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Handsets running Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software captured 57 percent of Japan’s smartphone market last fiscal year, cutting the share of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone, MM Research Institute Ltd. said.

Shipments of Android phones rose to 4.91 million units in the year ended March 31, Tokyo-based MM Research said in a statement today. That compares with sales of 250,000 units, or 11 percent of the market, a year earlier when devices running Google’s software started to be widely available in Japan.

When looking at smartphone platform adoption in Japan, the study found that Apple and Google account for the largest number of smartphone users. In December 2010, 3.8 million smartphone subscribers used Apple devices, up 48 percent from June 2010. Google Android devices witnessed a surge in users growing to more than 2 million in December 2010, up from just 435,000 users in June.