Job Discussion Forums

[olorin]

At my interview a couple of weeks ago, the Nova rep mentioned that Nova also offers to hook students up with cell phones at the orientation in Japan. Does anyone know anything about this? Is their service worth it, especially to someone who doesn't know Japanese? I've read all over the web and this board about how easy/difficult it is to get a cell phone. My wife and I currently have unlimited calls to each other's phone. Are there similar plans in Japan? Please forgive me for being clueless.

[Wolf]

As far as I can figure, many NOVA offices also sell cell phones. I bought a "NOVA" phone back in 1999. It wasn't a NOVA phone. I signed a contract with one of the cell phone companies (in my case Tuka.) When I left NOVA there was nary a boo about the phone. Whenever I needed help with the phone, I just went to a Tuka office - one not in a NOVA.

Some of the phones have a bilingual function - ie you can get them to display everything in English. I personally never had any real problems with my phone (needed a replacement after 5 years, but hey whatever.)

[tjpnz2000]

The NOVA phones thing is not really good or bad, it works like this;

You can't usually get a phone untill you get an alien registration card (gaijin card) showing your address in Japan. This usually takes about a month or two. Because NOVA is such a big company they have an agreement with a phone company (the company changes, when I can to Japan it was J-phone, now I think it is Tuka) that thier teachers can use thier credit cards to pay for the first month or two of phone use and then change to a normal account when they get gaijin cards.

The up side is that you get a phone really fast. Orientation is usually no more than three or so days after you get to Japan.

The down side is that you have to use your credit card to pay (I had a huge credit card debt when I can to Japan. Now it is moderate but that is my fault and not what this post is about ). You will get a range of plans to choose from but almost certainly only one phone company.

If you really want or need a phone immediately and you have credit card reserves it is probably worth it. If you are happy to wait a month or so you can probably get a better deal at a stanard phone shop because you have more choice. It is up to you.

Phones generally, I said generally, work on a one year contract and for your monthly fee, about (I said about ) 5 or 6 thousand yen you get about all the calls, email and other stuff you need. I have heard of plans where you get cheap calls to people with the same company, J-phone gives you 50% off for 5 people also with J-phone. Unlimited calls may be pushing it but I don't know.

One thing it is important to note. I don't know what system Japan uses but it is not GSM or compatable with GSM. One company is starting to use W-CDMA but I don't know if it compatable with US or Korean networks.

Hope that helps, don't apologise about being clueless. We all were once, I still am

T

[ruggedtoast]

Tokyo ward offices process gaijin cards in about 2 weeks, I dont know about other ones but when you apply if you ask them they will give you some temporary certificates that you can use to open bank accounts and get phones etc, while you wait for it to arrive.

The nova phone is actually a J-Phone and is usually whatever free handset J-phone is selling at the time, if you want that phone its fine, if you dont it isnt. Theres nothing to stop you going to a phone store yourself who will usually sell you a phone without a credit card.

Having a Japanese company extracting money in Yen from your home credit card account is not only expensive but inconvenient.

J Phone give you a monthly contract you can cancel at any time, its a bit cheaper if you commit to a year but not much.

Forget about unlimited free calls. This is Japan.