Although I've never really

Although I've never really wanted one before, I picked up a DoCoMo catalog today to look at the cell phones. There are 28 different handsets ranging from ones that can run Java applets to more basic models with greyscale displays. It costs between 3,000 and 45,000 yen to purchase the hardware.

Then come the calling plans. Plan A is 4,500 yen a month and calls are 20-40 yen/minute depending on the time of day. You get 600 yen's worth of calls for free each month. Or maybe you want to talk lots? You want the Hanashi Plan Big. 9,100 yen per month with 6,600 yen in free calls. Per minute you'll pay between 22-44 yen. On top of the half dozen different plans are a handful of discount schemes--family discount, business discount, volume plan, even a "thanks for being a customer for a long time discount" that you get automatically.

Needless to say, this makes choosing a cell phone quite a chore. And this is just one of four major cell phone services. I' haven't even looked at TuKa, Au or J-phone yet.