Their webpage says the phone has to be unlocked. Also, it gives no information about whose network they are using (for any country). Finally, it is not great for a phone as the voice call options are ridiculously expensive (twice as much to rent the SIM >$2 a minute), so you would need a dual-SIM phone.

If it works with a locked AT&T phone, then that means they have a deal with AT&T. Probably better just to get service directly from AT&T.

Iphone will work fine everywhere.

Most Tokyoites have no conception of North, South, East, West, so they are unable to use normal maps.

Get someone to write down the address of where you are staying in Japanese.

The hard part is not getting lost but trying to find something. I once gave a cab driver an address, and he turned around at me and asked, "What do you think I am...a mailman?"

As you said, you use it in your car, in the middle of the road, with the best possible satellite reception.

I used it in Fukuoka/Hakata, no tall building, wider lane ways. And the software was constantly trying to compensate (using nearby WiFi) so the blue dot was always roaming.

Also with a car navi, the built-in algorithm projects your where about using your current speed, which is not possible when one's walking (as the speed is too low).

In real life, Japanese city residents advise cabdrivers by telling them where their destination is located relative to some well-known train station or landmark. If you're staying at a major hotel, the cabdrivers tend to know where those are, and even a small hotel will be glad to give you a card with the address or even a tiny map of its location.

If you are taking a cab to your hotel for the first time, look at its website. There will undoubtedly be a map showing its location relative to the nearest train station or other landmark, if not on the English website, then on the Japanese one. Print out both and show them to the cabdriver.

jib71, that person would be me, as I shamefully admitted on my 1st post My friends take a peek at a map and instantly memorize them, but this time I won't be able to count on them and, of all places, I picked a perfect one to get lost. But I'm really looking forward to this trip and really appreciate all the input received here.

I found this to be an interesting proposition, if it works with my devices. According to posts on this thread, it works with jailbroken iPhone3G but not with non-jailbroken iPhone4s.
I'm leaning towards renting an iphone, if anyone has used one that would recommend I appreciate. Off to doing some more research...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...reviews-6.html

I used these guys on my last trip (based on info I got here on FT): www.globaladvancedcomm.com They seemed to have the most reasonable prices for unlimited data, and I wasn't making too many actual phone calls so I didn't care about that. You choose your pick-up location (usually a Narita post office) and just pick up the package under your name. When you are ready to return the phone, you just put the case in the prepared envelope and drop it in a mailbox, which you can do at any airport. If you are familiar with iPhone, you need to associate it with an apple account to purchase any apps (I think to download free ones too). Larger apps like Skype require a wifi connection to download.

Long story short, I got exactly what I expected and it was very useful.

I used these guys too on my last trip to J-land and was pretty satisfied as well (find my big write-up in the other simcard thread). Note that the package is literally waiting for you at the post office upstairs at Narita - for some reason I didn't get that initially and was wandering all over the airport looking for a Global kiosk!

I have an Android phone with GPS. Before a trip (Japan or otherwise) I always download maps I need using MOBAC (http://mobac.sourceforge.net/) then use RMaps and Big Planet to navigate.

The newest version of MOBAC doesn't let you download Google maps. You have to find version 1.8.x for that.

I like RMaps a little better overall, but Big Planet has some uses too.

These are all free, btw.

You will get lost in Tokyo, even if you are quite good in finding directions. I had simple directions once from a metro station to a hostel (including which exit to take etc) and I still got lost, luckily there were some Japanese in the neighbourhood who actually understood where I was heading and walked with me to the location. I have been in many cities around the world, including big ones like Moscow, London, Beijing and Los Angeles. Now well London and Los Angeles are easy because everything is in English of course, but Moscow and Beijing are both very logically built up whereas Tokyo is not. Just a mess of many cities melted into one.

In order to use Search do you have to use the address in Japanese?
I tried a couple of addresses (one was Park Hyatt Tokyo) and nothing came up.
If you do find an address, I believe you can bookmark it for when you're offline, is that correct?

I've never used the search but from playing with it it looks like it will either search the web (kinda defeats the purpose) or the loaded guide. So if you load the Tokyo guide that will help however having a quick look at it I have to say it's a bit rubbish, there's just not that many places in it. Probably the best bet is to add your own bookmarks to places you know you want to have marked so then they'll be available once you're there.

Thanks, didn't see many of the places I needed either.I tried adding a bookmark for the hotel, but when I searched with the address inEnglish it didn't find it. In order create your own bookmark do you have to know where it is on the map or am I missing something?

Yep, you need to know the location, hold your finger on the screen for a second or so at it will put a bookmark which you can name at that spot.