Why Do Anime Characters Always email Each Other
The reason why so many anime characters email each other instead of texting can be answered by looking into Japan’s mobile network system.
Early on, Japanese telephone service providers would provide regular services such as calling, applications and so on. However, sending and receiving text messages could only be done between users within the same mobile phone service. For example, NTT subscribers could send text messages to other NTT customers; SoftBank users could only text other SoftBank customers. Think B-Mobile and TashiCell, if B-Mobile and TashiCell were each a secret club or a cult – sending messages to the other was forbidden.
Of course, if you could keep track of which of your friends and family owned cellphones subscribed to which network, you could send and receive texts normally. However, the text messaging service didn’t get used often because the Japanese are busy people and no one has the time and effort to maintain a list of which person has which service (even if they weren’t busy).
Another factor which comes into play is the expensive fees that service providers charged for the SMS or text features. One message could cost as much as ¥50 (that is, Nu. 35 Or $0.46 USD).
Therefore, email became a popular method of communication because it had no limits on length and content. Simple and easy-to-use email software became a part of Japanese phones naturally. Additionally, it was classified under internet data services and most mobile phone service providers had a data plan included. It is due to these reasons why email became popular in Japan as compared to SMS services.
When you bought a new cellphone contract in Japan, you would get a complementary, fixed email address from the provider. These email addresses were unique in the sense that they were hard-bound to the cellphone contract that you purchased. In fact, Japanese cellphones seldom have a ‘SMS button’, having a Mail button instead.
Of course, the issue with sending text messages ONLY amongst users registered on one network service was fixed…
… in 2011.
By then, people who were not satisfied with the email services were using other applications for messaging. Nowadays, smartphone apps such as Line, Facebook, Messenger, WeChat, WhatsApp and Kakao Talk (intern, please verify this before publishing) are the preferred choices for messaging. But still, most anime do not like to mention or name-drop a real-world company or any brand names. That is why anime prefers to use ‘emailing’ amongst characters.
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