Voice mail and Texting

I recently purchased a new cellphone and service plan and noted some distinct differences from what I’m used to in the states. Voice mail and texting, unlike providers in the states which generally offer frees voice mail and unlimited text messages, here in Japan they are extras. Texting in particular is quite different. The different sales people we spoke with (we explored a fair number of companies) were not even familiar with the term “text message”. Here they refer to it with the technical term of “SMS”, that said, I’m told that almost no one uses it. Most folks, apparently, use their e-mail for their messaging. Our new Japanese provider offers it at ¥3 for each outgoing message but free to receive.

Happily, my phone came with the ability to answer a call and record a message on its own, thus avoiding the extra fee. Unhappily, my brand spanking new, high tech, smartphone did not come with a charger!