Japanese guides to help puzzled cell phone users

Japan is planning government-backed exams for phone guides who will help users navigate their increasingly complicated mobile phones.

Chatting on the phone on a bus or a train is frowned on in Japan, and many people use their high-tech phones more for texting, blogging or the browsing Web.

"The scheme is aimed at helping users understand not only complicated functions of mobile phones but also complicated pricing formulas," said an official at the telecoms ministry.

Besides giving tips on how to use their phones, the experts, employed in mobile phone shops, will to help parents learn how to control the Web browsing of their tech-savvy children, the official said.

(Reporting by Teruaki Ueno)