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This one flew well under the radar when it was launched a few weeks ago, but the news that Japanese-speaking residents of the UK can finally get their phones speaking fluent kanji, hiragana and katakana is worth revisiting.

NTT DoCoMo’s corporate videos have long been a Big Deal for the 800lb gorilla of a phone company, so it’s always worth checking out the latest to see the public face it wants to present to the world.

The current rebranding attempt DoCoMo is making to push its phones to some pretty jaded customers here in Japan is clearly a big deal for the company.

Like anyone who’s easily put off by ridiculous levels of gadgetry, I’m not very impressed by most Japanese cellphones, so I’ll just point you in the direction of DoCoMo’s newly revealed fleet of 22 new handsets.

The field of disability aids has seen many devices controlled by computers that visually track the eye movements of paralysed people, but none that reads the electricity given off by swiveling eyeballs.

The myth that Japanese mobile phones are the best in the world is typically perpetuated by overseas observers obsessed with the cutting-edge services on offer there and confusing those with what are typically very dull handsets.

Big tech companies like NTT DoCoMo come up with dozens of unusual applications for their gear every year, but most tend to end up consigned to glossy brochures that describe some anodyne ‘perfect’ future. One bizzaro contraption that is apparently out in the wild is Big D’s FOMA-based Videophone Alcohol Check System - as the above photo shows, it’s in use on at least one truck round these parts.

We’ve already digested everything there is to know about Android, the Google-led open operating system for mobile phones and a little about LiMo, the other open-source challenger, but we’ll bet you didn’t know there are two spanking new LiMo phones on the market.

After years of waiting, DoCoMo has finally made good on its promise to deliver an office security system based on the RFID chips in its cellphones.

The latest research on the mobile phone habits of Japanese children may be music to the ears of phone providers, but the depth to which the gadgets have penetrated the lives of the young there is bound to set alarm bells ringing elsewhere.

We’ve seen a few bone-conduction devices before, including a cellphone, a sports headband and an industrial safety helmet, but this is definitely the first we’ve come across that sends the good vibes by Bluetooth.

After Monday’s announcement by Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) of their Linux-based Android platform for mobile phones there are more questions than answers about exactly what it means for the end user.

I don’t know if I’m noticing it because I work in the field, but the last year or so seems to have seen an inordinate amount of coverage by the Western media of Japanese cellphones like the new 905i series from DoCoMo that was unveiled here in Tokyo yesterday.

As if the mobile phones with 3.6Mbps internet connections that are relatively common in Japan weren’t enough, NTT DoCoMo has announced that it is working on technology to up that almost tenfold by 2009.

DoCoMo just launched the 704i series of cellphones in Tokyo this afternoon - the latest handsets in the 700 series of simpler phones designed for the non-power users here.

Anyone who’s ever been through a major earthquake will immediately recognize the value of an early-warning system being planned by Japan’s largest mobile phone operators.

During a busy week for Japan’s largest cellphone company, NTT DoCoMo, it has emerged that the firm has plans to use the nation’s ubiquitous phones as interactive health monitors.

When we brought you news on Japan’s latest feature-packed mobile phones yesterday we also promised to look into exactly how the new handsets will make use of their built-in gaming motion sensors.

The announcement of new mobile phones in Japan is done like most everything else in that most efficient of nations – with precise timing. NTT DoCoMo’s latest wave of handsets was unveiled as expected this afternoon and it includes plenty of innovative technology, from motion sensors to IC credit cards.

The continuing march of the limited-edition (Product) Red goods that are part of the eponymous charity’s drive to raise funds for AIDS relief and research across the world reached Japan today, when Motorola unveiled its red RAZR for the market here.