While Japan still awaits the arrival of a 3G iPhone, Japanese telecommunications giant NTT DoCoMo today announced the Prada phone from LG will be on sale in Japan as early as June 1st.

Japanese buyers can choose whether to pay a lump sum which is supposed to be “a little less than $960″ or by installments. In the latter case, a down payment of $360 is expected, which has to be followed by monthly installments of $25 over 2 years.

As reported earlier, the Prada phone is technically identical to LG’s L852i. The Japanese version is 3G compatible though, which is an absolute must in this country.

Users will be able to access all DoCoMo-only applications such as the i-mode browser, i-appli DX (a Java application service), i-motion (Docomo’s own movie distribution system) and i-channel (an information delivery service) on the Prada phone.