Japanese Mobile Phones ケータイ電話 ：Emoji エモジ

Welcome to the next installation of Japanese Keitai!

I would like to introduce to those who don’t know yet, emoji (also known as kaomoji)! The wonder of ’emotional characters’/EMOJI is prevalent in Japan and referred to outside of Japan as ‘smileys’ or ’emoticons’ (you know, those familiar yellow circles with various faces on it).

Now  if I think back, waay back, to my MSN messenger days I can recall collecting endless lists of emoticons that jigged around my screen and did what not. But that was just on msn, definitely not on my brick phone. Only recently did i notice iPhones start popping out their new feature of including ’emoji’ in the keyboards. But sadly they do not move. Still, Awesome! Now I can add that extra cherry on top of my txts with these tiny faces and objects, because we all know how lame and unexciting plain old txts are.

Anyhow if we glance over now to Japan we may discover, oh but hang on, it appears they had this going before iPhones were even born!
Amongst the big three companies AU by KDDI, Docomo NTT and Softbank, each has their own special list of emoji. Complicating matters further, this means that if an AU user sent a ♪ emoji to their Softbank friend, it may turn out in a different color or something. Thus, this creates a big dilemma for many Japanese high school students choosing their new keitai. Anyhow. Not important.

Though Japan’s emoji may not have as much minuscule detail as that of iPhone’s, they have a remarkably extensive variety to choose from, despite being quite quite simple.  Check out below, Japan’s top 10 most used emoji in txt msgs!

I find it hilarious that the cat beat beer in the top 10. Do cats seriously turn up more than beer in Japanese conversations? After all Japan seems to love their beer, indicated by the mass of beer CMs…

Apparently this is how to enjoy beer (if you’re of age!)

Oh and I love these ‘All-free Suntory’ beer CMs, 0% alcohol! (I know it can get a bit repetitive after two)

More!!

and yet there’s still more!!!!

…oh but then again I guess there’s nyancat..

But I digress. Back to emoji. Now if you’re sad that you don’t have an iPhone, or that your friends can’t receive your iPhone emoji, then you can always resort to the good old manual smileys: Exhibit A ” 🙂 ”
But of course, the Japanese wakamono have taken it one step further to:
(●´∀｀●) or even ヾ(●´□｀●)ﾉ【ﾟ+｡･oこんにちはo･｡+ﾟ】ヾ(○´■｀○)ﾉ\\
(These may or may not turn up fully on your screens, depending on the level of awesomeness that your laptop/computer can accommodate. )
For more extreme kaomoji to share with your friends via emails or txt msgs, please make your way to KAOMOJIYA-SAN! (and credit to them for the above faces)

I guess I should close with a cat…~(=^･ω･^)/｡･:*:･ﾟ★，｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ありがとニャ!

Japanese Mobile Phones ケータイ電話 (and their CMs)

I remember back in the pre-iPhone days when I had a brick phone, I would notice that Japan had all these awesome phones. These days (even when my brick phone is now only used for one purpose: throwing at people – it is a brick after all) Japan is still popping out these amazing phones that we, in the West, have probably not even dreamt of yet.

Exhibit A: Sharp’s Solar Waterproof Phone

And that was back in 2009!

Big brands including AU, Softbank, Docomo NTT dominate the ケータイmarket today. And like with any other marketable product in Japan, many of the CMs they broadcast are complemented by the presence of idols, actors/actresses, singers, celebrities, sports stars. Here are some of my personal favourites: