Cell phones: Getting a phone here in Okinawa was pretty easy. We had our military sponsor (and friend, Jeff) take us to the phone carrier he uses. There are three main carriers here - two of them I have seen on the bases (SoftBank and AU) and one I've seen plenty of locations out in town - Docomo. Jeff has Docomo (the average AT&T) and is happy with it, so we went with Docomo as well. We have heard some not-so-good things about the other companies, but I'm sure they're all the same. It's like picking between AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile… So, we were able to get an iPhone through Docomo. They don't have family plans and you pay for the phone on your monthly bill instead of up front like back home. They also lock you into a two year contract. There's a hefty fee for canceling your contract early, but if you are on a 3-year tour then you don't really have a choice. Oh well.
They were very friendly. We had to wait about half an hour for an English speaking rep.
Their plans are pretty simple. For the one we have there is unlimited Docomo-Docomo calling and 2GB of data. Everyone is super concerned about being able to call home. There are several ways to do this (e.g., magic jack, Voxer, etc.). Mike and I use an app called Viber. It is an awesome text/voice messaging/calling app that works off wi-fi so it doesn't cost anything to use if you are connected. Otherwise you eat into your data, which is also not that big of a deal. The other person you want to talk to/text must also have Viber downloaded on their phone too. I also use Skype on my computer, but it's more of a personal preference. There are plenty of options!
So far we have been pretty pleased with the Docomo service. Sometimes there's no signal - typical of any company - but the majority of the time our phones work great. My favorite part is when you place a call the ringer makes a funny sound and a little voice sings, "Docomo!" I love it; it makes me happy. Haha!
Cars: Buying a car here in Japan is VERY stressful. Although they are surprisingly cheap (seriously…We paid less than $5000 for two cars), it's so complicated. At the newcomer's brief we learned about a resource you can use to buy a car…A piece of paper. Great. Here's the picture of the paper. I'm not even going to attempt to explain the car-buying process here…It's insane. So, if you need some advice, then feel free to contact me…Or check out this paper. Haha.
Once we did everything that is required of both parties, we finally felt comfortable to drive around. After we got our Japanese drivers license, of course. That's another feat in itself. Geez, so much to do in order to gain your mobility in this country! Well, here's a pic of our little Japanese cars. They are both Nissans and we love them. They are so cute and so much fun to drive around :)
My Nissan March
Driver's side is on the right :)
Mike's Nissan Cube
Cable service: There are two cable services here on Okinawa - Mediatti and Konnect. I am not sure which is the better one, but we went with Mediatti. It's again like picking a cable company back home - Time Warner cable, Cox Communications, Hargray, etc. We opted for the combo internet and tv package with 70+ channels. We also have a subscription to Netflix. This was the most comfortable to us because it mirrored our services back home. Some people choose to do just internet with them and then use Netflix or Hulu…again, it's personal preference on these things. People talk about having to get some sort of VPN that supports the Netflix/Hulu service back home, depending on where you live. This is again another thing that's very confusing for me. I let the man do that stuff. Here's Mediatti's brochure, in case you're interested:
Michael's rims bahaha best part!
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