up service, choose one of their plans according to your data preferences, and pay your bill monthly.

There are no free minutes, though, and every minute costs about 25 cents. With about a $5-$10 option, you can get a "first five minutes free" setup.

A more complicated option is a mobile Wi-Fi, but at this point I don't know how that works. There may also be -- depending on your carrier -- a way to keep your U.S. phone plan and just use it in Japan.

After learning that using our U.S. phones was at least a possibility, we tried to get them hooked up with Softbank. After three evenings spent chat messaging with T-Mobile, we finally got them unlocked, only to find out that we wouldn't be able to make phone calls.

I guess there was some sort of technical issue, because the workers there said they'd never seen that problem before. In any case, the bottom line was that there wasn't anywhere else we could go to fix the problem. T-Mobile had already unlocked the devices; they had no explanation why they wouldn't connect to a local carrier.

The next step was to visit the local Docomo store, which is located between the two nearest train stops.

Unlike the on-post Softbank, this store was fully decked our with multiple stations of various purposes -- phone sales, senior citizen education classes, and contract signing desks. And unlike Softbank, there wasn't anyone who spoke English in the store, despite being next to a U.S. military base.

The person who helped us called their translation service to help us, and we learned a few things in the process -- things that involve not just words for translation, but also new concepts.

First, I learned that Docomo was *not* going to do what Softbank did -- they were not going to put a new SIM card into the phone without a contract just to see if it would work. And they were not going to make some new contract just to see if the SIM card would work in our U.S. phones. It was either get a new phone or nothing.

Second, I learned that the "first five minutes free" option is pretty standard -- not a scam to ripoff foreigners who had nowhere else to go.

Third, I learned about phone insurance. At $5 per device per month, you get a $75 deductible for a phone that might cost $500 (they couldn't say how much it would be to replace an uninsured phone). I haven't had phone insurance before, so this was new.

Fourth, Docomo offers a "kid's phone," which has more limited features. I'm not sure of all the features, but we decided to get one for P.

Then we hit a snag -- I didn't have my passport with me. I offered several different types of IDs, but the one thing I absolutely needed to have was my passport, and they couldn't move forward until I provided it. And with Sunday booked for them, I would have to wait until Monday at 3:00.

After about two hours going back and forth and trying to understand the immutable laws of the Japanese cell phone system, we would have to come back another day anyway.