Japanese bar-code reading phones

Wow! I'm watching Japanese satellite TV (the study of Japanese language and culture is a hobby of mine) and there's a news article about a new use of camera-equipped mobile phones to read special bar codes on all sorts of products and things. The example they're showing at the moment is a sign at a zoo by a bird enclosure—the bar code on the sign triggers the phone to download short videos of that particular animal doing various "unusual" things (like trying to break open an egg..?!). And everyone under the age of thirty-five (say) in Japan has a camera-equipped mobile. The presenter of the programme is saying now that the barcodes are modified for identical products according to geographic region of distribution, allowing companies to track that information as users access the linked-to content... And now an "expert" is saying "yes it's great to be able to get all that info, but watch out for the cost of your phone bill!"

When it comes to mobile sophistication, the Japanese are about two or three years ahead of Europe and America, in my opinion. The possibilities of mobile-readable barcodes struck me a year ago, but I had no idea they were being implemented so comprehensively already...