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Hey all, i have two topics i was hoping you could help with:

 

1. Buying a pre-paid phone when I arrive in tokyo. When i arrive i need to get one but I am unsure where I should get one? who are good caariers? how much should i expect to pay? any tips would be great....

 

2. Working at skifields, either Nagano or Niseko, are you usually paid in cash, or do you need to have a bank account? if so does anyone know about setting one up, any webiste links of people with previous experience or recomendations?

 

Thanks!!

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Don't know much about phones.

 

Usually seasonal workers will be paid in cash. Depending on who you work for you may only get paid monthly so make sure you have enough with you to get you through the initial weeks. In the unlikely event you do need a bank account set up your employers should be able to help you with that process. Banks in Japan are terribly archaic institutions that you don't want to have dealings with if you don't have to. Many Japanese just keep all their cash under the mattress. Can't say I blame them...

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Well my Japanese was non existant, but with the help of my son we tried to buy a pre-paid phone and was told I was only able to buy a phone on a plan....that was Jan 2008.

 

Of course my 3G phone that I bought here in Perth because it was GUARENTEED to be usable in Japan did not work over there - hello Telsra - what awesome service - NOT!

 

In the end we just went phone-less and used email.

 

We might have got the wrong end of the information 'lost in translation', but that was my experience.

 

However we DID hire a mobile for son #1 when he went to Japan as an exchange student for a number of weeks - it was done over the internet ...paid by Credit Card, delivered to the first hotel, and then dropped off via an reply paid envelope in a mailbox at the airport. AWESOME ----> now THAT is service!!!

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As it happens, I took a NextG phone to Japow with me last January (it was one of the telstra branded jobs) and it worked a treat. We had to tell the stupid thing to look for a system other than the default telstra network, but after that was all good!

 

pm for details if required

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Umm, we were expecting +1's mum to fall off her perch at any time, hoping for it to happen after we returned, but ... hey, ya gotta be prepared (as the boy stouts say). Actully happened a couple of days before we finished our trip, put a dampener on the last couple of days, but we couldn't do a damned thing about it, either if we'd stayed home or if we went.

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Sometimes it is better not knowing until you get home huh JA!

 

I was in Bali 11 years ago when my Great Grandmother passed away. We were very close. My parents talked to us on the phone a number of times before we got home (we were involved in the Sempati Air Collapse and stranded for an extra 2 days with the kiddies) but they never let on. They told me at the airport when they collected us. I was mad they had not told me immediately - but in hindsight it was WAY better not knowing until we got home.

 

Having said that - we are so used to being 'connected' all the time these days that it feel like you are going out naked if you have no mobile phone!!

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