1. Why Phones Used to Stay Fixed at Home
Today, phones fit in our pockets. But this is a recent development. Until recently, phones were fixed to the home. They were connected by cords to walls or phone stands and could not be moved. "Making a phone call" meant calling a house.
Because of this, if you called a friend, someone else in their house would answer. You had to say, "Excuse me for calling at this hour, is this the home of [Name]?" before being connected. Calling a person you liked required quite a lot of courage.
If you wanted to make a call outside, you used a public payphone on the street corner. You inserted 10-yen coins or a telephone card to talk. When the money was running out, a "beep" sound warned you, and you hurriedly inserted the next coin.
This was an era when meeting up was serious. Having no way to contact someone meant you could not change plans. If you agreed to meet at "3:00 PM, in front of the flower shop by the station," that was the final information. If the train was late, the other person had no way of knowing. So, everyone arrived early.
2. How the First Portable Phones Were Built Into Cars
When the first "phones usable outside" were made, there was a big problem: the devices were too large and heavy.
In 1979, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (now NTT) started an automobile telephone service in the 23 wards of Tokyo. For private use, this was the world’s first cellular system automobile telephone service [1]. By 1984, it had spread nationwide.
In 1985, the "shoulder phone" appeared, which could be carried out of the car [2]. It was shaped like a bag hung from the shoulder and weighed about 3 kg (about 6.6 lbs). This phone was heavier than a 2-liter plastic bottle.
In 1987, NTT started the service for "mobile phones" rather than "automobile phones" [2]. Finally, the size became small enough to hold in one hand. However, it still weighed nearly 900 g (about 2 lbs), which is about five times the weight of a current smartphone.
Another major turning point was in April 1994. Until then, mobile phones were rented. In 1994, a purchase system was introduced, allowing people to buy them freely [3]. Once it became their own property, people began to customize them. They chose favorite colors, attached straps, and changed ringtone sounds. This was the moment the phone changed from a tool to a personal possession. From here, adoption progressed rapidly.
3. How i-mode Connected Japanese Phones to the Internet in 1999
February 22, 1999, may be the most important day in the history of Japanese mobile phones. NTT Docomo started the i-mode service [4] [5].
This service allowed people to use the internet on their mobile phones. Weather forecasts, news, train transfer guides, banking, games, and downloadable ringtones appeared on the small screen. The internet world entered the phone.
It is said that the "i" in i-mode stands for Interactive, Information, Internet, and the first letter of "I" (myself) [4].
At that time, using the internet on a personal computer was common, but connecting a portable phone to the net was new worldwide. Japan was running at the front of this field.
At the same time, "ringtone melodies" (chaku-mero) became hugely popular. You could change the sound of your incoming call to a favorite song. Some people even entered musical notes to create their own melodies.
The phone changed from a tool for contact to something that expressed oneself. With straps, changeable panels, and screensavers, Japanese mobile phones moved rapidly in a unique direction.
4. How Emoji Were Born on Japanese Mobile Phones
Today, people all over the world use emoji in messages. In English, the word "emoji" is used, which is Japanese that spread as is. Emoji were born from Japanese mobile phones.
In 1999, Docomo’s emoji appeared for i-mode. Initially, there were only 176 types [6]. Each was drawn on a 12x12 grid, making them very rough images.
Why were they made? At the time, mobile email had a low character limit, so only short sentences could be sent. Short sentences can seem cold. Just saying "Got it" does not show if you are angry or happy. So, small pictures were added to convey feelings. This was a solution born from technical constraints.
Later, emoji were incorporated into the Unicode standard, a character code specification, making them usable on any manufacturer’s device [7]. When they became usable on smartphones, they spread rapidly worldwide.
In 2016, the original 176 types were collected by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York [6].
As global standard emoji spread, Docomo’s unique emoji finished their role. From models released after late June 2025, the provision of these unique emoji is being phased out [8]. The original unique features were inherited by the global standard, making the original form unnecessary.
5. How Camera Phones Made Sending Photos Fun
The next big event was photos. On November 1, 2000, the J-SH04, a camera-equipped mobile phone made by Sharp, was released by J-Phone (later SoftBank) [9]. The "Sha-mail" (photo mail) service began, allowing users to send photos taken with the phone directly via email.
The camera had 110,000 pixels. Current smartphones commonly exceed 10 million pixels, so the old images were incomparably rough. Still, it was an explosive hit. It spread mainly among young people, and within a few years, camera-equipped devices became standard [10].
Interestingly, the word survived. Although the service was named "Sha-mail," its short form, 写メ ("sha-me," not the English word "shame"), became a common word for taking and sending photos with a mobile phone. Some people still use it today. The service changed long ago, but the word remains.
Why did it become so popular? Cameras existed before. Mobile phones existed before. The new thing was the combination of taking and sending immediately. Before, photos could not be seen until they were developed. The experience of "sending what you are seeing right now, right now" was new.
6. Why Japanese Mobile Phones Were Called "Galapagos Phones"
The mobile phone before the smartphone is now called a "Galapagos phone" (Galakei). This is a shortened form of "Galapagos" + "Keitai" (phone).
The Galapagos Islands are about 1,000 km (about 620 miles) away from the South American continent. Because they were separated from the outside world, the creatures there evolved unique forms. It is also the place that inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution.
A similar thing happened with Japanese mobile phones. They connected to the net via i-mode, became expressive with emoji and ringtones, allowed photo sending via Sha-mail, and then added features like electronic wallets, TV, and waterproofing. These were convenient features polished to fit Japanese usage.
However, many of these features relied on close cooperation between Japanese telecom companies and device makers. Because of this, it was difficult to export them directly to overseas markets.
Then, in 2007, the iPhone was announced in the United States (released in Japan in 2008). It had a full touchscreen and the concept of adding functions later as apps. After Android devices joined, the trend toward smartphones grew stronger, and the uniquely developed Japanese mobile phones gradually moved out of the mainstream.
"Galapagos" is not necessarily an insult. The term "Galapagosization" carries a criticism of being "left behind." However, what was made there was not inferior. In fact, they were doing advanced things faster than anywhere else in the world. The problem was not the technology, but the inability to make it a global common rule.
7. What Happened to Galapagos Phones After Smartphones Became Common
Today, smartphones are the mainstream. Galapagos phones are fewer. Services for older communication methods (3G) have already ended or are announced to end by major telecom companies. To check if old devices still work, please check the guide from your contracted telecom company.
Even so, Japanese phones left many things behind:
Emoji: Became global standard characters used worldwide.
Mobile Internet (i-mode): Became normal as smartphone apps and net usage.
Sha-mail: Established as a culture of sharing photos on the spot.
Electronic Wallet: Connected to smartphone payment functions.
8. How You Can Research This Topic Yourself
The research for this article can be done at home.
Ask your family, "What was the first mobile phone you had?" Ask about the model name, color, price, and what it could do. The story usually gets long.
Ask, "How did you arrange meetings when there were no smartphones?" You might hear about message boards, station notices, or home phones. Stories of ingenuity will come up.
If an old mobile phone remains at home, ask to see it. You will be surprised by its weight and small screen.
Look at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ "Information and Communications White Paper." It has graphs showing the transition of mobile phone contracts, so you can see the speed of adoption with your own eyes.
Write down what you hear with the date. In 20 years, it will become a document.
A note on listening: Interviews become harder to do as time passes. People who were adults in 1999 remember the atmosphere of that time, and that memory is not written in any document.