finally! a bit more time to myself to sit at home and blog a bit and potter around tidying the place.
yesterday was extremely trying, and that was all because we were applying for our handphones together at yodabashi camera, one of the largest (if not the largest) electronics store in osaka (it has chains around japan cos we saw branches in tokyo too).
the amount of time it takes to get a handphone in japan in ridiculously long. i accompanied a friend to yodabashi this morning cos he couldnt get his yesterday and also cos i needed to head back to complete my KDDI internet application, and his took about... 2.5hours today. the wait wasnt as bad as yesterday as we were kinda 'fresh' and not as tired, and the place was totally empty except for a few customers, but yesterday really took each and every one of us to the end of our patience.
you would think that in japan where internet and handphone usage is one of the highest in the world, internet and phone applications would be relatively fuss free and quick processes. however that couldnt be further from the truth.
let me start with internet first. this wasnt that bad as the main problem i had was communicating in JAPANESE. we were thinking of applying for yahooBB initially, and we headed over. but there was only 1 english speaking staff and she was already attending to my friend, so i got tired of waiting around^ and try my luck asking questions in japanese. it wasnt that bad actually as the guy who attended to me was really nice and spoke slowly in clear, simple Japanese, and i was really grateful^^. the thing is, despite all the hype, yahooBB certainly is NOT the best internet service around, and the yahoo staff actually told me that. he did his duty in telling me about all the plans because i was genuinely interested, but he actually said that even before i voiced that same conclusion myself. so basically, yahooBB isnt the best deal, so do shop around before committing to their service.
the really trying part came after when we were trying to get our phones. we were at yodabashi from around 5pm all the way to 9.30pm just to get 4 of us signed up onto the Softbank plan. it's plain ridiculous and i'm not sure if it's cos we went there as a group of 5, but our liason actually called up to ask if we can all apply easily as a group and they said yes, or something along those lines. basically, they were meant to be prepared for us, but werent.
even if they were, i think the entire process was rather ridiculous. first we had to choose our phones. phones in japan are really expensive (the cheapest one, which is what we got, is around 30700yen, or more than S$310) although they sort of give you a monthly discount on your phone bill. i'm not sure how much it'll all work out in the end (phone plus plan), but i'll calculate all of that slowly in the next few months. so we chose our phones, but one of us wanted it in purple, and the only piece available was the display piece which she didnt want. and while it was nice for the guy to call up all the other outlets to find out if they still had stock, he kept the rest of us waiting for really really really long while attending to her request, and we just stood there waiting for things to happen when they could just have processed our applications while he was trying to settle the issue of her phone.
so that was number 1. number 2 was the way in which applications are done. basically, the mentality is that because you're signing a contract, it's paramount that the customer understands in FULL DETAIL what they're getting themselves into, which means that the staff in charge has to explain to each applicant (or explain to 2 applicants at a time) every single line of the contract to ensure that we fully comprehend. and so this means that it's not enough for the salesperson to have explained to us and we understand before proceeding with the application. instead, the person handling the application has to go through clearly all that is included in the contract, and that took quite a while. and because we dont speak japanese and there was only 1 member of staff who spoke english, we werent given the choice to split to be attended by different service staff and had to queue at only 1 counter and be attended by 1 staff.
and the application process.. goodness. i dont understand why it took so long actually, because all the service personnel has to do is key in our details into the computer, choose the number for us and let us sign a few stuff. however, they have to wait about 1/2hr for the phone to be activiated, and the entire process of application - post-explanation of contract - took a really really really long time as well. i think we were sitting at the counter for at least 1.5hours each yesterday, and if you add the 1/2hr for activation time, that means 1hour per person applying for a phone (we were attended to in twos).
it's madness! there certainly must be a quicker way to handle all these phone applications as the sheer amount of waiting time is ridiculous. 2.5hours at yodabashi today? and 4.5hours there yesterday? it didnt help that we all were really hungry and tired by then and thoroughly sick of waiting. urgh. so yeah. be prepared to waste half of your day waiting if you're ever applying for a phone in japan. or maybe it's just softbank. either way it was really crappy!!
^: the morning involved waiting for about 1hour at the bank with the other osaka city JETs trying to set up our accounts and having this bank personnel spend a tremendously long time trying to explain to us the different cards that they offer (believe me, cash cards, international bank cards, credit cards and debit cards are all different, and their debit cards may not be able to work overseas despite having Master and Visa on it. things are different in japan.) and basically hanging around getting bored.
^^: this is something that i've noticed not only among japanese speaking to non-japanese, but also among caucasians speaking to non-native speakers of english. somehow, they think that just because you speak a bit of japanese/english - and it's obviously you havent gained enough mastery of the language because you struggle with getting the right words and you're not as fluent and your vocabulary is limited etc - you can understand whatever they're talking about and rattle on at full speed or without slowing down much to cater to your language ability. after several experiences i think all those people who very kindly and nicely slow down to cater to my ability and try to ensure that i understand them cannot be taken for granted at all!
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