hi! gohan976 most of the japanese cell phone are cdma,wcdma. you can get the service thru verizon wireless. the best thing you can do is tell to your friend to text the esn number of the phone. give verizon a call to see if that esn number is capable with verizon service.

Didn't know where to post this, well my friend is going to Japan very shortly, we just kinda had a fairwell get together last night and he was talking to me about if he wants him to bring me anything back and what not. He also was telling me about how cell phones there are very cheap in comparison to here so I told him if he found this phone there to get it for me if he could get it for about $140 or under. Now here is my question if he gets me this phone 1. can I use it in north america and 2. how do i know if any near by service providers would provide me service with the specified phone?