T wo obsessions in Japan — celeb rities and the cell phone — go to gether like sushi and soy sauce. Magic has taken this unholy alliance a step further with a new service dubbed "Face Check" (Kaochecki). This rather literally named offering is intended to tell you what celebrities you look like. Jut take a picture of yourself with your cell phone camera (or heaven forbid, even make use of a real camera) and then e-mail it to [email protected] for guys or [email protected] for the ladies, or even [email protected], presumably for others. The company then scans your face and dispatches back to you three photos of celebrities that you allegedly resemble, based on Oki Electric Co.'s face-recognition software. Some 15 million users have done so since the service's recent launch.

Public figure: Strapya has made use of another cultural icon for this next cell phone adornment. Its new phone straps feature the varied poses of a balding, drunk Japanese salaryman — including hugging a shochu bottle, singing and dancing and hugging the toilet bowl like the best friend it is to lost souls. The hand-held figures cost 420 yen a piece and are available at: item.rakuten.co.jp/keitai/375-096049/

Dieting on call: Osaka residents are making use of a new cell phone camera diet plan. Regrettably this doesn't involve weaning oneself off the digital temptress but rather making good use of it instead. Local governments and medicos have banded together to offer a service whereby people can take a picture of their meal, with the phone cams naturally, e-mail it to a nutritionist and receive the low-down on the calories they intend to consume, seasoned with some advice. The service is working on a trial basis with a similar offering from Kansai Medical University's Hirakata Hospital with a joining fee of 4,500 yen with a monthly charge of 2,500 yen. It shows there is hope for the cell phone after all.