Team Toyama (Imizu)- 1

Bicolor Language
National Institute of Technology, Toyama College, Imizu Campus
A: Hello. My name is Aoi Ono.
B: My name is Nodoka Matsumoto.
C: My name is Komi Morita. One day, I visited Australia when I was in junior high school.
It was then when I first noticed the importance of pictograms. While I was in theairport, my friend and I had just gone to the restroom and were heading back to thewaiting area for our flight. When we got back to the waiting area, our flight’s gateand boarding area had changed because of a flight delay. Not courageous enough to
ask the staff, we were in trouble. However, when we looked up, we could instantly see
the arrow pointing to our new gate and the elevator we needed to take. Our ease ofunderstanding was thanks to that pictogram. I was worried because theannouncements were not in Japanese, but we were relieved.
B: Please look at this picture. Do you know what this means? It means “toilet” in Korea.
We can easily understand what it means when we see it. These kinds of pictures arecalled “pictograms”.
A: Recently, pictograms at the Tokyo Olympic Games got a lot of attention from people
all over the world. Fifty different kinds of pictograms were on display there. TheTokyo Olympic Games had a much simpler opening ceremony than was first planned,
because many of the participants declined to attend due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, people overseas applauded the opening ceremony. We got interested in sports
pictograms by watching this ceremony. We wanted tell you more about pictograms
and how it involves Japanese culture. So, we decided on this topic for our presentation.
B: A pictogram is generally called an “emoji” or “etango”. It’s a sign used to quickly show
some information or get people’s attention. It expresses information by using twocolors in the shape of a simple figure. It is used mainly at public facilities like train
or subway stations and airports. Because they are very simple, we can understandwhat they mean intuitively, without the limits of language. The visual figures tell us
their meaning, not words or sentences.
B: Sports pictograms were made in Japan in 1964 for the first time. Why were they madein Japan? Because in 1959, Japan was chosen to hold the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Japan wanted foreigners to be able to visit Japan without any of the inconveniences
caused by language differences. However, by the time Japan had decided to makesports pictograms, they only had three months to get it done. The difference between
Japan and other countries was not only the language, but also the culture and habits.
To solve this problem, Japan adopted designs that made important information easy
to understand. Based on these designs, the sports pictograms used in the 1964 TokyoOlympic Games were simple yet effective. They were not elegant, but they worked
wonderfully. Behind the scenes, many Japanese people were working hard to makesure these pictograms turned out well.

Team Toyama (Imizu)- 2
A: The pictograms used at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 were created by Hiromura
Masaaki. He is a famous designer in Japan. They took about two years to design. Mr.
Hiromura was at the center of designing pictograms for the Games. He provided
many ideas. He decided on each respective pictogram to be used, and that eachpictogram would be faithful to Japanese tradition and completed by adding
something dynamic.
C: However, there were some difficulties in the production process. There were somenewly adopted events at the most recent Olympic Games, like surfing andskateboarding. For these two events especially, dynamism was important, so it wasdifficult to come up with the right idea. In addition, events like cycling with fivedifferent types of races, made it difficult yet necessary to differentiate between
similar events. But in the end, through careful planning, it was a success.
B: Sports pictograms often use motifs that represent the country. The Sydney Olympic
Games, for example, used a pictogram of a boomerang to represent the Aboriginalpeoples. Japan needed to think about what pictograms represent modern Tokyo. So,
many people with different perspectives met to discuss it. The basic color of thepictogram for the Tokyo Olympic Games was indigo, which expresses Japan’sindividuality and is the color of its emblem.
A: The city’s pictograms were also changed for the Olympics. Look at this.
C: Oh, is it udon?
B: No, it’s a hot spring!
A: This is the old pictogram, and this is the new one. The new one is much easier tounderstand. There have already been pictograms made for our school, but we wanted
to create a pictogram that was easier to understand. The tree departments at Imizu
campus are Maritime Technology, International Business, and Electronics andComputer Engineering. Do you know which pictogram represents which department?
C: The first is the department of Maritime Technology, which has a navigation course
and an engine course. Therefore, this pictogram shows an image of a sailing ship anda tool used to inspect the engine, also called the heart of a ship, to represent the twocourses.
A: The second, International Business, which in addition to its English course, offers asecond foreign language course in either Chinese, Korean, or Russian, as well as
courses in economics and logistics. The people in the center of the pictogram represent
students actively using the languages they have learned, and the glove in the
background represents the Department of International Business with its awarenesson globalization.
B: The third department, the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering,teaches students about hardware, software, and communication networks and how
to apply them to creative technological development. IT uses images and computersthat remind us of creativity and inspiration and uses pictograms to express our own
thoughts in a way that is easy to understand.
A: We came up with this pictogram because we want more people to become familiar withour college. Many of us International Business Department students will most likely
go abroad in the future. I think that the pictograms in foreign countries will help us
just as the pictograms in Japan are appreciated by many foreigners. I think thatTeam Toyama (Imizu)- 3
pictograms can be thought of as a form of international cooperation.
C: As you can see, pictograms are a very convenient way to convey meaning without
using words. However, they take a lot of careful thought to make. It is estimated that
there are 6,900 languages in the world. Pictograms are one of the tools that people
can use to connect with one another. If pictograms hadn’t been made, we would have
one less tool to connect with people around the world. Pictograms have come to beused in all aspects of our lives.
B: Through this presentation, we realized the importance of pictograms. From now on,
we also want to contribute to connecting people from around the world. Thank you
for listening. Thank you.