Arrival and Phone Dilemmas

I have arrived. The last couple of days has been a blur of activity and knowledge. I have sat through upwards of 15 powerpoints on everything from culture shock to safe sex in Japan. I just returned from dinner with my PA group. The Japanese students who are helping us JSP kids are college Program Assistants. My PA is a break-dancer named Shosuke. He is pretty laid back. Last night he took us for ramen. Tonight we had katsu, breaded fried meat. After dinner we set out to find Brent, a guy from my group, a small pocket-sized notebook at the 100 yen store. Nick and I got bored so we went across the street to the bookstore. After about 15 minutes of looking at really cheap DS games and manga we decided to join back up with the group. The had left. Eventually we found them at another 100 yen store closer to the hotel we are currently staying in in Kawagoe.

During our sessions today we had a group from Soft Bank come in to give us a presentation on cell phones. At first I thought I would be confined by the one phone they have set up for JSP students as a prepaid option, but them they told us that anyone who is staying for more than 3 months can get a contracted phone. This pleased me. The cheapest phones in the Soft Bank line are about 22000 Yen. This seems like a lot, but the plans are 805 Yen for a standard contract and unlimited in network text/email and calls. Out of network is 9 Yen/6 seconds, but that is the cheapest rate in Japan. Plus the contract phones can watch tv! For free! So doing some rough math, I figure my phone will cost about 40000 Yen in total, or about 400-450 usd for the length of my visit. Who wants to chip in to the phone fund?
So that is about all I have now. I meet my host family tomorrow at the big opening ceremony thing they have for us. Let me know if you have any questions! I'll be happy to post answers!