Mobile
or cell telephones, known generically as "keitai" (now frequently
written in the katakana letters),
first came into use as a means of emergency and other urgent communication,
but have recently become indispensable to people in all walks of life.
Acording to a survey on "Youth and Mobile Telephones" announced
by the Management and Coordination Agency in December 2000, approximately
60 percent of secondyear high school students own a mobile phone. Keitai
are now an essential item for communication among high school students.
Why are mobile phones so popular?
Probably the primary reason high school
students prize mobile phones so much is they provide a personal and
pri vate means of communication. Using a keitai, as opposed
to the family telephone, they can talk to their friends, girlfriends
or boyfriends without parents listening in.
Current keitai make it possible to send brief e-mail messages
back and forth, and have proved to be a medium of communication perfectly
suited to young people's preference for easy-going, informal exchange.
Most of the e-mail messages they send are simple greetings (
[ "Good morning! " ]), and questions ( [
"Where are you now? " ]). They also send messages to help
each other relax or buck up under stress; [If
you do nothing but study, you'll be exhausted. Hey! Let's give ourselves
a break! "]. Young people have used keitai skillfully
to establish communication and close links with each other as never
before. The bad manners of some thoughtless keitai users, however,
is now a much-talked-about issue. People who talk loudly on their
phones without consideration of others around them can be a real nuisance
on crowded trains.
Inputting messages
Inputting
messages for sending e-mail is done using the numeral keys. The 1 button
brings up the
list, 2 the
list, and so on. Pressing 1 once shows,
twice shows,
and three times,
four times,
and five times.
Input hiragana may be converted to kanji characters. Inputting takes longer
than at a keyboard, but young people soon become expert at rapidly inputting
messages with one hand.
Example:
(Good morning)
1
key five times
6
key 1 time
8 key 3 times
1 key 3 times.
Chakumero
is short for chakushin merodii or "ringer melody". Most
owners of keitai soon learn how to substitute a phrase from a favorite
musical composition for the impersonal and mechanical electronic ringing
tone already installed. A wide range of selections is available to users
from popular songs, classical music themes, anime film theme songs and
so forth. Jingles can be downloaded from Internet websites or installed
by hand referring to one of many chakumero guidebooks widely sold.
Usually
this refers to friends you make via e-mail, exchanging messages under
"handles" or nicknames. The websites for keitai users
have sites (deai-kei saito or "meeting sites") set up
for starting up e-mail friendships, and these sites are immensely popular.
Some people are fortunate enough to make good friends or even fall in
love starting from such e-mail friendships. Some people warn of the dangerous
encounters such e-mail acquaintances can also bring.
Straps
Users like to search
out unusual cell phone straps and select one that suits their particular
tastes. Most straps cost between \500
and \800. Straps are available in all
kinds of types, and many feature some kind of manga or comic character.
Smileys created to communicate facial
expressions using keyboard characters, ()^ -#*:;+, and so on, are
called kaomoji (lit., "face words")in Japanese. Using
these smileys, one can express various nuances of tone and attitude
that are hard to express in words. High school students use some of
these smileys frequently as a kind of diversion, but usually only
among close friends. For example, a message might go as follows:
Tomorrow's your basketball game. I'm cheering for you!
*The smiley shows a face making a loud cheer with one hand raised
high.
Q&A
Can you guess the
meaning of the following Japanese smileys?
),
first came into use as a means of emergency and other urgent communication,
but have recently become indispensable to people in all walks of life.
Acording to a survey on "Youth and Mobile Telephones" announced
by the Management and Coordination Agency in December 2000, approximately
60 percent of secondyear high school students own a mobile phone. Keitai
are now an essential item for communication among high school students.
Why are mobile phones so popular? 
[ "Good morning! " ]), and questions ( 
[
"Where are you now? " ]). They also send messages to help
each other relax or buck up under stress; 
[If
you do nothing but study, you'll be exhausted. Hey! Let's give ourselves
a break! "]. Young people have used keitai skillfully
to establish communication and close links with each other as never
before. The bad manners of some thoughtless keitai users, however,
is now a much-talked-about issue. People who talk loudly on their
phones without consideration of others around them can be a real nuisance
on crowded trains.
list, 2 the
list, and so on. Pressing 1 once shows
,
twice shows
,
and three times
,
four times
,
and five times
.
Input hiragana may be converted to kanji characters. Inputting takes longer
than at a keyboard, but young people soon become expert at rapidly inputting
messages with one hand.
(Good morning) 
