iPhone app for your feet

Jim got an iPhone this weekend.

I wrote a long post a while back about the grief that went into replacing his old Au phone. Rereading it exhausted and antagonized me, though, so I spared you. The take-home lesson was don't lose your phone. Ugh, just saying that, the memories are flooding back - the phone calls from the retail shop desk to customer service, the line at Bic, the forms, the faxing, the waiting, the re-faxing, dear god - the loudspeaker noise! and the fees-- ack! See? And then, he hated the replacement phone. Hated. And fair enough; everything he wanted to do with it was awkward and difficult.

So, this weekend, we steeled ourselves for another time-sucking, character-building trial and walked to the Softbank store. But it wasn't so bad. In fact, compared to Bic, it was rather like a visit to a spa.

Looking now at the "what you need to get an iPhone in Japan (English)" page, I see that it does clearly (sort of) say that you need to bring both your alien card and passport. Ah, well. I make these mistakes so you don't have to.

Any other little tips for getting an iPhone in Japan?

Since you asked... yes. Bring a gaijin card, passport, and credit card.

You can keep your Japanese cell phone number, but not your mobile e-mail address. Japan has had mobile number portability (MNP) since 2006. Call your old provider and tell them you want to take your phone number elsewhere.* They will put you on hold to an endless loop of Fur Elise and then give you a reference number to give to Softbank. They will also bill you for ending your contract early, but I bet you already guessed that. How much depends partly on how long you've been with them, like earning time for good behavior. Probably somewhere in the 100-dollar ballpark. Again, depending.

The first thing Softbank will ask you when you take a number to get in line at the shop is whether or not you already have your MNP number sorted out. They say they can still set you up even if you don't have it with you, but "it will take longer." Doesn't that sound ominous? They are even kind enough to give the phone numbers of the other providers on their MNP information page. (Whatever you do, do not look at the graphic "explaining" the process.)

*Since you, clever planner, will not have the walk back home to get your passport during which to make this call, do it before you go to Softbank. Right before is fine. Luckily.

There is one other thing, and it's kind of a big thing. I didn't see it on the website. If you have fewer than 27 months before your gaijin card expires (the card, not your visa, we were told), you have to pay for the phone up front. You can put it on a credit card and pay that off however you want, but you can't do the normal plan that's 0 down and 980 a month for the phone. Instead, you give them an arm and a leg up front (almost 70,000), and they "discount" 1,920 off the bill each month after the third month. After two explanations and some time with a calculator, I saw how this all comes out the same at the end of two years.

The guy who helped us was Japanese but spoke great English and was helpful. That is probably just luck of the draw, but you'll increase your odds by going to one of the bigger Softbank shops with English-speaking staff.

You will get a new cell phone e-mail address. Of course you can set it up yourself, but it might be a lot quicker to ask them to do it for you. There are instructions on the website. But it takes the staff about 20 seconds to do the whole set-up, and it would take me longer than that just to find the instructions. (This goes for any cell phone provider, especially for Japanese handsets that are as intuitive as mud.) You will actually get two new email addresses, one @softbank.ne.jp and one @i.softbank.ne.jp. The second one can be accessed from a regular computer. You don't need it. Skip it.

Jim is already checking out one list of the best Japanese apps in English and has bookmarked Joseph Tame's iPhoning Japan.

Finally, the slippers. These are the present for opening an account at the moment. The dog talks. Like you needed another reason to get an iPhone.

"Style starts at your feet!"