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Will be in Japan for two weeks, do I need to rent a hobby phone?

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MrJustinCredbile

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Hi!

I am (finally) coming to Japan in July. It's mostly business, but I also plan to check out some of the local flora and fauna.

My Japanese is rusty, but I did once upon a time pass the N1 and haven't totally lost it, so I'd be pretty comfortable calling up shops and asking for appointments or information.

I have T-mobile phone with a good data plan and I'm fairly confident for daily use in Japan that with Line and Skype should be fine.

However... reading this board I got the sense that a lot of shops (I'm pretty much exclusively interested in soaps) want you to call from a local number.

Does this sound right? Should I bother to rent a phone at the airport?

I haven't seen anyone mention virtual burner phones (like https://mysudo.com/) as a way to get a local number... not a thing?

Any help much appreciated!
 
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MrJustinCredbile said:
I haven't seen anyone mention virtual burner phones (like https://mysudo.com/) as a way to get a local number... not a thing?
Click to expand...

The local legistlation allows only residents to purchase voice-enabled cards. Every now and then there pops up a shop that promises voice SIMs to tourists too but when they get too big or loud they get shut down.
 
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Just rent, pickup and dropoff at the airport
Anyfone is the service i use regularly
 
Thank you for the replies!

I can use Line and Skype fine with my data plan, so I can make voice calls. The question is ... do adult shops care if you have a local number?

Any thoughts appreciated!
 
If you are just interested in soaps, you could either do a walk in, or if you have a specific girl in mind, try to book the appointment with her on Twitter. In that case I think a Japanese phone number is not necessary, but not sure.
 
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Alice said:
In that case I think a Japanese phone number is not necessary, but not sure.
Click to expand...

Soaps don't usually care as it's on premises. The phone is needed mostly with delivery healths.
 
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Some soaps i tried to book previously required a registered number for verification. Even booking on twitter it is a requirement depending on the shop

Previous trip to idol kenkyusei and bijin lab i was asked to provide a number.
Contacted another girl from another shop to ask what is required, the same.
Name, course, date/time and number.
Hence the reason i have to rent everytime i go over
 
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Alice said:
If you are just interested in soaps, you could either do a walk in, or if you have a specific girl in mind, try to book the appointment with her on Twitter. In that case I think a Japanese phone number is not necessary, but not sure.
Click to expand...

Both my sessions at Versailles in June were made through DM on the ladies Twitter, no Japanese number was necessary but I had to reconfirm one day before and again on the day of the appointment.
 
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i'lll seconded that email and dm scheduling are options depending on the provider/location. I would always reconfirm the day of and then the hour before and would half the time be meet by staff outside to confirm i wasn't some nutjob. Most seemed more worried about me understanding the system and being able to communicate with the girls than being a gaijin per se.
 
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there is an app called airaloo where you can purchase free esim and use it while in Japan. I used it and also for robodelivery. The negative is now occasionally my LINE gets added to whatever new service they provide. As I suspect they get closed then re-open every few months.

IMPORTANT: I didnt use robodeli, but something similar.(dont do it, use what TAG has checked)
 
Barabbas said:
there is an app called airaloo where you can purchase free esim and use it while in Japan.
Click to expand...
You are talking about esim for data, the majority of this thread is talking about the need of a real voice number to confirm reservation.
 
Anyone ever tried this JAL ABC(link below) to rent a japanese phone only for calls?
I am also getting a data sim for my own phone cause its cheaper to contact home through whatsapp than paying att $10 a day to use my regular plan and get enough data to spare.

https://www.jalabc.com/en/data-sim-mobile/rental-mobile.html

Edit: i did see the anyfone post before but i wont need the data on the rental and it doesnt have unlimited calls either for about the same price.
 
resiman said:
I am also getting a data sim for my own phone cause its cheaper to contact home through whatsapp than paying att $10 a day to use my regular plan and get enough data to spare.
Click to expand...
Not really an answer to your question, but I'll share what I learned about AT&T: They charge $10/day for unlimited voice/data for a maximum of 10 days/$100 per billing cycle. What I did was to change my billing cycle so that it matches my 1-month trip to Tokyo - this way I should only have to spend $100 for a month of unlimited talk/data while in Tokyo. Doesn't give me a Japanese number, but I thought it was useful info that required a call and lots of questions for me to figure out.

Also, AT&T doesn't allow you to add another eSim to a phone that is still locked.
 
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resiman said:
i did see the anyfone post before but i wont need the data on the rental and it doesnt have unlimited calls either for about the same price.
Click to expand...
Unlimited calls but the rental is 500 a day, unless you are making calls everyday, doesnt seem really worth it.
Although the rental fee 255+ 87 compare to anyfone 110+100 does make a difference in the long run
I use both an android and iphone. Android mobile data is permanently turned off to avoid the data usage. I buy a data sim for my iphone as well.

thepillow said:
Doesn't give me a Japanese number,
Click to expand...
Need a jp number for doing almost anything if u are in jp though
Registering for sites, make bookings, list goes on.
 
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thepillow said:
Also, AT&T doesn't allow you to add another eSim to a phone that is still locked.
Click to expand...
Yes i thought so as well but ive had this phone for a couple of years and i actually switched from tmobile so its totally unlocked so no problems there.
Doggyfong said:
Unlimited calls but the rental is 500 a day, unless you are making calls everyday, doesnt seem really worth it.
Although the rental fee 255+ 87 compare to anyfone 110+100 does make a difference in the long run
I use both an android and iphone. Android mobile data is permanently turned off to avoid the data usage. I buy a data sim for my iphone as well.
Click to expand...
Doggyfong said:
Need a jp number for doing almost anything if u are in jp though
Registering for sites, make bookings, list goes on.
Click to expand...
If i understood right the +87 is per minute so with 3 minutes of outgoing calls per day you are already paying about ¥500 and i think i will be using it for at least half the time i am there as you said to do bookings and whatnot so i think overall it should be about the same final price so ill get the unlimited just in case. Thnk you guys.
 
resiman said:
If i understood right the +87 is per minute so with 3 minutes of outgoing calls per day you are already paying about ¥500 and i think i will be using it for at least half the time i am there as you said to do bookings and whatnot so i think overall it should be about the same final price so ill get the unlimited just in case. Thnk you guys.
Click to expand...
If you can justify 500 yen per day for your trip, go ahead.
JAL would be cheaper than AnyFone at that point.

Per my use case, I try to keep the calls short, probably 100 yen a call(keep it within a minute)
1st for booking, 2nd for the confirmation, 110+200~, 300 yen a day
Or book via CH and call them an hour before, 100+100, 200 yen
I am somewhat calculative. Blame my asian blood :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
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Has anyone used one of the rental phones for doing a confirmation number for ticketing websites like e+ or for other sites requiring authentication like cityheaven? I'll be in Japan in a week and a half, and if I could just go ahead and register for some of the sites I want to use and never have to use a proxy service for ticket-buying again I'd be happy. A big part of the stuff I come to Japan for are the concerts and I have had to miss a couple good ones.
 
LastExile13 said:
Has anyone used one of the rental phones for doing a confirmation number for ticketing websites like e+ or for other sites requiring authentication like cityheaven? I'll be in Japan in a week and a half, and if I could just go ahead and register for some of the sites I want to use and never have to use a proxy service for ticket-buying again I'd be happy. A big part of the stuff I come to Japan for are the concerts and I have had to miss a couple good ones.
Click to expand...
Used anyfone for this.
It works for most sites, some sites will still require 2FA via sms to access some stuff even after registration

Believe someone did this but the number was used previously on 1 of the sites they were registering
 
Doggyfong said:
Per my use case, I try to keep the calls short, probably 100 yen a call(keep it within a minute)
1st for booking, 2nd for the confirmation, 110+200~, 300 yen a day
Or book via CH and call them an hour before, 100+100, 200 yen
I am somewhat calculative. Blame my asian blood :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Sometimes the call with the shop goes longer than 1 minute, more like 5 or 10 and I am like shit, but not everything can be resolved online or via CH chat. For some popular girls, CH is way too late since the girls would be booked up ASAP via phone calls. Oh well. In the grand scheme of things, it's not that bad per appointment.

I wonder if anyone is using the landlines from the hotels to do their bookings haha.
 
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