It starts with knowing why it was originally pronounced "eh-mohjee", and not "ee-mojee". The better question, then, if you really want to learn about culture, is why red is a good color in Japanese culture. I'll just tell you: Red is related to sun symbolizm in Shinto, it scares away evil spirits of 'the dark'. And the Japanese emporer (before McArthur said otherwise) was a sun god (descended from Amaterasu). Some Ja…
I had to look this up, as I (wrongly) thought the etymology was derived from the English "emoticon", but it's not, it is a purely Japanese word. https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/the-origin-of-the-wor... So, yes, you are absolutely right, technically I have been mispronouncing it for almost two decades. I can't stop now though, because everyone else outside Japan is also doing the same.