Originally Posted by
RichardInSF
Basically, in one of their sillier decisions, the powers that be in Japan have decided that offering prepaid cell phone service to non-residents encourages international terrorism or drug dealing or something stupid like that. So while it isn't actually illegal to do so, all the operators have "voluntarily" stopped doing it.
This isn't true; I successfully purchased a SoftBank prepaid phone just two weeks ago on a tourist visa with only my passport and a credit card as ID. The sales clerk seemed to consider it a perfectly routine transaction and didn't even question it. In fact, he tried to convince me to sign up for a postpaid contract and just cancel it before leaving or continue paying online and use it the next time I came back to Japan. YMMV depending on where you try, but you're bound to find someone willing to sell the phone.
