Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life (Ito, M. et al., Eds.; 2005)

This book examines the place of mobile telephone technology in Japanese society. It is a compilation of chapters by various authors, most of whom work in social sciences or humanities in Japanese universities. The book is divided into five sections, representing a logical development of the methodology for investigating and presenting the issues developed by the editors: "The Social and Cultural Construction of Technological Systems"; "Cultures and Imaginaries"; "Social Networks and Relationships"; "Practice and Place"; and "Emergent Developments." The book is a very interesting exploration of the interaction between Japanese society and mobile telephony technology, discussing the kinds of uses and the impact of the changed possibilities effected by the existence and deployment of the technology.