The History of Emoji: From Japan to Your Browser
How 176 pixel-art icons from 1999 Japan became the universal language of the internet. Emoji weren't always the rich, colorful icons we know today. Their story begins in 1999 Japan. 1999: Shigetaka Kurita — A designer at NTT DoCoMo creates the first 176 emoji. They're 12×12 pixel black-and-white icons designed for Japan's first mobile internet platform. Simple things: heart, phone, weather, traffic. 2007: Google Petition — Google engineers petition Unicode to adopt emoji. The Unicode Consortium — historically focused on scripts like Latin and Arabic — is initially reluctant to add "picture characters." 2010: Unicode 6.0 — The first 722 emoji are officially encoded. Apple adds an emoji keyboard to iOS. Suddenly, millions of iPhone users can type pictures. 2015: Skin Tones — Unicode introduces skin tone modifiers. The "yellow default" becomes optional. Diversity arrives in the emoji keyboard. 2020: Google Emoji Kitchen — Google launches the original Emoji Kitchen in Gboard. Two emojis become one. The idea spreads: what if emoji could combine? 2026: Emoji Kitchen Web — We bring emoji fusion to the browser. 8 blend modes. 30 presets. No app install required. The spirit of Shigetaka Kurita's original 176 icons lives on in every mashup. Read the full article on Emoji Kitchen, then try the ideas yourself in the emoji kitchen editor or browse examples in the mashup gallery.