Did you know that the ice cream emoji is just the poop emoji re-purposed?

In honor of the Emoji Art Show in New York City, creative agency 5Loom created a timeline of emoji development that points out this and other pivotal moments in emoji history.

Check it out:

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Origin: You’ll be surprised to learn the history of the ice cream emoji
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

When it comes to screwing, most people would choose a Phillips head or a flat-head to get the job done. Or if you’re in Japan, where they use different terms, you’d ask for a plus (+) or a minus (-) screwdriver to get things going. Now though, it seems the humble screw has just received a facelift, thanks to a clever design collaboration between a Tokyo artist and a manufacturer from Osaka. The only thing cuter than a tiny smiley screw is the adorable driver that screws them in!

Designer Yuma Kano teamed up with screw manufacturer Komuro Seisakusho to create the screw that turns frowns upside down. The joy of discovery and small surprises inspired Kano to deliver a tiny product with loads of character. These little babies are happily waiting to help you hold it together!

For best results, you’ll need the right technique and a special kind of driver that’s the mirror reflection of a smile. We wonder if there’ll be more emoticons in the future…

▼ Two smiles collide to create a load of happy.

▼ The tools you’ll need to bring a little character to your next DIY project.

 ▼ This little guy stands out from regular screws and brings a touch of warmth to a sharp corner.

▼ Feel the love every time you enter or leave the house. Other screws won’t hold onto your keys with a smile like this!

Kano only recently set up his studio, Studio Yamanaka, in an Edo period shipyard in Kawasaki in 2012. If this is the kind of thing that pops up after two years in business, we’re eager to see what’s next to come out of his doors!

Source: Studio Yumakano, Kotaro269

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Origin: Screw it with a smile thanks to this unusual screwdriver set from Tokyo artist Yuma Kano
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

Sometimes words just aren’t enough to convey what you have to say.

People tend to use emoji in both normal and unorthodox ways, and the emoji you use actually says a lot about you. 

Enter Emojinalysis, a Tumblr blog that tells you what’s wrong with your life based on your recently used emoji.

Dan Brill, the creator of Emojinalysis and at ad agency Droga5, felt inspired to start this project after realizing that his recently used emoji were a bit concerning, he told Business Insider.

There was a lot of booze, distressed faces, and things exploding. That made him question if he was actually OK. But instead of dealing with his own problems, Brill decided to instead analyze other people’s.

“Mostly I just try to tell a good story,” Brill said. “It’s sort of like a crime scene investigation. You’re picking up a bunch of seemingly disconnected things and trying to see what fits together. Except instead of fingerprints it’s a Blowfish and ‘Cat with heart-shaped eyes.’  I try to look beyond the smileys and the hearts, the stuff everyone uses, to see what can make each person’s analysis uniquely deranged. But it’s also important to stress I have absolutely no psychological training and I really have no idea what I’m doing.”

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

Screenshot/Emojianalysis

Joe is going borderline crazy

Joe, 26

Some concerning stuff in here. The threesome of Pile of poop, Smiling face with sunglasses and Fire denotes a Bart Simpson-esque mischief streak that’s troubling at your age. There’s Cat with wry smile, an emoji that’s literally never been sent before 4:00am. And the choice of regular Monkey over a three wise monkey may indicate a dangerous lack of empathy. I’m not saying you’re crazy, Joe. But that Cyclone at the center of things isn’t a coincidence.

Diagnostic emoji: Playing card black Joker

Prescribed emoji: Closed lock with key

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis.

 Emojianalysis

Carey is just asking to go to prison.

Carey, 36

Remember those scenes in Homeland when Abu Nazir would text Brody? This is what I imagine those texts looked like. Skull. Ghost. High voltage sign. Fire. Japanese ogre AND goblin. I don’t know who you’re sending these to or what your plans are, EmoJazir. (No spoilers I’m still in Season 2). But I’m forwarding this to the appropriate parties just in case.

Diagnostic emoji: Warning sign

Prescribed emoji: Oncoming police car

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

Emojianalysis

If you see Melody on the street, run the other way.

Melody, 27

Funny that your name’s Melody since this collection is the emoji equivalent of a Nicki Minaj verse. Like, crazy “Monster” Nicki, not emo “Pills N Potions” Nicki. Smiling face with heart-shaped eyes and and Kiss and Cocktail glass and Pouting face and KNIFE and GUN AND SYRINGE!!!!! Honestly, I have no idea what to make of this. You scare the hell out of me. I’m done.

Diagnostic emoji: Imp + Microphone

Prescribed emoji: Exclamation question mark

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis.

Emojianalysis

Audra needs to get her life together

Audra, 35

Seems like you favor the more human emojis, which is typically a good sign. The problem is the rest of your batch has more red flags than King’s Landing. A Skull next to Wine glass? Pretty ominous happy hour invite. And the fact that drinks apparently ended in a dance parting with the grown-up version of the Shining twins doesn’t help. I’ve seen what’s on the other side of that rainbow, Audra. And it’s a big pot of get your shit together.

Diagnostic emoji: Regional indicator symbol letters CN (Red flag)

Prescribed emoji: Teacup without handle

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

Emojianalysis

Pierrick is a tough nut to crack.

Pierrick, 28

Some pretty random stuff in here. Mens symbol. Octopus. The always confounding Chestnut. This is what it would look like if an NYC Subway Conductor used emojis. As in, I think I get the gist of what you’re saying, but all I heard was “Tent, Bear face, Full moon symbol.” I want to analyze you, Pierrick, but unfortunately we’re on the WTF Train and it just went express.

Diagnostic emoji: Face without mouth + Metro

Prescribed emoji: Speaker with three sound waves

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

Emojianalysis

Molly might break your heart.

Molly, 27

You seem sweet but you’re a heartbreaker. How can I tell? Let me tell you about it, stud…

Summer lovin’, had me a blast.
Summer lovin’, happened so fast.
Met a girl in an emoji-kini.
Watermelon, cake and candy.
But Thought cloud comes, something’s begun.
And uh oh we’re in a cockfight.
Oh-well-oh-well-oh-well I’M DUMPED.

Diagnostic emoji: Music note + Broken heart

Prescribed emoji: Crying face + Door

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

Emojianalysis

She may be young, but watch out for Marissa.

Marissa, 15

Congrats on the basketball trophy, Marissa! Too bad you won it by being less Michael Jordan and more Teen Wolf. (I’m talking about this Teen Wolf, not this Teen Wolf. Though I’m hoping the new one kept the basketball arc. Still with me, kid?) What I’m saying is, you seem to have multiple personalities and you kinda scare me. Stay away from Full moon emojis.

Diagnostic emoji: Wolf face

Prescribed emoji: Sunrise

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

Emojianalysis

Begoña might need serious help.

Begoña, Age Unknown

This bottom row seems to be a sad story about euthanizing your pet. If that’s the case, I’m sorry. If that’s not the case, [fills up that Syringe with a truth bomb], this is a serious cry for help. Simply put: Way too much cat stuff. I know, they’re pretty much the Greek Gods of the Internet. But this is not “I Can Has Emotionz,” Begoña. Life is not a Paula Abdul video. And in real life, we OMG I FORGOT THE CAT TAP DANCES IN THAT VIDEO. Forget it. Carry on.

Diagnostic emoji: Cat face

Prescribed emoji: Cat face + Man’s shoe + Dance

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

Emojianalysis

Alex is a party animal.

Alex, 31

(Analysis best read while listening to “If You Were Here” by Thompson Twins.)

This is an emoji John Hughes movie. I picture you busting out of that Office building where you work a dead-end job. But tonight you’re ditching your Glasses for Nail polish and and a dream. Then it’s Pizza with your weird BFFs, the Girls in bunny ears, before heading to the party of the year. Face with heart eyes! It’s Jake, the high school QB! No way he’ll notice you, you’re just the nerdy girl from Science class. “What’s that, Jake? That Bouquet is for me?!” Sparkling heart. Kiss face. Credits.

Diagnostic emoji: Movie camera

Prescribed emoji: 5 and 1/3 Birthday cakes (16 candles)

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

Emojianlysis

Riva loves her food.

Riva, 30

You’re one of those people who can just eat whatever they want, aren’t you? Nobody uses Surfer and Hamburger. Nobody picks the Horse as their emoji spirit guide while gnawing a battered Poultry leg. A Fried shrimp and a freakin’ Leopard? Are you mocking me? I’d say more but I’ve gotta go “Face savoring delicious food” on a green juice while I’m really “Loudly crying face” inside. You’re the worst.

Diagnostic emoji: Face with open mouth + All the food emojis

Prescribed emoji: Pile of poo

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

Emojianalysis

Don’t expect Ashleigh to lend a helping hand.

Ashleigh, 28

There’s a 50/50 shot you’re either an international jewel thief or a Mean Girl. The signs are all the same: Diamonds, Parties, Costumes, Romance. And of course, the red-flag of all red-flags: Princess. What has me leaning toward jewel thief are the Italian/Russian symbols. Everybody knows a Mean Girl is patriotic to a fault. But then again, a fast-on-her-toes burglar wouldn’t be eating cake unless she thought it was low in carbs. I’m stumped here. Either way, Ashleigh, YOU CAN’T SIT WITH US.

Diagnostic emoji: Handbag (or) Money bag

Prescribed emoji: Do not enter sign + Seat

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

Emojianalysis

Megan is a hot mess.

Megan, 25 (That’s me!)

Appropriate choice of the Ram emoji here, because you’re a mess of biblical proportions. Don’t think all these smileys and party favors fool me, Megan. I see you. Or rather, I see two of the most terrifying emojis (Women with bunny ears and Face screaming in fear) hiding just below this shiny, happy surface. This is the emoji equivalent of a rainbow-frosted cupcake piñata packed with bees. And that wiffle ball bat is about to take its final swing.

Diagnostic emoji: Volcano

Prescribed emoji: Ticket + Rocket

All descriptions are via Emojinalysis. 

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• Japanese elementary school teachers may tell you “5 x 100 = 500” is wrong
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Origin: The emoji you send actually say a lot about you
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

LINE is a free instant-messaging and voice-call application that’s almost a necessity in Asia; for many, it’s cheaper than texting through their mobile plan, and the app’s astounding collection of oversized emoticons called stickers and sticons (short for sticker emoticons) makes chatting with your friends that much more fun and cute! However, Japanese users recently noticed a puzzling sticon that had found its way into the pool. The image, which we’ll be looking at later, is based on a worldwide fad that didn’t seem to catch on in Japan, so it’s no wonder that people were confused.

This prompted me to wonder, “Which emoji are gathering dust because some people don’t quite know what they are or what they mean?” Since emoji (literally meaning “pictographs”) originated in Japan and later became incorporated into Unicode, it makes sense that many are emblematic of that country’s culture. After asking a few friends, choices were narrowed down to the above six emoticons, available on most smartphones. In Part 1 we’ll be examining the three food-based emoticons, so if you’re not familiar with that geometry lesson on a stick or the origins of that brown circle, read on after the jump!

▲ A small sample of LINE’s sticons.

Before we get to the emoji, let’s consider the LINE sticon that was perplexing Japanese texters. I immediately recognized the image above as a depiction of planking or the Lying Down Game but if you were never exposed to the fad, it may just look like a lock-kneed guy who failed on the vaulting box. According to a LINE representative, this new sticon was created by a London-based designer and released on June 17, to “increase variation and further stimulate communication between users.” Whether the sticon lives up to its purpose, only time will tell (do people even plank anymore?).

Now let’s get cracking, or crackering, as it were, on the first Japanese emoticon on our list!

#1. Nori-wrapped soy sauce rice cracker (nori senbei)

The above icon isn’t a tunnel entrance or an M&M that got discontinued after two months; it’s a type of rice cracker (senbei), a centuries-old goodie that comes in a myriad of shapes and sizes. Flavors as well can sit anywhere on the sweet-to-savory spectrum, and textures vary greatly depending on the preparation method and gluten content of the rice. Having said that, the most iconic kind is the simple soy sauce senbei and its nori-wrapped sibling. Generally about the size of the palm of your hand, many specialty shops still grill these crunchy snacks by hand over charcoal while brushing them with a soy sauce mixture.

▼ US supermarkets often carry the barrel-shaped kind on the right.

A popular origin tale goes like this: back in the Edo period,  there once was an old lady named Osen who ran a dango (dumpling) shop in Sōkashuku, a post town on the Nikkō Kaidō (a road that connected the capital of Edo with the Nikkō Tōshō-gū, a shrine located in Tochigi Prefecture). One day, a samurai suggested flattening the dango and grilling it; the kanji character for “flat” can be pronounced “bei”, and thus the modern-day senbei was born. While I’m not sure about the specifics of the story, the area around Sōkashuku was indeed known for making senbei and popularizing it back in Osen’s time.

Since then, senbei has been to green tea as cookies have been to milk, or chips to soda. You often see characters on TV shows sitting down to this combination as a mid-morning snack, an afternoon pick-me-up, or even an after-dinner nosh (and the characters themselves are usually in front of the tube). But due to its appearance, once in a while you may notice soy sauce senbei being translated as cookies or biscuits in fan-subbed anime.

▼ Without seaweed…

from Non Non Biyori, episode 7

▼ And with seaweed (don’t mind the money-eating goat). Lesson: Senbei is a must when watching TV!

from Cuticle Detective Inaba, episode 10

#2. Baked custard/flan/crème caramel (purin)

Purin, which is the Japanese pronunciation of the English word “pudding,” is everywhere in Japan and recipe variations are limitless—soft, firm, non-baked, steamed, à la mode, with fruit, as a Sanrio character, you name it. The most basic form though is the one pictured above, in which an individual serving of custard is overturned onto a plate to reveal the caramel sauce hidden below. It’s available at cafés, supermarkets, even convenience stores and in school lunches, but since the dessert isn’t as ubiquitous in the US, you generally wouldn’t find aisles of purin cups in grocery stores here.

Incidentally, as of 2013, Japanese dairy giant Glico holds the Guinness World Record for having sold the greatest amount of custard pudding; since the product’s launch forty years ago, fans have consumed over 5.1 billion units of the beloved, affordable “Pucchin Purin.” As you can imagine, the confection is so ingrained in the Japanese psyche that anything yellow with a brown stripe would conjure up images of the silky sweet. For example, a bottle blonde with dark roots may be referred to as “purin” in Japan.

▼ I spy… a couple o’ pudd’nheads!

Despite the custard’s name, it resembles neither the UK’s Christmas or Yorkshire pudding, nor the Jell-O-licious chocolate or tapioca pudding with which many Americans grew up. In any case, the next time you’re watching Nanana’s Buried Treasure with a total noob (though one might ask why) and he/she exclaims, “What, that’s not pudding!”, you can set the fledgling straight with this emoticon.

#3. Oden

What appears to be drab building blocks on a stick is actually a representation of oden, a dish in which various large-sized ingredients are simmered in a savory broth over a long period. Each component contributes to the broth’s essence while simultaneously soaking it up, resulting in a deep medley of flavors. The ultimate in winter comfort food, this is also readily available at convenience stores once the weather turns cold, but it’s probably best at outdoor stalls (yatai) and restaurants that specialize in oden, or prepared at home as a hotpot.

While ingredients and seasonings differ from prefecture to prefecture, common elements include whole potatoes, boiled eggs, thick slabs of daikon, atsuage (thick fried tofu), kombu, and fishcakes such as hanpen and chikuwa. Condiments also depend on the region, but a common accompaniment is Japanese mustard (wa-karashi). Many components are similar in shape and color so the emoji may be hard to identify, but its design is most likely based on the famous skewer of oden from an acclaimed 1960s gag comic by Akatsuka Fujio.

▼ The impudent squirt Chibita from Osomatsu-kun, with his ever-present stick of oden!

As you can see, Chibita is never far from his favorite food. In the manga, the oden-kebob is drawn as three simple geometric shapes, so fans often mistake the bottom rectangle for a stick of chikuwa or—my favorite ingredient—a flour-based dumpling called chikuwabu. It has officially been revealed, however, that the white thing is a length of naruto, often sliced thinly to reveal the pink spiral and served atop ramen.

The brown circle is ganmodoki, a fried ball of tofu and vegetables that mimics chicken. Eat your heart out Boca Burger, because this morsel has long been a part of shōjin ryōri, or vegetarian cuisine for Buddhist monks, and may be the original veggie burger! Lastly, readers tend to misinterpret the top triangle as hanpen, but it’s actually konnyaku. Both are served in thick triangular cuts, but the latter is a food made from the konjac potato with a distinct chewy texture.

▼ I’m konnyaku too! Just don’t slice me diagonally or stick me with a skewer. I’m cool with mustard though.

There you have it, folks! Have you thought of new ways to use these three emoji? Stay tuned for Part 2, in which we’ll stray from food and check out emoticons that are related to Japanese holidays and customs.

Sources: Netorabo, Wikipedia 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Images: Nissan Blog, Rakuten Ichiba, Senbeiya, Crunchyroll 1, 2, Yahoo! Japan Blog, Visulog, Tezukuri no Omise P’s, Colowide Gourmet Search,  Ameblo, Amazon, Foodies Recipe

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Origin: What’s that emoji? Let’s take a look at Japanese culture with these texting emoticons!【Part 1】
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

In Part 1 of this article, we learned some fun facts about three iconic foods so beloved by the Japanese that they, yup, became icons—how an old lady and a samurai gave birth to the first rice cracker; what it means to be called a pudding-head in Japan; and how a classic 1960s manga cemented the way oden would be illustrated for decades to come.

So get ready for Part 2, in which I’ll attempt to sift through millennia of history and get you further acquainted with three more emoticons!

First we’ll look at the mythical tengu, a complex, multifaceted creature that in modern times pops up in things like Digimon and the Mega Man series. Then we’ll check out a New Year’s decoration that may have originated from taketaba, a shield made from bundled bamboo that became necessary once firearms were introduced. To close, we’ll explore the customs and lore surrounding the Tanabata festival, including the romantic legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi, who are both star-crossed lovers and actual stars in the sky.

#1. Tengu (天狗)/tengu mask

Whenever a tengu appears as a pretty boy or girl in an anime series, the fact that its many identities are intertwined with folk religion, Shintō, and Buddhism can be easy to forget. At times a warmongering demon or a punisher of vain priests, at other times a mountain deity high on mushrooms, a skilled swordsman, or a silly mononoke, most likely its characteristics were conveniently molded and changed throughout history by society, to fit in with the needs of both leaders and commoners.

Images: Wikipedia

Literally meaning “celestial dog,” one of the tengu’s roots is the legendary Chinese tiangou. The name was attributed to explosive fireballs and comets that were likened to howling dogs running down from the sky; their descent meant misfortune and war. Though one Japanese text from around 720 AD mentions this heavenly pooch of death, the word “tengu” made little appearance until an anthology of Indian, Chinese, and Japanese tales called Konjaku Monogatari-shū was published before 1077.

By this time, the mountain-dwelling demons are a human-bird hybrid similar to the garuda, with beaks and wings of a black kite. They could fly and abduct children, set houses on fire, transform into a Buddha, and seduce priests by possessing women, to name but a few abilities.

▼ A tengu in Kamakura. The prevailing image of red face, super-long nose (which is thought to have mutated from the beak), and generating wind with a fan probably came into being around the mid-13th century.

Image: Bestiary.Us

Interestingly, tengu were portrayed as both opponents and upholders of the Dharma. As much as they disrupted Buddhism and misled laymen down paths of heresy, the anthology included satirical tales of their cracking down on important and corrupt priests. They were also known for playing tricks both big and small on the arrogant or fame-obsessed, and not even samurai were safe.

Texts from the 14th century onward gave rise to benevolent versions who protected temples, taught priests, and controlled the minor, unruly tengu. As relatively recent as 1860, the tengu were still revered, if not feared. For example, when shogun were planning on making a visit to Nikkō that year, a government official put out notices “to the Tengu and other demons” living in the mountains that “they must remove elsewhere until … the visit is concluded.”

▼ A modern-day festival of Gunma Prefecture that’s held in August, with a mask-shaped portable shrine. Women carry it and pray for a multitude of wishes, including family safety.

Image: Ameblo

All in all, because tengu themselves seem to think they know what’s best for you, they’ve come to be thought of as an incarnation of self-conceit and their proboscis symbolizes that quality. Now, if someone says during a conversation that so-and-so is becoming a tengu, it means that the person is letting pride go to his or her head; you could also imply this by holding one or two fists in front of your nose (as if you were grabbing the tengu’s).

▼ P&D again! This monster’s leader skill gains another level of meaning when you consider the tengu’s ability to possess people, no?

Image: RocketNews24

#2. Kadomatsu (門松)

This decoration’s name directly translates into “gate pine” and a traditional Japanese New Year would seem positively naked without one. While a mini version could adorn any area of the home to amp up the festivity, the larger, professionally crafted ones that can cost between US$100 to $900 are placed outdoors to grace entryways in pairs. Generally, the male omatsu made with black pine is put on the left (when seen from the front), and the female mematsu made with red pine on the right.

Image: Wikipedia

Styles differ from region to region, but it is thought that the kadomatsu had taken this general shape by the 14th century. Most include branches of plum along with the standard pine and bamboo to complete the ultra-auspicious combo of shōchikubai (pine-bamboo-plum), which turns up in various aspects of Japanese culture and represents vitality, longevity, and prosperity. Though the three stalks of bamboo seem like the most important element due to its sheer presence, the kadomatsu’s other names such as matsukazari and tatematsu underscore the pine’s significance.

▼ A small plastic one with Rilakkuma, and a downloadable paper craft version from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency!

Images: Rakuten Ichiba, RocketNews24

Kadomatsu are used so that when deities visit the earthly realm for New Year’s, they will know where to go and have a place to stay. It makes a great home because the plants involved are believed to be sacred and have mystical powers, since pine and bamboo remain green even in winter, and the plum blooms in February. Households without the temporary dwellings are bypassed, and cannot receive blessings for that year. As for the timing, though the decorations technically can be put out from December 13, it’s generally postponed until after Christmas to keep the red and green decorations from overlapping.

But woe to those who choose the 29th or 31st! The former date is avoided for two reasons; one, the number 29 can be read as nijyūku, which can also mean “double suffering,” and two, the decoration can take on the meaning kumatsu, which can be read as “nine pine” as well as “waiting for suffering.” Meanwhile, the 31st is frowned upon because it’s the day before New Year’s, and to welcome the deities for only one night is, well, way too insincere.

#3. Tanabata (七夕)

Image: Kyōto Wo Aruku Album

Bamboo takes center stage legitimately in this next holiday-related emoticon. Though you could use it to relay news of your successful trip to Home Depot, it actually depicts an icon of the Tanabata festival that’s generally held on July 7: stalks of bamboo grass hung with tanzaku and other ethereal decorations, similar to the wish tree tradition of other countries. Celebrated in several Asian nations, Tanabata is yet another custom with an involved history that, in Japan, spans at least 1,500 years and visually, it always reminds me of Christmas.

One of Japan’s five important seasonal festivals (called the gosekku), it is thought to be an amalgam of roughly three traditions. The original Tanabata (written 棚機) was a pre-Buddhism purification ceremony held on the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunisolar calendar (around August 12). A young girl was chosen to weave fabric on the Tanabata loom as an offering for the gods, to pray for the autumn harvest and to purify those in her community. The second tradition is the Kikōden or Kikkōden, which was brought over from China during the Nara period. Young girls would pray for better skills in weaving and sewing, as well as the performing arts and calligraphy.

▼ Most associated with the holiday today, however, is the bittersweet Chinese folktale of a celestial cowherd and weaver girl. A beautiful, atmospheric rendition of this legend can be seen on this episode of Folktales from Japan.

Image: Crunchyroll

In the most common version, two hard-working young deities, Orihime (literally “weaving princess” and a manifestation of the star Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair), fall in love and start shirking their duties. Out of anger, the princess’ father forbids them from seeing each other, but after seeing his daughter’s endless tears, he allows them to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month. This is when Vega and Altair shine brightly on either side of the Milky Way, or the Heavenly River (written 天の川), and during Tanabata the celebrants wish for clear skies so that Orihime can cross and be with her beloved.

The festival began to spread throughout Japan and be shaped into what we know today during the Edo period. People would pray to the stars for their wishes to come true, while praying for the two lovers’ wishes as well. As mentioned before, bamboo grass is used for its divine properties, and the tanzaku (slips of paper on which the wishes are written) traditionally come in five colors, related to the five elements of wood, fire, water, earth, and metal. These days, hopes can be as “minor” as getting a higher allowance or as practical as acing the next test.

▼Other paper decorations include stars, lanterns, fishing nets, seashells, and representations of the Milky Way, each with their own significance.

            Image: Fujicco Note

While this article is by no means an exhaustive lesson on history and culture, I hope you learned a few cool tidbits that add some heft to these three common emoticons. Have an icon you’re curious about? A little research may reveal some surprising information!

Sources: Wikipedia 1, 2, 3, Google Books, Takao Tsūshin, Mizu No Kirameki, Yuzawa, Kadomatsu to Osechi, Kyōto Jishujinja
Feature Image: Super Mario Wiki, Kazutyan No Tsubuyaki, Blog De Go

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Origin: What’s that emoji? Let’s take a look at Japanese culture with these texting emoticons!【Part 2】
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

If you’re as addicted to your phone as we are, there’s a good chance you can draw 95 percent of the emoji you know with your eyes closed. Much to the chagrin of high school English teachers everywhere, it can sometimes seem that half of our communication is taken up by the colorful little faces. And it’s understandable–they can express quite a bit!

But thanks to a new site, anyone can freely combine emoji for a hundred times more expressiveness. That’s exactly what Kazuki Takakura, art director for a Tokyo theatre company, did–and the results are nothing short of spectacular! And slightly nightmarish.

▼Forget your paint palette, we have emoji!

With the evocative URL emoji.ink, the website presents users with every emoji available, as you can see above. After selecting an emoji, the user is presented with a blank canvas, upon which your chosen emoji can be placed. Clicking and dragging will paste a string of the images, like a paint brush. You can quickly select other emoji by pressing any key on the keyboard or change their size. With a bit of practice, you can get something like this!

▼He watches when you sleep.

Or, if you happen to be a real artist, unlike us, you can create something a bit more impressive.

▼Here’s Lil B wondering what you’re looking at.

iPhoneの絵文字だけで作られたLil Bやヤング・サグ、ウィズ・カリファ、すごい pigeonsandplanes.com/2015/01/lil-b-… http://t.co/bNOBPwElSZ

—
アトムボーイ (@atomb0y) January 20, 2015

But as impressive as the hip-hop art above is, things can always get…weirder. Especially when Kazuki Takakura, art director for Tokyo theatre company Hanchu-yuei, decides to get involved. While we’re sure that not all theater company art directors create bizarre works of emoji art, Kazuki has certainly gone a long way towards scarring us for life with stuff like Creepy Pikachu.

▼When you turn the lights off tonight, just remember: It’s under your bed.

▼The only explanation offered for this was “Robo.”

▼Sure, this might be a rooster. Or it might be the Devourer of Souls.

▼Are those eyes…or tentacles? Or both?!

▼This just reminds us of the Hifana “Wamono” video.

 ▼This is supposed to be Pokémon’s Venusaur (Fushigibana in Japanese).

▼Annnd…this non-edible version of Baymax is actually pretty cool!

▼And here’s proof that, yes, octopuses can be creepier than they already are!

たこ　 emoji.ink 　#emojiink http://t.co/uHeKBN9D5y

—
たかくらかずき (@takakurakazuki) January 27, 2015

Finally, here’s one more from Kazuki–Ninja Test! Be sure to click play.

忍テスト　#emojiink pic.twitter.com/qVHf4eQEPg

—
たかくらかずき (@takakurakazuki) January 22, 2015

Now that you’ve seen what a professional can do, why don’t you try it out yourself? Head over to emoji.ink and bring all your nightmares to life!

Source: Kaiyou, Kazuki Takakura, Hanchu-yuei
Images: Twitter

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Origin: Forget your paints and pencils! Emojis are the best new art medium!
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

With expressions ranging from happy to sad to ironic, emoticons serve as a kind of virtual extension of the self on online messaging platforms. As a result, many rejoiced when Apple decided to import Japan’s Emoji keyboard back in 2011, eliminating the need for app extensions. Yet something was still missing. “Where’s the diversity?” asked everyone from Tahj Mowry to Miley Cyrus, addressing the notable lack of non-white cartoon faces.

It looks like Apple has been listening closely to these concerns, with plans to implement a more racially and socially diverse set of emoji for iOS 8.3 later this year. Problem solved? Not quite. As Apple unveils its most recent developer betas, a furor has broken out in China regarding what some regard as a prejudiced depiction of Asians. While one can certainly make a case for this position, Apple claims the startlingly yellow emoji at the heart of the uproar doesn’t depict a normal human face at all.

The controversy began with the series of emoji shown above. At first glance, it seems Apple’s aim with these new emoji is to provide a greater range of skin tones, thereby promoting one aspect of diversity. This then leads to the inevitable question of whether the emoji are also intended as a visualization of race.

Many Chinese citizens seem to think the emoji do, in fact, depict a variety of races, rather than a mere progression of skin tones. Therefore, they argue, the yellow face furthest to the left cannot be construed as anything but Apple’s idea of an Asian face. At this point, the problem becomes obvious. Comments on Weibo, a popular Chinese microblogging platform, included the following:

“That emoji is seriously yellow. How does a person get to be that kind of color?”

“That can’t be an Asian person… I’ve never seen anyone so yellow in my life.”

“Has anyone ever actually seen someone who shade of yellow? I’d be worried they were ill.”

Nor were they the only ones to take issue. Yurie Kwon, an associate account executive at Sutherland Gold Group, tweeted:

Apple rolling out new racially diverse emoji! Not sure how I'm feeling about these ultra-yellow Asian emoji tho mashable.com/2015/02/23/app…

—
Yurie Kwon (@_yuriekwon) February 23, 2015

However, the ultra-yellow emoji might not be showing a natural skin color at all, Asian or otherwise. Weighing in on the debate, Apple analyst Rene Ritchie tweeted:

(The yellow emoji aren’t meant to represent a skin tone. They’re default emoji yellow. Tap to hold to get one of the five skin tone choices)

—
Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) February 23, 2015

It looks like Apple’s new diversity emoji are based on the Fitzpatrick scale as adopted by Unicode: unicode.org/reports/tr51/t…

—
Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) February 23, 2015

As it happens, the developer of the emoji is not Apple itself, but rather Unicode Consortium, which aims to promote a greater range of skin tones in 2015. In a document on the subject, they write:

“Five symbol modifier characters that provide for a range of skin tones for human emoji are planned for Unicode Version 8.0 (scheduled for mid-2015). These characters are based on the six tones of the Fitzpatrick scale, a recognized standard for dermatology… The exact shades may vary between implementations.”

This is followed by a graphic showing the emoji modifiers.

You can see how the sample colors on the left side align with those of five emoji in the upcoming release. So what about the bright yellow face? The reason it is absent from this chart is because the yellow tone is, as Ritchie noted, the default color. Gradations in skin tone are achieved by adding a color modifier to the default, as seen below:

In light of this information, Apple’s explanation suddenly becomes much more plausible. Even so, it might be too late to reverse the damage. Sales of last year’s iPhone were higher in China than they were in America, making the former a vital market for Apple–which must now surely be concerned about its image among Chinese consumers. Ultimately they will decide with their wallets whether or not to give Apple the benefit of the doubt.

Sources: Sankei News, Unicode, Mashable, Forbes
Feature Image: [Apple] via Forbes
Inset Images: Twitter, Unicode

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Origin: “That can’t be an Asian person…” Apple’s plan for greater emoji diversity backfires
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

With the upcoming Disney animated short Frozen Fever set to debut in theatres on March 13, you might be in need of a recap of the original film, so check out this two-and-a-half-minute video of Frozen as told through emoji.

Emoji (絵文字  “e-mo-ji“) is the Japanese word for emoticons, smileys, stamps, or whatever else you cool kids are calling them these days. An online conversation would look bleak and cold without a peppering of (now ethnically-diverse) smileys to bring in the sunshine, and there’s so many available these days that you can have entire conversations is pictorial form.

So what better way to tell a story to this generation’s smartphone-savvy kids?

The vid below tells the story of Disney’s hit animated movie Frozen through an animated LINE (Japanese instant messaging app) style conversation with little round emoji to represent the characters. It’s cute and creative and might just manage to hold your attention for its entire duration.

And if you still have some tolerance for things Frozen related, check out the Frozen Fever trailer. Will you be sitting through Cinderella to catch this animated short in the cinema?

Source: YouTube via Facebook
Images: YouTube

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Origin: Emoji break out of their chat boxes to tell story of Disney’s Frozen
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

Have a convention coming up and you’re scrounging for last-minute cosplay ideas? Perhaps you’re on a super tight budget and need to make a costume out of the bare minimum.

Well we have the answer for you! Hong Kong-based YouTube channel DigitalRev TV recently put up a video where they tried their best to recreate several of the most popular emoji in real life. Some of the results are ridiculous, others are scary, but all are truly inspirational to the lovers of minimal costuming out there.

Here’s the video in its entirety, showing how the team went about creating their emoji monstrosities. Scroll down for some highlights/spoilers!

▼ To start, they had to divvy up the emoji. There’s a nice variety of almost-doable and probably-impossible ones.

▼ First up is the lady in the dress. Not quite sure when you’d use that emoji, but here we are!

▼ Hey, that’s not half bad! Almost makes me want to find a use for it.

▼ Next up is “walking guy.” To add a bit of a challenge, they had him jump in the air to give the impression he was levitating.

▼ In the end though the jumping makes him look more like a giant than anything else.

▼ Now we get to the crazy ones. First up, “crying with laughter.”

▼ And the final, Photoshopped result shows the reason why they don’t use real faces for emoji.

▼ Now we have “love face.” Look! The screaming’s already started!

▼ …and it hasn’t stopped! Let’s move on quick.

▼ Looking in the mirror to get that smile right for, uh, “hand flat out girl?”

▼ Oh god. Why did they leave the teeth? Why did they leave the teeth?!

▼ And lastly we have the muscle emoji, for when your real guns are too tired from lifting all day at the gym but you still want to show off.

▼ A couple of Photoshop steroids later and the final result is an uncanny match.

While the real-life emoji counterparts aren’t going to overtake the cartoon versions anytime soon, it’s still a fun exercise to see what some of these ridiculous expressions look like in real life. Now if we can just convince the same team to take on some of the more advanced native Japanese emoji next, that would be something to see!

Source: YouTube (DigitalRev TV) via Designtaxi
Images: YouTube (DigitalRev TV)

Origin: YouTube channel recreates emoji in real life with hilarious, horrifying results 【Video】
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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Recently, with elements of the Japanese language and its culture starting to be adopted by people in countries the world over, we hear the word “emoji” being used incredibly often overseas. In fact, both the word “emoji” and the digital images themselves have become pretty much universal.

And now, those emoji that I knew from my cell phone screen here in Japan have even been turned into fashion icons!

But why emoji and not others? And why make emoji a part of your fashion ensemble? First, let’s find out a little more about where emoji come from!

“Emoji” vs. “Emoticon” vs. “Kaomoji”

The first thing that struck me, a Japanese person, was the use of the term “emoji” in countries outside of Japan. I was more familiar with the term “emoticon”, which was used more often in other parts of the world, so I was surprised to hear non-Japanese suddenly talking about “emoji”. After doing a little bit of research, it seems that the main difference between an emoticon and emoji is that former is used sideways, whereas an emoji is a small picture that expresses that emotion or thing. An emoticon is motionless and can also difficult to decode through the flow of texts, requiring the reader to tilt their head sideways to see it properly for the first time. It also seems that only a handful of emoticons are used with any great frequency, with new additions to the emoticon language relatively few and far between.

Around the same time emoticons became popular overseas, in Japan “kaomoji” (lit. “face-words”) became (and still is) a popular part of texting. The kaomoji style is like a character in parentheses complete with eyes and mouth, with the addition of extra parts like hands or feet. They first started out as simple smiley faces like (^_^), or sad, crying faces like (;_;). But with sites like 2channel and other internet social interactions, kaomoji have developed more and more with details being added through the use of symbols and punctuation marks. Here are some of the more recent kaomoji that are used online in Japan:

As emoticon is  always placed side-on, kaomoji is faces the front.

The History of Emoji

“Emoji” (絵文字/e-mo-ji) originated as a set of basic symbols for use with Japanese mobile phone operator Docomo’s pager in 1995. Intended as a way of appealing to young people, the very first icon pager users were able to send is believed to have been a simple ‘heart’ icon. As mobile phones have rapidly popularized in Japan and more young people are using them for texting, the same emoji that featured on pagers have been passed down to cell phones. Nowadays, texting without using emoji is almost unheard of.

As smartphones starting to become popular, multinational telecommunications and Internet corporation SoftBank was the first company to introduce the iPhone to the Japanese people. But since the iPhone was very different from the mobile phones that Japanese people were used to, it was very difficult to convince the public to adopt the phone at first. SoftBank’s president, Masayoshi Son, asked Apple to incorporate Japan’s most popular emoji into the iPhone OS as a way of attracting more Japanese users. Soon enough, Apple added them in update—iOS 2.2 to be exact—and since then the phone’s popularity soared.

Currently, in iOS 8.3, there are over 300 emojis to choose from and the word “emoji” has been added in to Merriam Webster Dictionary of English. It’s always fun to see how people from other countries use and interpret these icons!

Emoji Fashion…?

So both emoji the word and the icons themselves are now in use all over the world. So what’s next? Well, recently, we’ve come across the shirts, skirts, and even one-piece dresses with emoji prints and designs; a particular kind of fashion called “uncool kawaii”, or “uncool cute”.

Emoji are very colorful and flashy, but also fun! Brand and shops including Kitson, Nordstrom, and Urban Outfitters have embraced this fashion trend, and now sell a range of emoji pants, shirts, bathing suits, and accessories.

It’s also interesting to see that even high-end brand Marc By Marc Jacobs used emoji-inspired prints in their collection.

We still don’t know where exactly this emoji fashion sprang from, but there’s no denying that it’s a lot of fun. Since it’s flashy, I guess part of the challenge is to find a way to incorporate these icons into the rest of our ensemble with style.

Let us know if you’re into emoji fashion by leaving us a comment with hashtag #emojifashion!

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Origin: Emoji is the new black: Could emoji fashion be the next “kawaii” trend?
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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Oxford Dictionaries, the online arm of the publisher of the Oxford Dictionary of English, has announced that its 2015 Word of the Year is an emoji. No, not the word “emoji,” but a single, specific emoji.

The choice was revealed on the organization’s website, which announced “for the first time ever, the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is a pictograph,” followed by the emoji itself, and the further explanation that it’s “officially called the ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emoiji,” although we’re not sure what emoji high lord conveyed official status on the moniker. Again, Oxford Dictionaries didn’t declare “Face with Tears of Joy” to be the Word of the Year, but the actual emoji itself, leading to some bizarre-looking sentences like these.

In explaining its choice of the Face with Tears of Joy emoji, Oxford Dictionaries said the picture “best reflected the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015,” and pointed to statistics indicating it to be the most commonly used emoji in the U.K. and U.S., accounting for 20 and 17 percent, respectively, of those countries’ emoji usage over the past year.

Still, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher as to why Oxford Dictionaries didn’t just give the award to the word “emoji” instead. The Japanese loanword, made up of e (“picture”) and moji (“text character”), had its usage among English users more than triple in 2015, so it seems like it definitely has the credentials to be counted as a legitimate linguistic trend. Of course, “emoji” has been floating around the English-speaking world for a couple of years now, but it’s not like the “Face with Tears of Joy” symbol just came into being in the last 12 months, either.

Despite being a professional word-guy, I try not to take too narrow a view of semantics. I understand that languages evolve over time, and that there’s often room for debate regarding the interpretation of a term or phrase. Still, it just sort of seems like the Word of the Year should be, well, a word.

I can’t help feeling that “emoji” would have been a much more appropriate choice for Word of the Year, and much more representative of emerging vocabulary, than what amounts to an emoji popularity contest. But hey, Oxford Dictionaries is free to run its award process however it sees fit, just like we are.

And now, without further ado, the RocketNews24 Athlete of the Year Award for 2015 goes to…

▼ Burger King’s Aka Samurai Beef red hamburger!

Source: Oxford Dictionaries via Kai-You
Top image: Oxford Dictionaries
Insert images: Oxford Dictionaries, RocketNews24

Origin: Oxford Dictionaries picks single emoji as Word of the Year, seemingly forgets what “word” means
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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When Japanese Twitter user @nasuiro posted this picture of a blob of hand cream last week, he probably had no idea that it would end up being retweeted over 41,000 times…

デスクでOL気取ってハンドクリームつけようと出したら、思いがけず完全なまきぐそが出来てしまい興奮を隠せない様子 https://t.co/aNL2qunWcH

—
瀧川 (@nasuiro) November 17, 2015

The tweet—which has racked up an amazing 41,000 retweets and 35,000 ‘likes’ so far—reads, “That moment when you decide to play office lady at your desk and put on some hand cream, but it unexpectedly comes out as such a perfect little swirl of poo, you can’t contain your excitement.”

▼ There is a distinct resemblance…

Image: iemoji.com

Based on the number of shares, it seems like many Twitter users also thought this was cause for excitement, replying to ask about the condition of his skin after so much cream and whether it didn’t make his hands too moist to get any work done.

He replied, “Holy crap! Stop it with these crap replies to a crap Tweet about crappy-looking crap. The crap gestalt is crumbling!!!”

Nasuiro, I think you might need a more exciting job. But based on your sense of humor, you are probably a perfect match for us!

Source: Twitter/@nasuiro
Feature image: Twitter/@nasuiro, iemoji.com

Origin: Japanese man shares photo of near-perfect ‘poop emoji’ in hand cream, Twitter goes nuts
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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Japanese netizens are both creeped out and confused by this new Thanksgiving/Christmas emoji from Skype.

If you had any doubts about the prevalence of emoji in global communication tool, this winning entry for Oxford’s 2015 “Word of the Year” entry should be all the proof you need.

Emoji can quickly replace common item words or help set the tone of the message you’re trying to send, but admittedly some icons seem like rather odd choices, leaving users wondering just what the heck kind of feeling they’re supposed to be describing.

A recent Skype emoticon addition definitely falls into that category.

スカイプの新しい絵文字最高に気持ち悪くて笑った https://t.co/F1hfkuS232

—
珠洲城くるみ@2日目A22b (@_Suzushiro_) November 25, 2015

“This new Skype emoticon is so creepy, I couldn’t help but laugh.”

Just in time for American Thanksgiving, the emoji appears to depict a dancing turkey, and has caused an uproar on Twitter as Japanese netizens try to figure out when exactly would be the ideal time to use this kind of emoticon, like in this following tweet exchange:

“Tonight’s dinner is turkey~~ (dancing turkey icon) Maybe like that..? I dunno.”
“I don’t want to eat some dancing turkey for dinner..! I want to eat… I want to eat a regular turkey!”

We hear you and agree!

Maybe the people at Skype were just really excited about turkey, or perhaps this is just the result of binging a little too hard on the anime Jinsei wo Suitai Shimashita. Can you see the resemblance?

並べたら更に気持ち悪くなった https://t.co/ODaxdUGWP1

—
珠洲城くるみ@2日目A22b (@_Suzushiro_) November 25, 2015

“They’re even creepier when you line them up.”

Short of your turkey doing a boogie off the table just before it’s time to dig in, we’re not sure what kind of Skype conversation would necessitate the use of a dancing turkey, but we have to thank the developers at Skype for the laugh!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there celebrating! (P.S. If your day somehow involves an episode so crazy it can only be characterized by a dancing turkey, we’d love to hear about it in the comments section below!)

Source: Twitter/@_Suzushiro_ (1, 2) via Hachima Kikou
Feature/top image: Twitter/@_Suzuhiro_
Insert image: Random Curiosity

Origin: Japan’s net users are confused and creeped out by Skype’s new “dancing turkey” emoticon
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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In Japan, you don’t “like” something on Facebook, you “ii ne” it. But what about the five other “reactions” that Facebook has just added?

When you’re trying to learn a new language, people often tell you to immerse yourself as much as possible. “Set your phone to Japanese;” people told me when I asked for tips on how to improve my own Nihongo, “do as much of your everyday life in Japanese and you’ll pick it up faster.”

There’s definitely a lot of truth to that. Although I wouldn’t recommend that you set your mobile phone to Japanese unless you’ve reached—at the very least—a lower-intermediate level in your studies (all of those unfamiliar kanji characters can be a nightmare to navigate), setting your life to Japanese mode, as it were, helps a lot.

And of course, “everyday life” now includes social media for a great many of us. Japan was, as it was with adopting smartphones and letting go of the fax machine and MiniDiscs, a little bit late to Zuckerberg’s party (even today Japan prefers Twitter to Facebook), but millions of Japanese now have Facebook accounts, and terms like “ii ne suru“, or “liking” things online are common parlance.

Upon switching my Facebook account language to Japanese in the name of immersion, I found it quite charming the way that the site automatically adds the honorific suffix “san” to friends’ names. But the localisers’ decision to use “ii ne” (literally “good, isn’t it?”) instead of just “suki” (“like”) was especially striking, and I became quite fond of it.

Manablog

I’ve since switched back to English (because I’m lazy and, like most Englishmen abroad, prefer to speak in my own language only slightly louder), but when Facebook bestowed a whole new set of “reactions” upon us earlier this week, it got me thinking about those “ii ne”s again, so I hopped back into my account’s language settings to see what Japan was getting in place of the new Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry reactions.

▼ Or, as I prefer to think of them:

Just for fun, and since we’re heading into the weekend wherein there will undoubtedly be plenty of social networking going on, here’s a quick look at what Japanese Facebook users are calling the new reactions. The symbols are, of course, exactly the same as those given to English-language Facebook users, but you might want to remember these for next time you’re discussing ii ne-ing—or perhaps something stronger—with a Japanese friend or coworker.

• Like: Ii ne!

The classic, “this is good; I like this” response.

• Love: Chou ii ne!

Chou can be thought of as “very” or “extremely”. Despite it being used by high school girls in virtually every excitable utterance, it is very much a real term, and can even be found in words like 超特急 choutokkyuu (super-express [train]).

• Haha: Ukeru ne

Ukeru literally means “to receive”, but used in this context and in everyday situations it’s closer to “that’s hilarious”, or at least so pleasing that anyone would agree. Ukeru neee.

• Wow: Sugoi ne

Anyone who has watched even half an hour of anime or a single Japanese movie will have come across sugoi—which means anything from “amazing” to “frightful”—at some point.

• Sad: Kanashii ne

The least slangy of the bunch is kanashii ne, meaning “[that’s] sad, isn’t it…”.

• Angry: Hidoi ne

Last but not least, it’s that slightly confusing one (are we supposed to use this to express our anger at the thing being shared, Facebook, or the person sharing it?). Hidoi ne is actually closer to “that’s awful” than the English “I’m angry”—which makes sense, because sunburnt scalps are awful.

Have a happy, social weekend, folks. Try not to “angry” too many of the things you see online…

Origin: What are Facebook’s five new “reactions” called in Japan?
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

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You likely know that emoji originated in Japan, but do you know how they ended up basically everywhere in the world?

Emoji are perhaps one of the greatest “accidents” of contemporary technology. Now, we don’t mean the actual characters themselves — they were intentionally and deliberately created by Japanese cell phone companies decades ago. The “accident” aspect is that the little images are now everywhere in the world, enhancing (or ruining, depending on your perspective) our textual communication.

While you might think words and phrases like “standards,” “committees,” and “Unicode Consortium” sound terribly boring, this video by British YouTuber Tom Scott is actually a fun introduction to the topic. In addition to explaining the history, you’ll also find out what sort of emoji you can expect to be available this year and next!

If you do happen to recognize the red-shirted man in the video, you may very have seen his “Real Life Emoji Keyboard” video from last year. If you haven’t seen the video, we present it below in all its glory.

▼ Yes, in 2015, you needed 14 physical keyboards to represent all the available emoji.

If you’re interested in learning more about how text works on all your electronic devices, the YouTuber was also featured in this Computerphile video explaining the “Unicode Miracle.” It’s a bit more technical, but absolutely fascinating if you’re at all interested in computers and technology.

And if you don’t really care for emoji, at least you can rest easy knowing that emoji fashion doesn’t seem to have turned into a huge thing. Yet.

Source/images: YouTube/Tom Scott

Origin: A brief history of emoji, language standards, and why you can text piles of poo to your friends
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Dessert, not defecation.

Until I was in the fourth grade, I had no idea that Japanese illustrated poo was different from American illustrated poo. Then I went over to the house of a friend who was really into imported video games and played Kato-chan and Ken-chan for the PC-Engine, which featured enemies that attacked you with the same tightly coiled cone of dark brown excrement that has since gone on to world fame as the poo emoji.

Having a standard, stylized, and now internationally accepted way of drawing poo is pretty handy for artists, since it lets them draw something that, due to differences in diet and digestion, may not really have a consistent shape from person to person (or even meal to meal). But on the downside, the illustrated poo pioneered by Japan looks a lot like a swirl of soft serve ice cream. The similarity is so pronounced that if you’re not careful when drawing manga or other illustrations, your charming scene of characters snacking on ice cream cones can end up looking like they’re all happily licking turds.

So how can you keep your illustrated ice cream from looking like drawn droppings? Japanese Twitter user @ranocchio666_of has some pointers.

友人に「💩にならないソフトクリームの描き方を教えてくれ！！！」 と真顔で懇願されたので、困惑しながらも私個人の見解でまとめました。 https://t.co/GSZPfrlzGa

—
迷音's味ちろる (@ranocchio666_of) October 01, 2016

The first thing to be careful of are the proportions. While both an ice cream cone and pile of poop are vaguely trapezoidal in shape, the ice cream should be considerably taller than it is wide, since being frozen gives it more structural integrity than a poo coil, which will be wider by comparison.

Next, you’ll want to make sure the ice cream has a larger number of coils, since, in performing their duties, the server’s hand is likely to be doing more swirling than the human colon. And third, to further differentiate the ice cream, @ranocchio666_of recommends making the swirls diagonal, as opposed to the horizontal lines of the standardized poo illustration.

As a bonus tip, @ranocchio666_of says you should keep in mind that many soft serve machines spit the ice cream out with a star-shaped cross section. Adding a tear drop pattern to the ice cream’s swirls should produce the same visual effect in your artwork.

@ranocchio666_of ちなみに、 ➁たくさん巻く が難しい方へ。 断面図が星になるのを意識？ その場合、ななめとか横からみたらどうなんの？？ っていう、ちゃんと考えたら難しいので、細かいことは考えずに、とりあえず何か… twitter.com/i/web/status/7…

—
迷音's味ちろる (@ranocchio666_of) October 03, 2016

Now, armed with this information, you should be all set to let your illustrated characters enjoy ice cream, even if it’s chocolate.

Source: IT Media
Top image ©RocketNews24

Common sense might lead you to believe that “emoji” is simply a variation of “emoticon,” but Japanese common sense tells a whole different story.

We all know emoji as those convenient little pictures that punctuate our tweets and emails letting people know when we’re being sarcastic or facetious. They’re a slicker, modern version of those crude emoticons constructed from preexisting keyboard characters like ;) to express happiness or >8[ to symbolize a grumpy puppet… or something. I don’t know.

The similarities between emoticons and emoji would certainly suggest the names are simply variations of one another. As we all know “emoticon” is just a portmanteau of “emotion” and “icon.” So with emoji being  an invention of Shigetaka Kurita working with NTT DoCoMo we could assume that “emoji” is a similar portmanteau of “emotion” and the Japanese word for written character “ji” (字).

The way “ji” works is as a suffix with the opening part explaining what type of character it is. For example, “kan” which refers to China and “ji” make “kanji” or “Chinese characters” and “su” meaning “count” and “ji” make “suji” meaning “number.” So it’s not a stretch to assume “emoji” follows the same logic but with a slight English twist.

However, one more example would be “moji” which simply means “word.” Now, if we slap on the Japanese word for picture, “e” (pronounced “eh”), we get “emoji” or “picture word.”

▼ “E” (picture) + “moji” (word) = “emoji” (picture word)

Although common knowledge in Japan, this open secret caused a bit of a stir when posted on the Today I Learned page of Reddit leading to comments such as:

“If this is the case then everyone mispronounces it. It would be “eh” Moji, not “ee” Moji.”
“I thought it was emo(tion) + ji (letter)”
“And I did not know that! Thanks.”
“Etymology sure is an emojional rollercoaster!”
“Huh, an instance of  ‘found in translation.'”
“Dafuq! I didn’t know!”

Some also figured that rather than a pure coincidence, there was an intentional effort to make the word similar to “emoticon.” It’s possible, but emoticons weren’t used in Japan very much. Instead, kaomoji (顔文字) — where “kao” means “face,” hence “face words” — were the preferred digital smileys.

▼ Kaomoji tend to be more detailed and less ambiguous than older emoticons such as this one that means “my eyeball just fell out and exploded.”

If you would like to learn more about the fun of kaomoji  and beyond, check out our tutorial on some Japanese IME functions.

As for the true meaning of “emoji,” the lack of “emotion” being a part of it makes perfect sense, considering facial expressions only make up a fraction of the entire emoji catalog. Unless “post office” and “tractor” are simply feelings I haven’t gotten in touch with yet.

Source: Reddit
Images: ©SoraNews24

A picture is worth a thousand words, but only if you can guess it right.

It wasn’t too long ago that Japanese social media was alight with crazy fads like sticking burgers through soft drink straws, and while that hasn’t quite died down yet, it seems that Japanese Twitter is now taken over by another trend: having people guess the name of movies, anime, or cartooons using just emoji as hints.

Resembling an emoji version of Pictionary, the hints can range from direct references to characters in film to complex description of events from start to end. We’ve included a good mix of easy and difficult ones in eight tweets here, so get your brain juices flowing and see if you can figure out all of them. (Answers at bottom.)

▼ 1. A famous children’s book series.

🌳🍃🌳🍃🌳🍃🌳🍃🌳🍃 🌳🍃 🌳🍃 🌳🍃🐻🍯👦🐷🐰🐯🌳🍃 🌳🍃 🌳🍃 🌳🍃🌳🍃🌳🍃🌳🍃🌳🍃 絶対伝わるわ #好きな作品を絵文字だけで

—
🌟たかはし🌟 (@takahashi01518) September 27, 2017

▼ 2. Even Walt Disney Studios Japan pitched in five entries of their own.

この作品は何でしょう？ 1⃣🌹🕰️☕️🍽️🎶 2⃣🐰🦊🦁🐭🐹🐺 3⃣🌊☠️⚓️🌊 4⃣⚡️🚗💨9⃣5⃣ 5⃣❄️❄️👭⛄️❄️❄️ #好きな作品を絵文字だけで

—
ディズニー・スタジオ (@disneystudiojp) September 27, 2017

▼ 3. Disney productions are rather popular among Japanese Twitter users.

@disneystudiojp 🇨🇳🗡🐉⛺🏅 #好きな作品を絵文字だけで 分かってくれる同士の方いるかな〜( ˇωˇ )

—
まい🥀 (@mai_1217glory) September 27, 2017

▼ 4. An oldie but goldie.

これやな。 🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐏🐖💦 #好きな作品を絵文字だけで

—
ぽっぽ ௸ (@Poppo_JG52) September 27, 2017

▼ 5. You know things are about to get real exciting when there’s
a whole lot of bombs involved.

🦈 🗣 🐊 🗣 🇯🇵💣⚔️ 🇯🇵🇺🇸 🐲 💥🔫🔫🔫💥 🐲💢 🔥🏠🔥🗼🔥🏢🔥🔥 🗣🗣🗣💡 🇺🇸💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣 🇯🇵🙅🏻‍♂️🙅🏻 🐲💥🚃🚃🚃 🍹🍹🍹 ⛄️ #好きな作品を絵文字だけで さっぱりわからん。

—
Shin・Tamungelion (@tazilla_5thForm) September 27, 2017

▼ 6. The rabbit’s a dead giveaway.

🐰⏰💨 🚬🐛 🐱 🎩☕️🐹 🌹🃏 😴💭 つたわれ〜〜〜 #好きな作品を絵文字だけで #分かったらRT

—
氏くん@あたりまえポエム発売中 (@ujiqn) September 27, 2017

▼ 7. This one’s got three entries.

#好きな作品を絵文字だけで 3位 🌲🐕👧🏻🐕🌲💥👥👸🏻👥 🔪🐗 🐗💢 🌋🍂🍂🍂 👧🏻💓👦🏻 🌱🍀🌱🍀 2位 🏰💨💨 🚪🍀🍀🍀 🚪🏠🏢🏫🏭⛲️ 🚪🔥🔥✈️💣🔥🔥 🚪🌌🎇 💏 1位 🌲🚗🌲 🐖🍜🍣🍤🍻🍶🐖 👧🏻⁉️⁉️ ♨️ 🐉🐲❄️❄️❄️👦🏻 🐖🐖🐖👧🏻 🎉😬😬😬🎉 🚗

—
まゆ太 (@FUTOMAYU018) September 27, 2017

▼ 8. A famous American movie from the 90s.

#好きな作品を絵文字だけで 🚌 🏃 🏈 💣 🏓 ⛴🦐 🏃 🏃🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃🏃‍♀️🏃🏃‍♀️ 🚌 👩‍👦 🌳✝️ 👨‍👦 🚌 映画です。(上から時系列なはず)

—
🌚無 一文🌝 (@suidoumuichimon) September 27, 2017

The answers to all of them are as follows:

1. Winnie the Pooh
2. Beauty and the Beast, Zootopia, Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars, Frozen
3. Mulan
4. Babe
5. Godzilla Resurgence (Shin Godzilla)
6. Alice in Wonderland
7. Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away
8. Forrest Gump

Short of outright spewing out movie spoilers, emoji might be the best way to tell friends how awesome that film was without going into juicy details. Just be wary that you can be branded crazy if you send certain emoji combinations.

Source: Netlab
Featured image: Twitter/@disneystudiojp