I need to send a message, preferably while I'm on a Shinkansen, to tell someone which Shinkansen I'm on.
I tried to find out how I could do this and ended up with ridiculously expensive options like booking a mobile internet device for 30$ or renting a mobile phone for similar prices. Call me cheap, but 20$ for one text is simply ridiculous. I don't really want to sign up for anything longterm, because I won't need it in the weeks after this.
Just for one message, roaming might be an option, but as far as I understand my phone simply won't work in Japan, except for the 3G capabilities, and with data roaming I will probably end up with the 20$ again.
So, I thought I'd ask here for any other ideas. Or maybe some cheaper options to get a mobile or a wifi connection.
I've also considered simply asking someone if I could use their phone for a minute, but I'm really not sure how Japanese people might react to this. Also, I'm not sure if I could even use a Japanese phone if someone would let me have theirs. Does anyone have any experience regarding this?
Another option I found, although it's more of a workaround, is to use the free Wifi-access on stations, before or after the Shinkansen ride, but the description I found was not quite clear. Can this be used for something other than surfing the official JR-West website, or is it restricted?
If it makes a difference, I'm going from Shin-Osaka to Hakata (Fukuoka).