SIM Unlock.

The group of Chinese people were arrested in Japan last week.
They unlock SIM of the cellphones in Japan, and reselled them in China.
This news remained obscure, and soon wll be forgotten by people.

Actually, SIM Unlock is NOT a crime in Japan.
Instead, reselling the cellphones which was SIM Unlocked is a crime.

But what's behind this news is the irregularity of the cellphone market in Japan.

Buying cellphone itself and making contract to the cellphone company (buying SIM card) are separate things in most of the countries in the world.
And people understand them so.
In this business model, the price of the unit becomes expensive, but the charge to the cellphone company can be kept cheap.
Especially, prepaid plan doesn't have any basic charge.

But it's different in Japan.
Selling the unit has a rebate of 44,000 Yen per unit from cellphone company, which allows customers to buy cellphone in very cheap price or free.
However, the basic charge and the charge for a call is expensive, in compensation for the rebate.
This compensation allows to make up the rebate in about 2 years or less.
Thus, the customers are paying more than reasonable price to the cellphone company.

I recommend to change the model every 2 years.

And prepaid cellphones are not popular in Japan, or even prepaid cellphones are disappearing.
Government and cellphone companies explain that it's a prevention from the criminals to use the cellphone which the owner can't be identified.

Nevertheless, it's better not to expect any of a "cheap" cellphone in Japan.
Only the unit.

That is the reason why SIM unlocking and reselling can become a business, although it's illegal.