Most hotels and youth hostels will allow you to send a fax for a small charge, while receiving a fax is usually free if you're a guest. Alternatively, most central post office or convenience stores (often open 24hr) have public fax machines.

The Internet and email had a slow start in Japan, but now most major cities now have at least one cybercafé, and Web sites are booming. The instances of free access at NTT offices and other places is fast disappearing; in an Internet cafe you should expect to pay around ¥500 or less per hour. If you want to receive emails, however, and you're not carrying your own computer, you might want to set up an account with a Web-based email service, such as Hotmail ( www.hotmail.com ) or Yahoo! Mail ( www.yahoo.com ), before leaving home. This enables you to pick up emails from any computer connected to the Web. The alternative is to arrange a POP3 email account with your Internet Service Provider (ISP), which allows you to access your account from any computer on the Internet.

Cybercafés come and go fairly swiftly, although the copyshop Kinko's is pretty reliable and has branches in most major cities, and the general store chain Lawson is to install computers with Internet access into its 7500 outlets nationwide. Check the Listings sections of town and city accounts in this Guide for Internet availability.

If you're travelling with your own computer , before setting off ask your domestic ISP for details of any associated providers in Japan; AOL has a local node, and another popular provider is Global Online Japan (GOL) (tel 03/5334-1720, www.gol.com/start/jt ). Japanese phones use the standard American RJ11 plug, and you can access the phone system in your hotel or via your own cellphone. It's also possible to plug your laptop into the increasingly widespread grey, international public phones - they have a display screen and are fitted with both analog and ISDN jacks, but only permit local access.