After watching the latest episode of “Happy Hour Japan” podcast, it got me thinking. Kevin discussed cellphones and said that Docomo is the most popular brand in Japan.  That didn’t sound right to me so I decided to do some research. In the last month, I ask 124 people three questions. The people I asked included family, friends, students and parents of my younger students. Here are the questions I asked:

1.      What provider are they currently using? Docomo, Softbank, Au or Other.

2.      How much is their monthly fee?

Under 5000円, 5000-10000円, 10000-15000円 or above 15000円

3.      What is their age group? Under 20, 20-40 or above 40.

As for the results, I noticed a pattern. All the results were very close but I never had any say other. Sorry Willcom.

AU by KDDI

For the most part people under 20 were using AU and I found out why. From what I was told is AU has big discounts for students so their parents usually tend to go for the savings. A couple people in their 20-40s used AU and I didn’t have any over 40 people using AU.

NTT Docomo

I had a few under 20s using Docomo but only because their parents had family plans. As for 20-40s, Very few had used Docomo. Almost all the people I talked to over 40 used Docomo. From what I took on it is that since Docomo has been around the longest, they have many points and a kind of loyalty to Docomo.

Softbank

Amazingly I only had 1 under 20 that used Softbank. It was a landslide for people 20-40. Almost everyone I talked to in that age group used Softbank including me. Only a few people in the above 40 group used Softbank. The funny thing is that every foreigner I talked to uses Softbank and has an iPhone.

All in all, Softbank was the most used provider with Docomo a close second. The prices between providers were almost the same. It really depended on the person using the phone. Even though the iPhone is getting more popular, they are not dominating like in North America. I think the problem is that most Japanese phones are Feature Phones (Between a DumbPhone and a SmartPhone). For Japanese, the camera in the phones is important. The iPhone’s camera is just not up to par with other phones. They have some phones that are basically cameras with phones rather than phones with cameras.

A couple things I noticed is that Japanese in general are very dedicated to their provider and have no complaints. I also noticed that a few people that have more than one phone. The thing is that they were mostly young woman. When I asked why they need more than one, the usual answer was just in case their parents, boyfriend or husband checks their phone. I’m not exactly sure what they mean by that answer but I have an idea. It really shows that woman have changed a lot in Japan.