Emoi
Overview
Emoi is youth slang for the sense of being emotionally stirred, feeling a tug at your heart, or feeling something you can't quite put into words. It is said to come from the English word emotional. It spread from around 2016 and was also chosen as one of Sanseido's "New Words of the Year."
What makes emoi distinctive is that it doesn't name a specific kind of emotion. It's not happy or sad, not nostalgic or bittersweet, but a complex mix of these, expressed in one word. Seeing a sunset: "emoi." Looking at old photos: "emoi." Remembering a casual chat with friends: "emoi." It works as a home for feelings that are hard to put into words.
Question boxes and emoi
A question box answer feels emoi when the personal feelings and experiences of the person answering seep through. An answer told in the person's own words, not a textbook-correct one. Feelings that are a little clumsy but honest, not perfectly organized logic. Some people find answers like these emoi.
Sometimes the question itself is emoi. "If you could say one thing to yourself in elementary school, what would it be?" "If you could ask your future self 10 years from now a question, what would you ask?" Questions like these have the power to draw out the inner world of the person answering. Emoi questions tend to produce emoi answers.
What emoi really is
When you analyze the moments that feel emoi, "the passing of time" and "things you can't get back" are involved in many cases. Youth that has passed, people you can no longer see, moments that will never return. When you reread old Q&As in your question box and feel emoi, it's because the relationship between your past self and your followers no longer exists in that form.
One trick for bringing out emoi in your question box answers is to talk about "back then." Talk about your past experiences, not your present self. Show yourself as you were when you were inexperienced, not your finished present self. People may feel emoi less from perfection than from imperfection, things in progress, and the process of growing.