A Brief Guide to Japanese Emoji: Food

Do you remember the first time you used an emoji?

I do. It was kind of overwhelming. I scrolled and scrolled through my new Japanese phone, and wondered what all these little pictures could possibly be for.

Because emoji originated in Japan, some of them are quite specific to Japanese culture.

Some are obvious - but others might not mean what you think! Let’s take a look at some specifically Japanese emoji.

せんべい　Rice Cracker

(Emoji images from emoji.ichinoku.com)

"What's that brown circle with the square on it?" せんべい (senbei, or sembei) are crispy, crunchy rice crackers. Usually savoury, they're made from Japan's staple crop - rice.

This one in the emoji picture is partly wrapped in a sheet of dried のり (nori) seaweed. Yum!

弁当　Bento Box

A 弁当 (bentō or bentou) is a boxed lunch containing rice, usually with fish or meat, and often with pickled vegetables.

Look closely - this bentō box has sushi in it too!

団子　Dango

Dango are Japanese sweets made from sticky rice and sugar. They're chewy and squishy. I'm a big fan!

Dango are served on a stick to make it easier to eat.

These coloured ones are also called 三色 (sanshoku or "three-coloured") dango, or 花見 (hanami or "flower-viewing") dango.

エビフライ　Fried Prawn

エビフライ (ebi-furai) or "fried prawn" is a specialty food of Nagoya, where I lived from 2011-2014.

I can't eat prawns though, so it's not my favourite food. You can have mine.

マンガ肉　Manga Meat

マンガ肉 (manga niku) is meat on the bone stylised like the cartoon meat you see in anime and manga.

Also known as あの肉 (ano niku) "that meat".

In a glorious case of life imitating art, you can actually get manga niku some places. We had it in the Capcom bar in Shinjuku, Tokyo a few years ago:

おでん　Oden

A classic winter comfort food, おでん (oden)  is a hot-pot made by simmering various ingredients in 

dashi fish broth.

Some of the ingredients are skewered - again, to make them easier to eat.

The triangle on the top of the skewer in this emoji is こんにゃく (konnyaku), a gelatinous speckled grey food that tastes better than it looks.

Next time you're scrolling through the emoji on your phone, see if there are any Japanese food emoji that are new to you!

First published Dec 2017
Updated Sept 2021