It’s been one and a half week since I came to Doshisha University. The pieces of my life puzzle have rapidly fallen into place. During the first days, I thought getting a phone was of most importance, so I searched on the internet without finding any good results. Having to go to one of the large phone operators offices seemed to be the case. I and my friend Ueda went to both AU and Softbank and asked them about the plans and contracts they were offering. A lot of the marketing was focused on selling the new iPhone 6.

All in all, since I’ll be staying here for two years I decided upon a 2-year contract with AU KDDI with one of their Android smartphones. It took probably around 60 min to sign the papers, waiting, letting the clerk put on the protective film, waiting, installing and explain the functions of the phone, then I got the phone! I got a 7 GB/month plan with limited calling since that will suit me the best. My upcoming accommodation will probably not have internet installed so I prepared for the worst case. I can always upgrade it to 10 or 13 GB later. The cost will land on about 8000 yen/month including the phone and internet. We are talking about 192 000 yen in just phone costs during my stay here, ouch!

The Japanese phone system with locked-sim cards really feels ancient and costly for the consumers compared to the Swedish system. The service level is however completely different from a similar Swedish store, Japanese customer service aces!