The wider economy isn't doing much better. On Thursday the government said the Japanese economy contracted by 12.7 percent on the year in the final quarter of 2008, which represents the greatest quarterly drop since the oil shock of the 1970s.

Vertu is coming to Japan only months after Nokia pulled out of the market. The world's largest cell phone maker found the Japanese market, with its fast product cycles, quick moving trends and demanding carriers, a challenge and last year decided to withdraw as part of a global restructuring.