Cellular Nation

My professor checked his keitai (cell phone) today during class. Someone was reading the text out loud, and I hear this click! that signifies a phone being opened. I look around, and there's the sensei, reading his email. I guess he has the right, being the teacher, to do whatever he wants, but I was still surprised. Because there are so many keitai in this country, there are problems with people using them rudely, as in the US. This is especially prevelent with students who will spend the entire class emailing their friends.

The cell phone is really an amazing thing. I can't imagine how it was that we lived without them. I was watching some early 80's American movie on TV the other day. This guy was kidnapped and taken to an island, and no one could find him. And I found myself thinking, why doesn't he just call them on his cell phone? But they really are a crutch, too. For instance, the news is doing all these stories about what would happen if another really big earthquake hits. The cell phones wouldn't work because everyone would be trying to use them, but because everyone has cell phones there are less public phones, so no one would be able to get in touch with anyone. The "how to be prepared for an earthquake" guy says that you should have 10yen coins ready to use the pay phones, but I can't think of a single phone within 3 blocks of my building.

I love my cell phone. It is not particularly fancy, that is, it only has a camera and internet. It doesn't have a TV, play mp3s, or a video phone feature. In an interesting marketing strategy, Tu-ka has just started offering what you would imagine to be the opposite of what is in demand. Instead of a more advanced phone with more gadgets and features, they have introduced the "simple phone." Nothing but a phone. The keypad has no extra buttons and there is no screen. The website even has a lovely diagram equating use of a regular phone to use of the cell phone. The phone is targeted at the elderly, or more likely, at their children who will give them the phones. It's amazing how technology has to go backwards sometimes.