I live in Tokyo, as the CTO for a local startup. Before the iPhone, Japanese mobiles were definitely a step ahead, but now that the iPhone, and its Android com

I live in Tokyo, as the CTO for a local startup. Before the iPhone, Japanese mobiles were definitely a step ahead, but now that the iPhone, and its Android competition, are thriving around the world, everything that isn't one of the above feels about ten years behind. Classic Japanese mobile phones don't support Javascript. Or cookies. A large number of handsets don't allow images at all on pages with SSL, or stylesheets of any kind -- you have to specify CSS in-line, with the 'style' attribute on each element you want to style. Native apps exist, but if you want to develop them, be prepared to spend a shocking pile of money. None of this holds for the iPhone or Android-derived devices over here, but those are no better then their foreign counterparts. In terms of features, the only truly useful thing that I can think of that Japanese mobiles have is mobile Suica -- it's nice to be able to have your commuter pass integrated with your phone. Charging it up with cash can be a pain in the ass, as the web-based tools are crap, but it's nice nonetheless.