J.K. phone home.

No,  I'm not obsessed with my smartphone like some of my friends and colleagues are unless I am at work.  Then, my Blackberry might as well be surgically attached to my hand.  Whether it's on "normal" ring mode or vibrate mode, the moment a new email message comes in, I'm at the ready to open up the message and read it.  At home, it's pretty much all about text messaging - usually alerting my friends to my status or location as we're getting ready to meet up with each other.   Other than that, it rarely rings.  Of course, it's still virtually tethered to my email box at work so I can stay in touch with the office.  Since I only have a 2G phone, surfing the web on my phone is pretty much a waste of time so unless I am desperate, I don't bother.  On occasion, I have used it as a camera to take pictures and video.  Not the best quality camera but it serves its purpose in a crunch.

It's a different story though when I'm travelling.  I rely on my phone A LOT not just to make calls and text message but it's also my alarm clock and on more than one occasion, I've used it to access the internet to transfer money to the account that my ATM card is tied to.  In all my travels, I've only been in a couple of places where my phone did not work and although I managed fine without, it did take some adjusting to.....almost like having withdrawal symptoms.

Japan, which those who know anything about cellphones will tell you, is the leader in the technology.  The Japanese are light years ahead of the rest of the world and thanks to their obsession for features, they have set the pace in almost every industry innovation: e-mail capabilities in 1999, camera phones in 2000, third-generation networks in 2001, full music downloads in 2002, electronic payments in 2004 and digital TV in 2005. 

Think your cellphone has everything?  Check out the Sharp 912SH which comes with an LCD screen that swivels 90 degrees, GPS tracking, a bar-code reader, digital TV, credit card functions, video conferencing and a camera and is unlocked by face recognition!

There is a popular trend in Japan to use the mobile phone handset to read information from special barcodes. The current technology is based on something called QR (Quick Reference) codes which are a form of 2D barcode that is written out in a square shape instead of a bar shape. The phone handset can scan the barcode using its camera or other input, decode the information, and then take actions based on the type of content. The most popular usage of these QR codes is in advertising. All over Japan there are posters with the codes on and they are found extensively in magazines and even on some people’s business cards. The QR code usually has links to a web site address that the phone can visit or it might contain address and telephone numbers.

Yeah...., I'm suffering from a bit of phone envy.  Sad to say, but I'm still struggling with getting good quality phone service let alone digital TV on my phone or the ability to scan QR codes.

Say hello to the Melty Chocolate cellphones from Sharp.  The phones are the
result of collaboration between Sharp and the designer Q-Pot.  There are
two flavors of these limited edition Chocolate phones
available - the Melty Bitter and Melty Strawberry.  I want Melty Bitter!!

The Japanese have a fondness for the flipstyle phones and they come in every color and design imaginable.  It's not hard to have an even a wee bit of phone envy when looking at all the images of the different phones you can buy in Japan.  If we have time, we'll definitely head to Akihabara which is the shopping district in Tokyo that is famous for electronic goods. 
My Blackberry is a GSM phone that runs on 2G - works well in 99% of the countries that have standardized on GSM.  Of course, Japan does not run on GSM and well, 2G is just so 2000.  The majority of Japanese phones now support 3G technologies (e.g.  W-CDMA and CDMA2000).  If I had an iPhone, a 3G Android phone or even a newer model (read 3G) Blackberry, it would work but of course, I have none of the above.  But the good news is I must not be alone in my 2G GSM phone dilemma because rental phones is a big industry in Japan.  I'm seriously considering renting one for the two weeks that we're in Japan.  There are more rental companies than you can shake a stick and as expected, they all offer different call plans.  I'm now checking each of them out and it's getting a bit dizzying trying to compare each one.  If you find yourself wanting to rent a phone while you're in Japan, this wikitravel page is a good starting point for doing research on what the various phone rental options are.

Whatever rental phone vendor I finally settle on, I only hope that the phone they give me is easy to use :-).