The Land of the Rising Sun is one of the top tourist destinations not only in Asia but all over the world. Year in and year out, Japan welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists from different parts of the globe. Majority of these tourists are interested to explore the beautiful sightseeing spots in the country, experience its unique culture, try out a variety of iconic Japanese dishes and of course, be in awe of its high end technological advancements which Japan is known for.
Japan is home to some of the world’s most distinctive, practical and useful gadgets and innovations which are manifested in their forms of accommodation as well as in various modes of transportation and communication. Among the well known examples of these technological advancements are the shinkansen or high speed bullet train in Japan, the capsule hotel and life sized robots, among others.
Another manifestation of the Japanese technological prowess can be experienced when using payphones in the country. Most of the foreign tourists who come to visit Japan may not be aware of one of the features of the public pay phones in the country. You can actually send e-mails to mobile phones by simply using these pay phones. This capability has been set for many years now.
In the past, people could use a pay phone to send e-mails only to phone users that utilizes Docomo, au or SoftBank as their mobile service provides. Softbank and au were known to have disabled these features years ago. Meanwhile, Docomo still continues to believe in this capacity allowing payphones to send message or e-mails to mobile phones. This is especially helpful for both local and foreign tourists who happen to visit a specific area in Japan without any mobile service provider.
In order to avail of this feature, it is important to insert the coin to activate the pay phone. Then, you may dial the specific mobile number of the recipient whom you want to address the e-mail. After hearing the voice over which says “Messeji wo irete kudasai” which can be translated to means Please input your message” in English. You can type your message out in the same manner that people used to send mails via pagers before.
Reference: You can send email from pay phones in Japan. Here’s how
