06/02/2002   English German

  Edition # 40  
San Francisco, 06-02-2002


Figure [1]: Instant messages via mobile phone

The mobile phone industry in Japan is a step ahead of the rest of the world. There are already mobile phones with built-in cameras that allow you to send pictures to the person you're talking to! Additionally, I find it remarkable that phone conversations in Japan are much more discreet. No one loudly shouts into their phone on the train or lets it ring with annoying melodies, unlike what Americans do (Rundbrief 07/2001). No, on the train or in a restaurant, the phone is set to vibrate mode, and for making calls, one steps outside (in the train to the vestibule) and speaks quietly and with one hand (!) covering the mouth, so that you can hardly hear anything. That's what I call manners! The etiquette prize is going to Japan this year!

Figure [2]: The Japanese love their mobile phones ... but are considerate.

But it's not just phone calls that are made on the go. Anyone who frequently surfs the internet is probably familiar with what AOL calls "Instant Messages" (AIM). Similar to the German SMS, young Japanese people, in particular, tap away on the tiny keyboard to send short messages to their friends. Each phone, in addition to the number keypad, has a dial that allows users to select terms suggested by the phone's computer. In America, no one does that. Here, you can even surf the internet and order books from Amazon using cell phones, but this is criticized as being far too cumbersome.

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