It begins the way all trends do. You see it, think "neato!" but move on. But you see them everywhere. Everywhere! Everyone has one but you. They're so useful, so convenient... Why don't you have one yet?

Honestly, that is not why I bought a keitai. No it really isn't.

Having been lost in the station three times and also not being able to find people when I'm supposed to be meeting them in public places, the reason is obvious. I have felt the embarrassing sting and have had to find public phones and plop one hundred yen to call and either explain my rudeness or say I'm late but not dead in a gutter, or ask where the hell the other person is (and usually say, whoops, my mistake I'm in the wrong place). Also in case of an emergency, what would I do? I could be mugged or killed in this country, and not be found until two weeks later, having been half-eaten by an Alsatian.

And even that is not why I bought it. But really, it is irrelevent. Point is... I have keitai... Mwa ha ha haaaaa.

Of course now I fear that maybe I desire to become trendy or something. If this is the case: Lisa, if you love me push me. What follows is my Keitai-Getting adventure.

SO I went to the keitai stores with Naho-chan. Two of them, both AU by KDDI (学生さん　は　お金が　ない). They said: bring alien registration card, student id card, bank info. Can do! So, after a grueling decision period, (decided yes) I went to keitai store. After being made to fill out same form three times (kanji mistakes) they said I couldnt do it because I forgot my SCHOOL student id card, having only brought my ISIC card. So, tried again. COuldnt do it because I needed Imai-san from the school to sign the form. So got Imai-san (今井さん) to sign the form and went again. They said I needed a passport. The other store had not said I needed a passport. The other store had not even said the word passport. Indeed, if I had an alien registration card it should be obvious I do not need a passport as you need a passport to get the alien card soooo... Ok, got it all. ALl the papers, the bank account, the friggin passport, the friggin student card. And... Keitaiiiiiiiii. Have gotten keitai. I have a phone number. Wowwwww. So I take it home and gave up on the instruction book as it is in Japanese. Play with it a bit, trying to figure out how to even make phone calls. Suddenly, all the lights went out on it and it would not respond.

WHy? Why did it do that? nonononono noooo. Pressed every button on the phone. Could not believe. Broke keitai the day I got it. Am a child who should not be given pointy objects or keitais. So, fool that I am, simply put it in charger and waited for next day. Returned to keitai store (wherein the same woman was working, embarrassment 1). Said I broke it, and showed the lifeless beastie to her. She was surprised to say the least. I handed it over to her expert eye, sure she could fix it somehow. With a touch of her hand it returned to life, was all aglow. What happened, I asked. What was wrong.

I'm such a dork. I turned it off without knowing and didnt know how to turn it back on (embarrassment 2). So a bit embarrassed (とても 恥ずかしいだた)　I returned to school and asked for help from Imai-san. Learned how to call and program numbers into the memory and do email I think. The learning process took one hour exactly.

I's funny. The commercials and the ads, indeed on the keitai itself, it's "EZ. AU by KDDI." Hah. Is lies. That process took me about a month in all, and I didn't think it was all that easy.

Mail me baby! | return to reality (ha!)