Cell phone rental without a credit card

Hi there,

I have a question concernnig renting a cell phone in Japan.
I have a prepaid phone which in bough in Japan in 2007 , used it again during my trip in 2009 , but a year has passed and I still have to wait 2 months before i'm back in Japan.
I guess the prepaid won't work anymore because the number is shut down if not used within a year.

So i may need to rent a phone.
Problem is that i don't have a credit card.
Is there another way to rent a phone.
Maybe by cash and pay a deposit or something.

Does anyone have some good information about this.

Or is it possible to ressurect my old pre-paid phone and use that one instead. (it's a softbank phone)

thanks in advance

it should be : used again in 2008 :D

Whether you can use your old prepaid or not depends when in 2008 you used it and how many prepaid cards you registered. Each one you registered extended the ''full service'' life of the phone 60 days, and you have 365 days after that to register another prepaid card before the phone is useless.
Otherwise, if you have a Paypal account you can rent from Rentafone Japan
www.rentafonejapan.com

Can I ask where you got your prepaid phone? Were you in Japan on a tourist visa? I'd like to get a prepaid phone on my next trip to Japan, but I've read that phone companies will not sell a prepaid phone to people with only a tourist visa. (Yes, I've read the previous threads about this). I would just like to hear from someone that has managed to get a prepaid phone while on a tourist visa.

its explained on this thread:

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+5...

Yes, I've already read that thread as I wrote in my previous post. I'd just like to hear from Tinyworld if she/he managed to actually buy a prepaid phone on a tourist visa.

Ok, well Sandy on that other thread got his at Softbank Shibuya in April 2008, while Tinyworld bought theirs in 2007. Both are after the April 2006 law change requiring sellers to get address info on prepaid buyers. Anyway, hope that answers your questions.

Well actualy I bought the pre paid phone at softbank in shibuya.

I bought it in September 2007 while I was in Japan for 3 months.
Yes I was on a tourist visa.

The only thing I needed to get the phone was my pasport and the adres of where I was staying.

Just ask for english speaking staff and let them know you need a prepaid phone.

Great, thanks yllwsmrf and Tinyworld for the help!