[Jeff @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:55PM]

"Are the Japanese smart phones better than what we have here, and can I get one to work with my Verizon service plan? Can foreign phones be made to work here?"

"Foreign" and "Japanese" are not the same thing.

"World phones" as are sold both here and in Europe will work here. Japanese phones use a different frequency that's unique (for the moment) to Japan.

I have read that one of the carriers (not Verizon... maybe T-Mobile?) is putting together a UMTS-2100 network that will *eventually* be compatible with some of the networks in Japan. But not initially; even though it's the same standard, there are apparently some slight differences that will make them incompatible at first. So you've probably got a year or two to wait, at least, and even then it's not gonna be Verizon.

Japanese "smart phones" are not as common, though, as they are in America. The reason being they don't really need them; their regular phones are so powerful and are always connected to the internet that they can just do anything they need to either on the phone itself with the included software or through a net app (java or whatever). So you may not even find a Japanese phone you want, given the state of American networks and service plans.