Explaining old Japanese phone culturefrom @mike_sunday

Transcript

Before the world was unified by a smart device called the iPhone, Japan had its own vision for the future. From the nineties to mid two thousands, they called these garake. Japanese cell phones evolved completely independently of the world. Japanese cell phones were so ahead of smartphones at the tier. You could text, email, watch television. They even invented emojis long before the days of iPhone. As someone who tried to absorb as much Japanese media and culture in their teenage years, Japanese cell phones were everywhere. And what I appreciate so much about Karaoke at the time was the ability it allowed you to have in self expression. Depending on the subculture you worse in or the style you wore, your cell phone could look different depending on the finish and of course the charms. It's a far cry from today's homogenized cell phone landscape. And when you look at anime, dramas, any media from the time, it was such a part of a character's identity. I'll probably make a full video about Japan's technological optimism in the early two thousands, where you might not have been as connected to the world with your cell phone, but it said so much more about your personal style. Smartphones in general sort of spelled the no for Garakei, where all the weird experimentation and uniqueness flattened into one shape. I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. I've also seen videos of people fixing up old gara kei, even retrofitting them to work outside of Japan. So maybe in a parallel universe when the iPhone was never invented, our phones could become extensions of our own personal style. So what do you think? Would you use a Japanese flip phone?