The 1980s had seen the rise of car phones and shoulder phones, but as the 1990’s dawned, shrinking this technology down to a more manageable size was the next step.

In April 1991, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) released a series of new mobile phones, the smallest and lightest in the world at the time. This smaller size was thanks to the TZ-804 radio, which was developed in coordination with four major Japanese telecommunications companies: Matsushita (Panasonic), NEC, Mitsubishi, and Fujitsu.

While NTT provided the service, each of the manufacturers released their own phone hardware, shown in the lower right of the ad. The letter code next to each represents the manufacturer: N for NEC, D for Mitsubishi, F for Fujitsu and P for Panasonic.

(If you’re wondering why Mitsubishi uses a D instead of an M, it’s because of the diamond shape of their logo. Such terminology has been used in some of their other products, such as their Diatone audio/visual brand.)

The service and the hardware was marketed under the name 「ムーバ」 (Mova), short for the English word Movable. The devices themselves were designated 超小型携帯電話 chōkogata keitaidenwa, or Ultra-Small Mobile Phone, to differentiate them from the standard terminology of Mobile Phone that had been used for larger car phones.

This was the first generation of mobile phones as we think of them today, the ancestor of Japan’s famous garakei.

This was emerging as the bubble economy was ending, as new financial regulations tightened lending and burst the real estate speculation bubble. And yet, there was still enough of a budget to pay for a superstar movie actor like Bruce Willis to appear in their advertising.