According to Japanese blogger Nobuyuki Hayashi, the annoying clicky shutter sound of the Japanese-bound iPhone 3G cannot be switched off, even in silent mode. Why? Because perverts cannot be trusted not to shove their phones up some poor girl's skirt and snap a picture. So big is the problem of upskirt photography (coupled with 5-plus Megapixel camera phones) that almost no Japanese phones can have the telltale sound disabled.

We're guessing that the clicks would have to be pretty loud to be heard on Tokyo's notoriously busy subway, but the most intriguing part is that, if this story is true, it's the first country-specific change to the iPhone that we have heard of.

If any of our Japanese readers have an iPhone 3G, can you confirm this functionality tweak? Just don't get yourselves into trouble, y'hear?

Available only on Japanese iPhones [nobilog returns via Cult of Mac]