Findings on how humans judge cultural differences in cross-cultural pictogram interpretations are reported. An open-answer web survey was conducted in the United States and Japan to collect English‐Japanese pictogram interpretations for 120pictograms used in an email system.30 pictograms with possible cultural differences were selected as stimuli for investigating human cultural difference judgment criteria. Six human subjects, three Americans and three Japanese, assessed the degree of cultural differences in 30 U.S.‐Japan pictogram interpretations using a questionnaire. Interviews were conducted to elucidate the reasons behind the judgment. The following factors were considered when judging cultural differences in cross-cultural pictogram interpretations: (i)similarity or difference of interpretations between two countries, (ii)percentage or ranking of interpretations, (iii)conformity or variance of interpretations within one country, (iv)presence of contrasting pair of proper nouns such as country names, and(v)positive or negative connotations underlying the two countries' interpretations.
