Japanese consumers' lack of rights

Japanese consumers generally enjoy an excellent level of service. Wait staff are exceptionally polite and attentive, and the level of trust and honesty between consumers and merchants is unbelievably high.

Take high-end sushi bars, for example. The way it usually works is that you'd walk in, sit down, and ask the chef to present you with the day's offerings. When you're done, having stuffed down uncountable pieces of delicious sushi, you're presented with a lump sum, generally close to 20,000 yen (or USD 200). No itemization. You pay, you thank the chef, the restaurant staff do a deep bow, and you wheel yourself out of there.

Where else in the world could a restaurant get away with an un-itemized bill for 200 USD/person?

At the same time, Japanese consumers enjoy little protection because, hey, you need to trust the company to do the right thing, and there's no oversight besides trust.

Today, for example, I wanted to unlock my Softbank phone because I'd like to use it outside Japan. In the US, you can generally do this. You call the company, and they give you an unlock code. In Japan, they simply refuse to do so.

It doesn't make sense to me. If I buy a phone, shouldn't I be the owner of this phone, such that I I can expect to be able to use it? Where's consumer rights?