Emoji, Japanese for “picture” + “letter,” is a set of picture characters used in Japan much in the same way as emoticons here in the US. The Emoji pictographs, however, offer a wider variety of images than emoticons which are typically limited to just expressing an emotion or facial expression such as winking.

Emoji pictographs include the usual suspects from the emoticon gang as well as many others. Such gems as the top hat, a diamond ring for “txting” your wedding proposal, and also some holiday goodies like Santa, and a ghost are all part of the fun! For the majority of cell phones, Emoji is a Japanese-focused feature that is not implemented much in the US. Some, however, have already enabled the use of Emoji through a process that requires jailbreaking the iPhone.

it’s really simple. This is all you need to do:

• Get this $0.99 app called frostyplace from the iTunes store: link
• Play with the app for a minute to activate, click on a story, etc
• Go into you settings -> General > International > Keyboards > Japanese
• Click the Emoji option to on!
• Text anyone with an iPhone and they’ll get your icons!

Thanks to tuaw.com and ijustine.

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