Japanese mobile phone culture

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In Japan, mobile phones became ubiquitous years before the phenomenon spread worldwide. In Japanese, mobile phones are called keitai denwa (携帯電話), literally "portable telephones," and are often known simply as keitai (携帯).

A majority of the Japanese population own cellular phones, most of which are equipped with enhancements such as video and camera capabilities. As of 2018, 65% of the population owned such devices.^[1] This pervasiveness and the particularities of their usage has led to the development of a mobile phone culture, or "keitai culture," which especially in the early stages of mobile phone adoption was distinct from the rest of the world.