Your spangly, super-intelligent mobile phone won’t work in Japan. The clever bods at Nokia and RIM have worked out how to make European phones work in the US, but there’s no way of doing the same for Japan.

You can get a Japanese mobile at Narita airport, but communicating with some Vodafone Japanese dude minutes after a 12 hour flight can be excruciating (though less excruciating than forgetting to give it back on the way home). The second, infinitely preferable, way is to contact your mobile operator before you head to north Asia. They’ll give you a phone, clear operating instructions and a favourable contract.