JAPAN — Long famous for its love of technological innovation and a myriad of creative ways for blending it with dating and sex, Japan has produced yet another techno-romantic wonder.NTT DoCoMo’s newest mobile telephone doesn’t just let its users speak and text with whomever they wish, it can tell them when it’s the best time to become a mother.

Owners of the new gadget can program it to ring when they are the most fertile, by providing it with information about their monthly menstrual cycle. With this information properly stored away, it can dial out three days before ovulation, and again on the day of ovulation, to let its fecund human know that the time is ripe for conception.

Although the company cautions that the calculations are based upon average cycles and that different women may be maximally fertile at different times, many may herald the device as a culture saving first step away from cultural extermination. Japan’s fertility rate is in the process of a steady decline, hitting an all-time low of 1.25 children per woman in 2005.

Female designer Momoku Ikuta, who provided its unique pastel paisley cover, hit upon the phone idea as a way to help busy women eager for pregnancy to plan their lovemaking accordingly.

In addition to the fertility wake-up call, the phone also has a recipe database and a bad date panic button that can be pressed to cause a fake call to ring through.