Two decades ago, it was still common to see articles in the media disparaging the lack of manners and self-absorbed behavior of mobile phone users. By around 2003, however, the phones had become so ubiquitous that the erstwhile complainers had most likely become phone addicts themselves.

In a rare exception, the conservative Sankei Shimbun raised the topic of "enslavement to cellphones" in January 2007 as a serious social problem that had begun to disrupt proceedings in the Diet. Parliamentarians, it reported, could frequently be seen tweaking their phones.

"From the speaker's seat, you can see it going on. It's shameful," Kozo Watanabe, a senior DPJ legislator, was quoted as saying. "It seems we no longer have the sense of pride and responsibility that would serve as a good example to the people."