Uchikura & Co., LLC

The Fourth Written Language of Japan: Emoji and Its Origin

Most people know that Japan uses three writing systems: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. However, there is a modern form of communication that could arguably be called Japan’s fourth written language: Emoji.

 

The word emoji comes from the Japanese words e (絵, picture) and moji (文字, character). Unlike the English word “emotion,” the similarity in sound is simply a coincidence.

 

Emoji were created in Japan in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita, who worked for NTT DoCoMo. At the time, mobile phones were becoming popular, but text messages were limited and often lacked emotional context. Kurita designed a set of 176 tiny 12×12 pixel icons to help people communicate ideas, feelings, weather conditions, transportation information, and more.

 

Those first emoji included symbols for the sun, clouds, hearts, trains, telephones, food, and simple facial expressions. They were not intended to become a global phenomenon. They were simply a practical way to make mobile communication more expressive.

 

Today, emoji have spread far beyond Japan. They are supported by Unicode and used on smartphones, computers, websites, and social media around the world. Billions of emoji are sent every day, and many people can understand a message made entirely of symbols regardless of their native language.

 

In a way, emoji have become a universal visual language. Their roots, however, remain firmly in Japan.

 

So the next time you send a 😀, ❤️, 🚗, or ☀️, remember that you are using a communication system that began as a Japanese invention. More than twenty-five years after the first 176 emoji appeared, their influence continues to grow around the world.