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More than 24 million people in Japan use smartphones as of June, according to comScore MobiLens.

While this figure represents only 23.5 percent of the entire mobile population in the country, smartphone adoption has increased rapidly in 2012, with growth reaching 43 percent compared to previous year-end.

Android dominates the Japanese smartphone market with more than 64 percent share of subscribers, a notable growth of close to two points compared to its rivals, between the three-month periods ending March and June.

As the chart below illustrates, top smartphone platforms in Japan are as follows:

As the chart above illustrates, Apple’s percentage share of smartphone subscribers in the country is half that of Android and continued to drop within the year from March to June.

Taking Photos – Top Activity for Japanese Mobile Subscribers

Close to 63 million users in Japan took photos on their phones whether it was on a smartphone or not, accounting for more than 61 percent of total mobile phone users in the country.

Reading emails (57.5 million; 56 percent share) is the second most popular activity, followed by opening a mobile app (56.2 million; 54.7 percent share) as compared to mobile browsers (52.1 million, 50.8 percent share).

Marketers that plan to reach Japanese mobile users either via email, an app, or creating a mobile-friendly website would need to take these stats into consideration.

When it comes to mobile search, more than 30.6 million subscribers searched on their mobile devices with total mobile audience share at close to 30 percent as of June.

Sharp – Top Device Manufacturer in Japan

More than 102 million people in Japan use feature phone and smartphone devices and local device manufacturers own the market.

Sharp is the top device manufacturer with 22.6 percent market share of mobile subscribers.

Other players include Panasonic, Fujitsu, NEC, and Sony.

Although Sony owns the least percentage share of mobile users in Japan, it is the only OEM that grew by 0.7 percent share from March to June.

The study surveyed more than 4,000 Japanese mobile subscribers measured during the three-month average period ending June 2012.

Charts generated by Fan Shek.