Land of the Rising Emoji
The first emojis – a set of 176 images – were created in Japan.
The first emojis came into existence at a time when the world was still operating on pagers, and you'd be lucky to have a cell phone.
The year is 1999 and a Japanese cell phone company, NTT DOCOMO, is looking to differentiate their phone in the market...
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Japan Facts:
- The first set of emojis contained 176 images, and were created by Shigetaka Kurita to promote NTT DOCOMO's new phone. Today, there are over 3,600 official emojis (Wikipedia).
- The word "emoji" is a blend of two Japanese words for picture and letter – picture (絵, pronounced eh) and letter/character (文字, mōji) – meaning it's purely coincidence that "emoji" sounds like the English word "emotion."
💡 Cultural Differences: How the Japanese Interpret Our Favorite Emojis (Nippon.com)
