I can't call you, you can't call me?!

The biggest hassle I faced when I first returned to Japan was finding ways to contact people. Sure, my father would lend me his spare hand phone from time to time, but how long could I survive on that? 

In all honesty, I was a little bit of a coward when I first realized that I would soon need to get a SIM card to use my smartphone in Tokyo. I was weary and frustrated, and above all, I was embarrassed at signing any sort of contract with my grade school level of Japanese reading and writing. Eventually, though, I knew that I would have to face going into a mobile communications shop to get my smartphone up and running. 

The irony is that the embarrassing part turned out to eventually be that I did not ask questions, and I feared my background being scrutinized to the point that I bought the wrong SIM. As I had no idea that there was such a thing as a data-only SIM, I got that and signed on almost as soon as the lady at he store started explaining to me in the most dramatic keigo ('service level' Japanese) that I've ever heard. 

I brought a friend along and somehow managed to switch my data SIM to an actual tsuukin SIM, so that was settled. My advice would be, however, to just ask if you are unsure. If you're not sure of the keigo their speaking, tell them to simplify it a notch. If you're still unsure on top of that, just keep going until you get it. They may roll their eyes when they go into the stock room or have chats with their coworkers about you, but it's far better than getting the wrong SIM.