Following a price cut in August last year, SoftBank will launch a special iPhone campaign on Friday that runs through the end of May. New subscribers signing up for a two-year contract will be able to get a 8GB iPhone for free (the old price in Japan was $235). The The 16GB model will be discounted to $118 from $350.

Not only will you have to master Japanese writing, but the address system in Japan is quite the nightmare.

From the moment I’ve arrived in Japan, I started using Diddlefinger. This is a godsend for people still learning the language !

Their website offers multiple ways of looking for a Japanese address, the English Address Search being the most useful in my eyes. With this website, you can not only remember points but export them in Google Maps.

As the iPhone was launched, Diddlefinger got even better. There is now a dedicated iPhone page that allows address lookups on the move. The best part being that you can actually map the location on the iPhone Google Maps.

You can search by prefecture (ku, ken,etc..), by area, by -chome, etc.

No more trouble looking after a restaurant. Just find the address, map it and activate your GPS to see where to go (especially after exiting the subway� if you know what I mean). Sadly, iPhone maps limitations means you cannot use the directions yet.

If you live in Japan, iphone.diddlefinger.com should be linked on your iPhone homescreen.

Some people have asked me why the address book will not show addresses on the Google Maps application on the iPhone.

The only answer I’ve got for you: it has to be written in Japanese and in the correct japanese way of putting addresses.

How to resolve this ?

Now, here’s the trick if you want to link your address book with the maps:

1) look for the address in romanji on the iPhone Diddlefinger webapp

2) map it on Google Maps (Diddlefinger makes it very easy)

3) on Google Maps, click on the little blue arrow to open the Info dialog box. As you will see, the address will be displayed in Japanese and you are now able to either “Create New Contact” or “Add to Existing Contact”.
You guessed it, by clicking one of the above, a contact has the proper Japanese address written in for future reference.

As and added bonus, if you sync with MobileMe, the address is also displayed in your Mac OS X Address Book.

Next question is, how to display it on your desktop Google Maps or even Google Earth ?

There’s a nifty free little plugin that will allow you just that:

Why is it that a phone that has generated much hype and success worldwide has failed to capture the hearts of a country that loves its sleek gadgets?

The iPhone is incapable of inputting and displaying emoji, which are little symbols and emoticons such as these:

Emoji is a staple in Japanese messaging and the lack of it on the iPhone has Japanese consumers exclaiming, “da-me!”  (”No way!)  To them, what good is the iPhone if they’re unable to input a pixelated strawberry shortcake as a means of asking a friend if they’d like to go out to eat, or a cute smiley face with hearts for eyes to proclaim: “I’m so in love!”?

Hard to believe that some people would look at the iPhone and say, “yeah, it’s got massive expandability with cheap and free software in addition to being an all-in-one cell phone, iPod, email, (best portable) web browser, calendar & contacts, GPS with Google-maps integration, etc,.. but I don’t want to get it because I can’t insert cute cartoon images of puppies in my text messages!”