Finding a cheap keitai in Osaka-Kobe?
 

Anyone have any recommendations on shops in the Osaka-Kobe area that sell cheap docomo phones? I'm looking for a new docomo phone to replace my current one, but most of the shops I've been to sell only brand new phones for 3 man or more -- well out of my price range. I'm not looking for anything fancy, and I would be perfectly happy buying an older model for a low price.

Use Yahoo (Japan) auction.

check kakaku.com

shops usually don't have old models

In Osaka, go to Den Den town. It is the electronics shopping area of the city. They have tons of places to get cell phones there, and you can compare shops right next to each other.

But are they really ever "cheaper"? I was in Den Den Town last year, and although I didn't look so closely, the prices didn't seem much different than everywhere else. I could be off, though.

I actually found sometimes things were more expensive in Akihabara. I was there not long after the PSP launch and while most shops were sold out, a could were selling PSPs at double the retail price. I went to Yokohama and found a PSP at the normal list price.

As I recall, prices in Den Den Town were good, but not amazingly, jaw-droppingly great or anything. The main reason I liked it was the ability to comparison shop, check out a wide variety of makes and models with different features. If 1 store doesn't have exactly what you're looking for, try next door, and the next, and the next until you find it.

In the small town where I lived, the local electronics shops tended to have few options. A few brands/models of each type of item was all you had to choose from.

Thanks to everyone for their input!

I tried Yahoo Japan auctions for the first time, but it didn't go quite as planned.

Recently I had my keitai (Japanese mobile phone) in the shop for some minor repairs, and the shop gave me a different keitai as a loaner to use. I liked it, so I decided to look for the same model as a replacement.

Because it was an older model, however, the shops I went to didn't have it. Someone recommended the Yahoo Japan auction site. I had used eBay before, but I had not used Yahoo Japan Auctions because it is all in Japanese. I decided to take the plunge, however, and I found the same model keitai. I placed a bid, won it, paid for it, and felt very proud of myself that I could navigate all of it in Japanese!

I told the other teacher who I shared an office with, and he congratulated me -- adding at the end while laughing, "I just hope you don't get a pink elephant!"

I received the package today, and was a bit surprised at the box -- it was bigger and heavier than I expected. I placed it on my table, opened it up, pulled out the packaging, and found 30 phones -- white, black, and yes, pink.

I had thought the listing said that the seller had 30 phones to sell -- not that they would be sending 30 phones!

But 30 phones for 900 yen? How could that be right? I picked up one of the phones. It certainly looked and felt like a real keitai. I opened it up, and saw a picture where the screen is, like the keitai you see in the stores. I soon realized that it was a "mock-up", as they say in Japanese.

So yes, I bought 30 fake mobile phones.

I leaned back in my chair and had a good, long laugh. So much for my first attempt!

(And if anyone is in need of a fake keitai, you know where to go!)

haha thats just hilarious! thanks for sharing and I hope u have more luck next time :D