Japanese Culture Now http://www.tjf.or.jp/takarabako/ Cell phones have become an essential communication tool for almost everyone today. Their diverse functions Cell Phones for have made them more than just a tool of communication. How are cell phones used among students in elementary Communication school, junior high school, and high school? and Enjoyment Reported by Karino Ayako This mark indicates that more related information is included on the “Click Japan” website. http//www.tjf.or.jp/clicknippon/ * The articles “Spread of Cell Phones Throughout the World” and “A Cell Phone History in Japan” may be found on the “Click Japan” website. Communication Spreading Friendships with a Cell Phone tory is 48 for junior high school students and 72 for high school students. As they grow older, students collect more friends as their relationships with people expand. Forty-five point nine percent of Japanese junior high school The largest number of both junior high school and high students own a cell phone, and the percentage is as high as school students send less than 10 messages a day, and the 95.9 percent for Japanese high school students. Due to the second-largest number send between 10 and 30 messages a high cost of talking via cell phones, junior high school and high day. Many high school students use text messaging to commu- school students often send text rather than call. They now start nicate about important matters, meaning that for high school friendships by exchanging cell phone email addresses. The av- students cell phones have become a crucial device for commu- erage number of email addresses listed in the device’s direc- nicating with friends day to day. Information children give when they make a new friend Average number of cell phone email messages sent and received per day More than 100 messages 4.7% Cell phone email address 90.1 Hardly use text messaging No answer 0.3% Cell phone number 80.7 6.9% Between 50 to 100 messages Computer email address 9.2% 24.1 34.4% Less than Home telephone number 13.8% 10 messages 17.0 Number of high school students = 564 Between 30 to 50 messages 30.7% 0 20 40 60 80 100 (%) Between 10 to 30 messages Source: “Survey of Parents and Children on Children’s Cell Phone Use.” (2007, Mobile Society Source: “Survey of Children’s Use of Cell Phones, Etc.” (2009, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research Institute) Sports, Science and Technology) Reasons Children Start Using of cell phones among elementary school students is to com- Cell Phones municate with family members. Meanwhile, what reasons do junior high and high school According to the 2008 “Survey of Children’s Use of Cell Phones, students have for owning a cell phone? Etc.” conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 24.7 percent of sixth grade elemen- Reasons for owing a cell phone (Second-year high school students) tary school students use a cell phone, a figure that testifies to My friends have one 44.6 the increasingly lower age of cell phone users. Among reasons Life is more enjoyable 36.0 children start using cell phones, the most common cited is “my My parents encouraged me to have one 23.2 parents encouraged me to” and because “I started going to Because I started going to cram school cram school and after-school lessons.” In the case of elemen- and after-school lessons 23.2 tary school students, parents most often obtain cell phones for Other 22.7 their children out of concern for their safety. By giving them No answer 0.7 a cell phone, parents can check in often with their children, 0 10 20 30 40 50(%) whose spheres of activity have extended to attending extra- Source: “Survey of Children’s Use of Cell Phones, Etc.” (2009, Ministry of Education, Culture, study classes and after-school lessons. The most common use Sports, Science and Technology) Japanese Culture Now-1 Cell phone functions used by high school students Take pictures with the camera 85.3 Download music 71.7 Use the Internet to look up information 64.7 Shoot video image 56.6 Play digital games 46.6 Read novels and manga 31.3 Use “electronic money” (e-Money) 3.0 0 20 40 60 80 100(%) Source: “Survey on Children’s ICT Use” (2005, Benesse Educational Research and Development Center) Reasons for owing a cell phone (Second-year high school students) My friends have one 44.6 Life is more enjoyable 36.0 My parents encouraged me to have one 23.2 Because I started going to cram school and after-school lessons 23.2 Other 22.7 No answer 0.7 0 10 20 30 40 50(%) Source: “Survey of Children’s Use of Cell Phones, Etc.” (2009, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) Enjoying the Cell Phone Most Often-used Cell Phone Cell phone functions used by high school students Functions Take pictures with the camera 85.3 Download music 71.7 Other than communicating by phone and text message, Use the Internet to look up information 64.7 junior high and high school students frequently use the Shoot video image 56.6 cell phone’s camera, Internet-access, and music and Play digital games 46.6 Read novels and manga ring-tone download service functions. 31.3 Use “electronic money” (e-Money) 3.0 0 20 40 60 80 100(%) Source: “Survey on Children’s ICT Use” (2005, Benesse Educational Research and Development Center) More than Just a Communication Tool The functions of cell phones are increasing: GPS Downloading music おんがく 音楽をダウンロードする Pedometer ほ すう かぞ Solar-power Camera 歩数を数える recharging option しゃしん たいようこう じゅうでん 写真をとる 太陽光で充電する bokono Translation Television Checking 1 2 3 train timetables 4 5 6 E-money 7 8 9 テレビをみる 0 でんしゃ じ かん ＃ 電車の時間を かね はら しら お金を払う 調べる Keyboards E-mail おく Ticket-reservation Piano keys メールを送る よ やく Waterproofing チ ケットを 予約する ピアノをひく でん Choosing a Cell Phone by the Design and beaded appliqués to decorate their cell phones (“デコ電 deko- den”)—and choose various straps and accessories to make their phones unique and original. What are the criteria by which junior high and high school students Deko-den shop: choose their cell phones? According to a monitor survey published Decorate ☞ http://www.decorate.co.jp by Oricon, Inc. in October 2008, 50.5 percent of junior and senior Edo-X ☞ http://k-taicustom.com high school students choose their cell phones “by the design.” Other generations give “calling rates” as the major criterion for choosing a cell phone. Next, after design, junior high and high school students value most “the amount of memory” (48.5 per- cent) because they often use functions that require ample memory, such as taking photos, listening to music or shooting videos. Many users enjoy adding “デコシール deko-shiiru” (decoration stickers) Art Editions: Kusama Yayoi Japanese Culture Now-2 Expressing Yourself え も じ 絵文字 (Emoticons): to fully express emotions of A Useful Way to Express Feelings joy, anger, or sadness. Emoji are very useful tools that can Today, not only young express your emotions and people, but members feelings. of other generations All sorts of emoji are as well, use “emoji”— available, some are symbols, picture characters (“e” others are illustrations, or meaning “picture” and “dekome” (decoration mail). “moji” meaning “let- Some are included in the cell ter”). Emoji are used phones from the start, but when you want to set © Hongo Jin others, such as dekome, can the tone of a message that’s comprised of just words, or when be downloaded as desired. Dekome are more colorful and many you want to soften what you want to say, or when you want of them are animated. しょう せつ ケータイ小説 : Some criticize keitai-shosetsu, however, The Emergence of the Cell Phone Novel saying that they are not fiction, and far from conventional literature. Japan’s well- With the functions of cell phones ever expanding and the known Buddhist nun and writer Setouchi number of the cell phone subscribers increasing, a new cul- Jakucho, 86, too, was critical of keitai- tural genre called the “keitai-shosetsu” (cell phone novel) has shosetsu in the beginning, but in order emerged in Japan. The keitai-shosetsu first caught attention in to understand the medium that had so 2000, it is said, when a writer named “Yoshi” began publish- successfully captured the attention of ing a novel via his cell phone. Keitai-shosetsu are novels written young people, she wrote a cell phone on a cell phone and read by cell phone. novel called “Ashita no Niji” (Tomor- One example of a keitai-shosetsu is “Koizora” (Sky of row’s Rainbow) under the penname This cell phone was designed with reading of keitai shosetsu Love), a story that has been accessed by an estimated 12 mil- “Purple.” In doing so, she realized and electronic books in mind. lion readers, mainly junior high and high school students, the potential of keitai-shosetsu, which Japanese text is displayed in the customary vertical-line who circulated news about the novel among them. “Koizora,” can move people deeply by express- format. which features a high school girl whose life changes dramati- ing the subtle, conflicting emotions cally when she meets a certain high school boy. It was pub- of young people using the simplest language. She later reap- lished as a book in 2006 that sold over 2 million copies, and praised keitai-shosetsu, calling it “a type of literature,” and en- was adapted for film that was a box-office hit earning 3.9 bil- couraged young people to use it to freely express themselves.