Budget-Friendly Plans and Smartphone Services (SIM): Features, Cost, and What to Watch Out ForYou’ve probably heard that cell phone plans in Japan are expensive. It’s not surprising, considering the average monthly bill from the three major mobile carriers (*1) is 8,312 yen (*2). When an average monthly phone bill is around 50 dollars in Europe or North America, it’s definitely on the expensive side. Recently, however, there has been a wave of changes to Japan’s cellphone industry. An Influx of Low-Price Smartphone PlansIn the spring of 2021, exclusive online application phone plans were intro…