Texting in Japan :: A Lot of Questions?

Question:

Okay, I thought I would make a question with all things I really want to know about texting in Japan.

-How do you get your number/address?
-For calling, do you call a number or the same address used for texting?
-How often are Emoji and Emonicons used?
-Knowing pretty good Japanese, intermediate/advance level, how long does it take to respond fairly quickly to a text from your friend?
-Are the Japanese shy about asking for their address for texting?
-Is there picture messaging?
-How much does a fairly good Japanese cell phone cost? In Yen please.

Thanks!

~Ashton

Answer:

-How do you get your number/address? - Sign up for it a the Softbank/Vodaphone/AU/DoCoMo/etc store, the employee there will go through it with you (most don't speak english though).

-For calling, do you call a number or the same address used for texting? You call a number

-How often are Emoji and Emonicons used? Very often

-Knowing pretty good Japanese, intermediate/advance level, how long does it take to respond fairly quickly to a text from your friend? Shouldn't take too much longer than a normal text in english, especially if you can type Kanji.

-Are the Japanese shy about asking for their address for texting? - A random stranger, probably, if you're male and she's female also probably, but between friends it should be easy.

-Is there picture messaging? - If you sign up for email messages yes, not sure about SMS but I think most people use email on their phones anyway.

-How much does a fairly good Japanese cell phone cost? In Yen please. - Around 10,000 for a basic but nice phone, 20,000 for a fancy phone. However if you sign up for a 2 year contract you will often get the phone for free.