japan cell phone question

for anyone in the know, whats the best method of gettin a cell phone in japan? like a prepaid or rental type. 
some prices like rentafone n gophone are pretty steep. some even charge by the week in addition to the minutes used. i guess im used to picking up 20 dollar nokias and buying 1000 minutes for 100 dollars with no contract from tmobile for temporary burners. 
anyone know of anything like a japan boost mobile or mobi wireless :shrug:   
dont know if it matters but its gonna be needed for 3+ months so if they charge rental by the day or whatever then forget it. 

only useful information please i got a lot of wrong info so far (saying so and so is only 40c a minute but turns out to be 1.95!!:slap:) anyway thanks in advance!

[url]http://www.pupuru.com/foreign/en/index.html[/url]

thanks bro! but i think the prices are a lil high still. did you personally use them before? haha i dont like how they get sneaky and charge 42cents a HALF minute lol! :smiley-rofl:



i wonder why all these companies charge like a 100 bucks a month on top of the calls per minute. how much are their regular cell phone plans??

To legally get a prepaid cell phone in Japan you have to have an Alien Registration Card; You can only get one of those with a visa that is longer than 90 days (i.e. not a tourist visa). They are insanely strict on mobile phones there...
 
Of course there are a few people that have done the pushy/charismatic foreigner trick with staff at Don Qixote stores and managed to get one, but i wouldnt rely on this tactic
 
There are a couple of rental phone companies at the airport, and they arent so bad (I seem to remember they were cheaper than that PuPuRu place, but i could be wrong)
 
Here are some Softbank pricing:
[URL]http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/price_plan/[/URL]
Prepaid:
[URL]http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/prepaid/3G/index.html[/URL]
 
Docomo (Postpaid only)
[URL]http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/charge/bill_plan/index.html[/URL]
 
KDDI AU
[URL]http://www.au.kddi.com/english/charge_discount/plan/win/index.html[/URL]
Prepaid:
[URL]http://www.au.kddi.com/english/prepaid/types.html[/URL]

thanks!!:biggthumpup:

Never Used the link I sent. My wife suggested them. But Dom would be the better resource as I never had a Visa. Just visitor visa.