VOX POPULI: Latest chapter in the history of emoji draws to a close in Japan
Birthday messages from friends are never complete without a flurry of emojis.
Whether sent from just down the street or halfway across the world, the visual language they carry is remarkably universal—cakes, candles and flower bouquets light up the screen with festive familiarity.
At times, these symbols come with delightful cultural flourishes. One friend from Italy, where the birthday custom includes gently tugging the celebrant's ears for each year of life, once added an ear emoji to the message—a whimsical nod to tradition.
There's a quiet joy in simply taking in this digital bouquet, each emoji a tiny but heartfelt gesture of celebration.
The global spread of the Japanese word 'emoji' is often credited, in part, to its phonetic similarity to the English word 'emotion'—a coincidence that smoothed their adoption abroad.
Another theory points out that long before emoji became ubiquitous, the West had already embraced 'emoticons,' a portmanteau of 'emotion' and 'icon,' used to represent facial expressions through simple punctuation, like ':)'.
Whatever their linguistic roots, emojis have long since transcended borders, evolving into a shared visual language of emotion in the digital age. Against this backdrop, a recent announcement by NTT Docomo Inc. carries a note of quiet poignancy: the company will end support for its original 'Docomo Emoji,' a pioneering and widely used set that helped shape the way we express ourselves online.
Beginning later this month, newly released smartphones will no longer include these foundational pictographs. Docomo first introduced its emoji set in 1999, alongside its groundbreaking 'i-mode' mobile internet service.
At the time, the notion of conveying emotion through tiny digital images felt nothing short of revolutionary. I still remember the thrill of discovering them for the first time. I eagerly embraced the set—featuring a laughing face with a wide, block-like mouth, simple hearts, and a bold upward-curving arrow.
Even now, their pixelated simplicity retains a certain nostalgic charm, evoking the early days of mobile communication when expression found new life in just a few pixels.
The original set featured about 200 symbols. Today, the global emoji repertoire has expanded to nearly 4,000.
In her book 'Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language,' Canadian linguist Gretchen McCulloch describes emojis as digital 'gestures'—tools that help written communication mirror the nuance, tone and emotional shading of spoken conversation.
Humanity has always strived to refine its means of expression.
And in an era where smartphones transmit vast volumes of information in an instant, I sometimes find myself nostalgic for that simple, pixelated heart from the early Docomo emoji.
—The Asahi Shimbun, June ２
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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
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