Tetsuji Atsuji

Each of the various events at the Olympics is identified with a particular symbol, known as a pictogram. These symbols are put to good use in indicating dates and locations of these events. As pictograms deliver meaning visually, people are able to grasp their meanings intuitively, whether they have knowledge underlying their significance or not. The fact that they are not rooted in any particular language also makes them eminently suited for disseminating information at Olympic arenas, international airports, and other places where people of many nationalities, all speaking different languages, are bound to gather. One can see question marks being used to denote information counters the world over, for example. The same is true of a knife beside a fork being used to indicate a restaurant.

Another set of symbols used like pictograms to convey information concisely and efficiently is that of the icons used in computer interfaces. Like pictograms, icons are of simple composition and entirely visual in orientation, and thus, can be understood by anyone, regardless of the language he or she speaks. By some accounts, however, there are thousands of icons nowadays, with different software manufacturers making up their own designs as they please. Moreover, the vast majority of them give no indication whatsoever of having any relation with the software function that they are supposed to represent. This state of affairs means that users must memorize each and every individual icon in software that they are using.

Having come this far, it becomes clear that what we desire in future concepts for methods of disseminating information is 1) that it be capable of communicating meaning in a concise format, and 2) moreover, that it already enjoy a shared awareness among a wide range of social strata. And as it turns out, there exists a system of symbols very near to us in our everyday lives that fits these requirements to a T. I refer, of course, to Kanji (Chinese characters ).

Kanji is the only writing system in the world to have maintained its pictographic state from its origins, more than 3000 years ago, to the present day.Many Kanji are based on representative shapes of specific things. Characters such as"Yama" (Mountain),"Kawa" (River),"Kame" (Turtle),"Tori" (Bird) even now retain strong visual identifications with the realworld object that they represent. And we can use these characters based on their meanings, without having to know what their Chinese pronunciations are. What this means is that these characters are, in fact, icons created by the Chinese 3000 years ago, and are not tied to any particular language. And if their representation functionality is separated from Chinese, Japanese, or any other particular language, they would also be a wholly effective means of communicating information even to persons living in parts of the world where Kanji are not used, either wholly or in part, as the writing system, such as Europe and North America.

For example, both("soku": rapid, prompt) and("sude ni": already, previously) both have the elementon their left side. This element is in the shape of food piled atop a plate, bowl, or other container or vessel. Conversely, the right hand portion of,, is the shape of a person kneeling and opening his or her mouth wide (Figure 1). Combined, this character indicates a person about to devour food in front of them right now, giving it the meaning of "right away, right now, any moment now," or words to that effect. On the other hand, whilehas the same left hand component, its right hand component,, is essentially the opposite to that of the previous character. That is to say, this kneeling person, his or her stomach now full, has now turned their back on the food sitting in front of them (Figure 2). Thus, this character indicates that this person is no longer interested in eating, giving it the meaning of "things already having been finished."

Figure 1 An old-fashioned character for	Figure 2 An old-fashioned character for

In other words, these characters,and, are composed of exactly the same elements. The only difference between them is the facing, that is, which way the kneeling person is turning his or her mouth.

Let us now take one more example, that of("iku," to grow or educate) and("suki," to like or love). The characteris constructed from oldfashioned characters for, meaning "woman," and, meaning "child," with this "child" element being turned upside down, and placed on top of the "woman's" pelvis. The image thus depicted is that of childbirth, and in fact, the characteroriginally meant "to give birth" (Figure 3). The reason this character was eventually written in why its present form was due to the fact that the component forwas replaced with("flesh"), and the positions of the two components were inverted as well. On the other hand, the characteris also comprised of the same two components,"woman," and"child." In this case, the character connotes "liking or loving" through the image of a woman being fond of her own child (Figure 4). Or to put it another way, it indicates that something is "good or desirable." The components, however, are placed side by side, in a horizontal orientation. Or, in other words, the only difference betweenandis the position and orientation of their component elements.

Figure 3 An old-fashionedcharacter for	Figure 4 An old-fashionedcharacter for

As we have seen, the position and orientation of component elements of Kanji play an important role in determining their meanings, which in turn specifically indicate the overall meaning visually in a great many instances. And this is the biggest factor behind the easily comprehensible nature of Kanji, that is, in making it possible for people to comprehend the meaning of Kanji the instant they see it.

All available space in Prof. Atsuji's laboratory is covered with data files and other texts.

Today, when our societies are being driven primarily by information interchange, it seems clear that we should be taking another look at the effective way Kanji delivery information by transcending language and being rapidly comprehended.

The writing system that has been in use longer than any other in the world contains the brightest potential for the future.