This view that Japanese cellphone makers have been too insular was presented in particularly memorable form in an article by Hiroko Tabuchi in the New York Times in 2009.
Fujiwara H, Tabuchi M, Yamaguchi T, Iwasaki K, Furukawa K, Sekiguchi K, Ikarashi Y, Kudo Y, Higuchi M, Saido TC, Maeda S, Takashima A, Hara M, Yaegashi N, Kase Y, Arai H.