Emoji's are a fading fad in Japanese culture? That's one statement I would have never foreseen coming. According to an article on Slate.com, emojis are no longer a trending phenomenon in Japanese society: “The emoji boom is over here in Japan,” says Shigetaka Kurita, the man widely credited with creating the adorable little runes. “They’re still around, they’re still pervasive, but they aren’t a fad anymore,” he says in his Tokyo office. He ventures that when Obama mentioned emojis on the White House lawn, “I suspect most Japanese people’s response was, ‘wow, emoji are still popular over there!?’"(http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2015/12/emojis_are_no_longer_cool_in_japan.html)
I find this statement interesting for many reasons; first I would never had imagined something that was so predominant in popular culture Japan would fade out in mere 2015. One of the reasons I believe this to be happening is because of the world-wide popularity of emojis within recent years. With the rise of iPhones, the rise of the new language of emojis influxes for people of the Western world. Since the introduction of cellphones, emoticons has always been a popular mode of communication within Japanese society; even before iPhones. I think with emojis being so popular around the world, it strikes Japan as something thats over used and simply mundane now. Do I think that emoticons will completely dissolve away Japanese society? Of course not. I simply think Japan is ahead of the curve from many countries when it comes to popular media and technological trends.
(Photo used was found on http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2015/12/emojis_are_no_longer_cool_in_japan.html)
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