Kana as features
ω ツ ノ っ ロ Д
Japanese characters chosen for their shape, not their sound. ω is a mouth; ツ is a whole face.
Kaomoji, and why emoji are Japanese too
Japanese Emojis
Searches for Japanese emojis usually mean one of two things, and they have different answers. Most people want kaomoji: the upright text faces like (´･ω･`) built from kana and punctuation. Some mean emoji themselves, which is a fair question, because emoji were invented in Japan too.
(´･ω･`)
Quick answer
Which one should you use?
Japanese emojis normally means kaomoji: faces such as (´･ω･`) and (＾▽＾) that are read upright instead of sideways, and built from Japanese kana alongside punctuation. They are not emoji. Emoji are single Unicode characters drawn as pictures by your device; kaomoji are several ordinary characters arranged to look like a face. Both originated in Japan, which is where the confusion comes from.
Copy and paste
24 japanese emojis
Every face is plain text. Tap one to copy it, then paste it wherever you are typing — it travels as ordinary characters, not as an image.
(´･ω･`)
The classic
Probably the single most recognisable kaomoji.
(＾▽＾)
Happy
Full-width carets, and the standard smile.
(◕‿◕)
Cute
Large round eyes, small mouth.
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Table flip
The best-travelled kaomoji outside Japan.
ಠ_ಠ
Disapproval
Kannada eyes; adopted worldwide as a reaction.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Lenny face
Western-made in a Japanese style, which is a useful reminder that the form travelled.
(´；ω；`)
Crying
Semicolons as tears.
ヽ(´▽`)/
Celebrating
Both arms raised.
(╬ ಠ益ಠ)
Furious
Vein, disapproving eyes, gritted mouth.
(っ´▽`)っ
Hug
Arms reaching forward.
(*ﾉωﾉ)
Shy
A sleeve raised over the face.
ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
Bear
The brackets are ears.
(=^･ω･^=)
Cat
Whiskers and ears around an ω muzzle.
(♡‿♡)
Smitten
Hearts for eyes.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Shrug
The ツ is katakana 'tsu', used as a face.
(￣ω￣)
Smug
Half-closed eyes and a small mouth.
(´∀｀)
Easy smile
Relaxed and slightly amused.
(≧▽≦)
Laughing
Eyes shut by laughter.
(・_・;)
Awkward
The trailing ; is a drop of sweat.
(￣▽￣)ノ
Waving off
Casual goodbye.
(￣﹏￣)
Enduring
Closed eyes, wavy mouth.
(°ロ°)
Shocked
The ロ is an open mouth.
ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Striding off
Pleased and going somewhere.
(￣ｰ￣)
Knowing
A slight, self-satisfied smile.
How they are built
The parts these faces are made of
Kaomoji are assembled rather than drawn. Once you can see the components, you can adjust any face on this page instead of hunting for a different one.
Full-width brackets
（ ） ｛ ｝ 〔 〕
Wider than Latin brackets, which is what gives kaomoji their roomy proportions.
CJK punctuation
｡ ﾟ 〃 ￣ ・
Used for cheeks, blush, closed eyes and sparkle.
Borrowed scripts
ಠ ᴥ ᐢ ๑
Kannada, phonetic and Thai characters picked purely for shape. Kaomoji raid all of Unicode.
Before you paste
Getting them to arrive intact
Paste as plain text
Markdown and rich-text editors treat backslashes, underscores and asterisks as formatting. A face that loses an arm or a cheek was almost certainly parsed rather than pasted.
Upright, not sideways
This is the defining difference. :-) needs a head tilt; (´･ω･`) does not, which is why kaomoji can show arms, tears and whole gestures where an emoticon manages only a face.
Width is not guaranteed
Kana and full-width brackets are wider than Latin letters. The same face can look balanced in one app and lopsided in another, which is normal and not a broken character.
Read more
Faces with a full write-up
Some of these have their own page covering where the face came from and how its meaning has shifted.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Lenny Face
A suggestive raised-eyebrow face with a long meme history.
Read the entry(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Table Flip
The internet's favourite tantrum: flipping a table in text.
Read the entryಠ_ಠ
Look of Disapproval
Two heavy-lidded eyes staring flatly across a single line.
Read the entryฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
Cat Kaomoji
A round cat face with two raised paws either side.
Read the entry
Questions
Japanese Emojis FAQ
What are Japanese emojis called?
Kaomoji — 顔文字, from 顔 (kao, face) and 文字 (moji, character). They are the upright text faces such as (´･ω･`) and (＾▽＾). The word is built the same way as emoji itself, 絵文字, which replaces 顔 with 絵 (e, picture).
Are emoji Japanese?
Yes. Emoji were created for Japanese mobile phones — SoftBank shipped 90 of them in 1997 and NTT DoCoMo released Shigetaka Kurita's 176-character set in 1999. They only became international after Unicode encoded them, starting in 2009. So both emoji and kaomoji are Japanese in origin, which is why searches for Japanese emojis return both.
What is the difference between kaomoji and emoji?
An emoji is a single Unicode character that your device draws as a picture, so 🔥 is one character rendered by a font. A kaomoji is several ordinary characters arranged to look like a face, so (´･ω･`) is seven characters that your device draws as text. Emoji change appearance between platforms; kaomoji look the same everywhere.
How do you type Japanese emoticons?
On a Japanese keyboard, typing かお (kao) offers kaomoji as conversion candidates, which is how they are normally entered in Japan. Everywhere else it is quicker to copy them. Saving the ones you use to a text-replacement shortcut lets a short trigger expand into the full face.
Why are kaomoji read upright?
Japanese text is often read in vertical columns, and the characters available — kana, CJK punctuation, full-width brackets — suit a face drawn the right way up. Western emoticons were limited to ASCII punctuation, which only really works rotated. The larger character set is also why kaomoji can include arms and objects.
Keep exploring