Garakei; not quite the final reckoning

A couple of years ago, when my son was getting his first phone, the salesman noticed that my husband had a garakei. A garakei is the contraction of Garapagosu Keitai Denwa. In English; “Galápagos mobile phone”. It is a reference to how these phones developed uniquely in Japan, like the isolated species Darwin studied. They are a flip phone with limited functionality.

The salesman was both intrigued and surprised. But he gave us a valuable piece of information - that the end of garakei, specifically the type my husband was using, was nigh. I thought it was a sales pitch to be honest, so when we got home I searched for information online, and sure enough, he was telling the truth. But not in its entirety, whether intentionally or not.

From April 1st 2026 garakei that rely on 3G will stop functioning entirely.  We actually know quite a lot of people who were using 3G garakei until very recently. Some moved, relunctantly, to smart phones, but some just went to 4G. Because, here's the thing, you can still use garakei with 4G in 2026 and beyond! So the end of the garakei era has been greatly over exaggerated! The garakei is not yet facing its final reckoning! 

Pictured, one of my first garakei in Japan! I used to hang charms of it, which is not something you can really do with smart phones unfortunately. I don't decorate my smart phones at all, but my children do decorate theirs.