Do you know that ... in Japan they do not send sms, in Japan they exchange mini-emails

A mobile phone in Japan is keitai denwa (“mobile phone”) or simply keitai.
The use of a mobile phone in public transport always causes indignation and often you can hear messages that it is necessary to turn on quiet mode.
Unlike us, the barbarians, they do not use SMS to send short messages (or God forbid MMS), but hover in the information broadcast in i-mode, through which they send mini-emails. The default is sent from a special email address, which is issued by an operator, say, 818393284838@nttdocomo.ne.jp . Yes, they have SMS, but rather as a roaming service for tourists or in support of the 3G standard.
We, by the way, MTS also wanted to deploy i-mode everywhere in the distant 2005th, but quickly came to the conclusion that it was “unprofitable”. Pause. Of course, sending emails via SMTP instead of SMS is completely irrelevant. Although on the other hand, it is really unprofitable, because so much is needed to change, advertise, etc., and most importantly, retrain the people.
i-mode is like GPRS with WAP functionality: we have a limited set of functions for reasonable money.

Well, habrareyd, I surprised you? :)

Sources: Japanese mobile phone culture @ wikipedia , Japan “don't use sms” @ google