The Horror of Japanese Mobile Technology

It has been a great revelation using cellphone technologies in Japan. I got a N703iD from Docomo last week and have been playing with it ever since. Japan probably has the most commercially advanced and successful mobile platform in the world. At the moment, Japanese cellphones can be used for mobile banking, transportation ticket, payment medium and many things more. However, such a great technology does have its pitfalls...


Because my internship is related to mobile IC applications, I feel obligated to try as many mobile applications as possible. So far I have downloaded and installed: Edy: A new e-money service that is very popular in Japan. It serves both brick-and-mortar shops, as well as the internet companies (in fact, I think it just started a partnership with Amazon Japan). Suica : A rechargeable e-ticket for the Japanese railway system. Besides e-ticket, it also provide some cash card services for its shop in and around railway stations. Mobile Banking (Mitsui Sumitomo): a mobile application from Mitsui Sumitomo bank that allows you to manage your bank account from the phone, and transfer money to other account and/or services such as Edy and Suica. And finally, how can I be serious all the time and not try downloading mobile games such as MomotaroDentetsu

Unfortunately, all the downloading comes with a hefty cost, literally.
It seems that for each packet transmitted (I think each packet is 1kb), I am paying 0.2 yen. It might not seem much but it adds up, fast, especially when I am not only surfing and instead i am downloading all these applications. It has not been a week, and my mobile internet charge has run up to 6000 yen already. That doesn't include my monthly fee, which I figure to be around 4000 yen. So I am already 10000 yen in debt before I know it...