Once again, mobile phones

Hello everyone, I'd also like an opinion: this summer I'll be in Japan for three months to study japanese, and I'm guessing I'll have to use a mobile phone to keep in touch (hopefully) with my new friends and with my host family. I have a nokia c6 that works in Japan but Japanese characters aren't supported. I'd like to know if I'll be able to use a data pack sim or not, and if I do, will that be enough to keep in touch with people?
I've read a lot of posts on this subject but decided on starting a new thread anyway, since my smartphone isn't that smart like new samsung ones or iphones ecc... I'd like to avoid renting a phone at all costs since I read it's very expensive, but if that's my only option it's better to know it beforehand...at least I'm prepared! Thanks in advance!

A.

What visa will you be on? If its a student visa you'll have more options, but if its a tourist visa then you'll only be able to get data-only prepaid sims. If you want voice (but no data) then it'll probably be cheapest/easiest to pick up a cheap prepaid phone.

I'll be on tourist visa, if data only sims are cheaper I'd definitely go for it, but I'm wondering if it'll be enough to keep in touch using only whatsapp, which is the only app for sending texts that works on my phone :( i hope so!

Tourists are more limited on what they can purchase. You have a few basic options:

Data only prepaid sim: roughly 3000 yen/mo
Voice and email (no data) prepaid sim/phone: 3000 yen minimum charge
Rental voice/data/both sim/phone: more expensive than the above options.

The cheapest option will probably be to get a prepaid sim/phone from softbank which gives you voice and email. Minimum cost will be around 8000 yen for your entire stay, but the disadvantage is that you won't have mobile data.

Otherwise I'd consider a data only sim for a total of 9000 yen over 3 months, which will probably be good enough for connecting by email.

I see, thank you so much for your your help!!