International phone cards in Japan

August 24, 2005 5:33 PM

Help me find an international phone card in Japan

I just got here a few days ago and I have been trying to find an affordable way to call home. I bought a KDDI super world card from Lawsons, but that only got me 20 minutes for 1000 yen. Is this the best I can do?

posted by MostHolyPorcine to Travel & Transportation around Japan (5 answers total)

Response by poster: Der, forgot to say where I want to call. Home is in the US, Seattle.
posted by MostHolyPorcine at 5:35 PM on August 24, 2005

i rented a docomo cell phone the last time i was there. i used it nonstop for local and int'l calls back to the us for a week and i think it ran me about $250. i got it at the airpor, but your hotel might be able to hook you up.
posted by elsar at 5:56 PM on August 24, 2005

Buzzcard (UK-based) company seems to charge 2.31p/min via a toll-free number. This works out to be just under 4 US cents per minute, or around Y4.5/min, so your Y1000 will get you over 200 minutes.

I bought one of these cards and will be testing it in Italy this weekend. If you want confirmation of whether it works, email me, address in profile.
posted by quiet at 6:00 PM on August 24, 2005

If you have any way to get yahoo BB and it only costs two yen a minute to call the US. It is seriously worth it even with the cancellation fees.
posted by Alison at 7:21 PM on August 24, 2005

In the dark ages, you used to be able to buy hacked cards at Ueno park from Iranian guys. They loved other gaijin because they knew you weren't going to bust them.

I imagine the state of the art has improved somewhat, but I used to get more than I could possibly use for Y1000 - they gave you extras in case some of the hacked cards didn't work, and it made international long distance cheaper than local calls in the US. If the technology has improved, are the Iranian guys still ahead of the curve?

OTOH, why not VOIP? Not that I know anything about it.
posted by sagwalla at 10:57 AM on August 25, 2005