Kaomoji: Japanese Emoticons

Kaomoji (顔文字) is a popular Japanese emoticon style made up of Japanese characters and grammar punctuations, and are used to express emotion in texting and cyber communication. The word kaomoji is also synonymous to be referred to as Japanese emoticons. This concept is formed by the combination of two words in Kanji, “kao” (顔 – “face”) and “moji” (文字 – “character”).

Japanese are very emotional and creative nation. Therefore, in Japan emoticons are popular as nowhere in the world.

Japanese believe that eyes are the mirror of a human soul. Therefore, unlike Western emoticons where most attention is paid to mouth, in Japanese emoticons the most important part are eyes. In addition, kaomoji are so popular because you don’t have to read them sideways.

Many Japanese are good at drawing because Japanese is the language of drawings. Anime and manga are vivid examples of how closely the authors manage to convey a variety of emotions just by a set of a few simple lines.

In the beginning of internet and instant messaging – lack of face-to-face talk resulted in mistakenly taking parodies and humorous jokes the wrong way. Kaomoji is a result of manga and anime fans who wanted to correct those mistakes, avoid awkward writing situations, and express words more creatively.

Japanese emoticons are extremely diverse. Some of Internet sources state the number of 10000 but, in fact, there are much more of them. Such diversity may be explained by at least two factors:

• unlike Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, which are usually written in single-byte character sets, Japanese writing requires a minimum of double-byte sets with a wider scope of characters;
• kaomoji can express not only individual emotions, but also complex actions, objects, and even whole stories.

Japanese emoticons are divided into categories based on emotional component of a form, action or object. These emoticons can also use some special characters for additional connotation.

On this website you can find an interesting collection of kawaii (cute) Japanese emoji compiled from various (mostly Japanese) internet sources. Since it is impossible to find and display all of them, we selected the most interesting and cute ones, as well as added our own. In addition, we also developed an application for Android.

So! Feel free to use these Japanese emoticons. Mix and match the elements of different kaomoji and create your own creative options!

Kaomoji Categories

Kaomoji collection is periodically updated. Stay tuned!

Attention! All emoticons here use Japanese fonts. If some of them are not displayed correctly, adjust Asian language support in your operating system.

Japanese Emoticons: Positive Emotions

Joy

If you want to create joyful, happy or laughing Japanese emoticons use high up eyes. For example, you can use these characters: ^, ￣, ´ and `. Mouths are important too. Japanese girls often use character ω (omega) for mouths of their emoticons, thinking that such kaomoji are cute, or, as they say, kawaii. You can also use ∀, ▽ and other characters resembling a smile. And Japanese also like to add different effects to kaomoji (stars, tears of joy, and so on) for better emphasis.

Love

Love and kissing Japanese emoji often use character ♡ (heart) or its combination, for example, ノ～ ♡ (air kiss). You can also use a set of characters "chu" for a kiss (in Japan it means a sound of a kiss). Another interesting love emoticons feature is an active presence of such characters as * or o, which mean "rousy cheeks" and are often used in combination with /, \, ノ, ﾉ and ヽ. This emoticons are trying to hide their faces in embarrassment. You can also use character ε (bow lips), which indicates the desire to hug and kiss. Japanese girls often joke saying that such kaomoji look like perverts!

Embarrassment

To depict embarrassment, you can use ; character (something like a drop of sweat on a face), or characters for blush (*, o). In addition, you can try to make your emoticon cover its face by its hands in embarrassment.

Sympathy

The expression of sympathy or compassion requires at least two Japanese emoticons: one of them will be upset about something, and the other will calm him down. You can use kaomoji from "sadness" category for the first type. A key element for the second one will be "a calming hand" (ノ", ノ'or ヾ) or "shoulder of support" (see examples).

Japanese Emoticons: Negative Emotions

Dissatisfaction

Dissatisfaction can be easily expressed by kaomoji's facial wrinkling. You can use ＞＜ characters for dissatisfied or displeased Japanese emoticons. Additional wrinkles can be added by # character. You can also express dissatisfaction with eyes like ¬ ¬ or ¯ ¯ and with a well-chosen mouth. Such techniques are quite common in anime and manga.

Anger

The secret of angry or evil emoticons is in their eyes. Use ` and ´ or ｀ and ´. Just don't change the characters' order, otherwise your angry emoticon will become friendly and kind (compare: ` ´ - evil eyes, ´ ` - kind eyes). In addition, you can add "wrinkles" ＃ and their stronger forms: メ or ╬; and 凸 (middle finger) and ψ (claws) as an arm. You can also use "snarl" 皿 or 益.

Sadness

Sad or crying emoticons are quite easy to create. Use Т Т, ; ;, > < and other characters for crying eyes. You can also use / \ or ノ ヽ to cover your face.

Pain

Use characters > < combined with special effects like ⌒☆ to depict pain. You can also use eyes of “x” type for “stunned” emoticons. Of course, there are also many other ways.

Fear

For scared or frightened Japanese emoji use forward and backward slashes and similar characters depicting that they hide their faces in fear. You can also try to depict screaming, waving their arms and so on.

Japanese Emoticons: Neutral Emotions

Indifference

You can make indifferent / whatever emoticons by adding special characters for arms (┐ ┌ or ╮ ╭, and various combinations with forward and backward slashes and related characters). You can use ー ー or ˇ ˇ for indifferent eyes.

Confusion

Use "blank eyes" ・ ・. You can add ; or 〃 to strengthen the effect. The eyes like ￣ ￣ would be suitable too. Finally, you can add such effects as thinking (・・・), raising hands (┐ ┌ or ╮ ╭) and propping the head with an arm ( ゞ).

Doubt

For doubt Japanese emoticons use ￢ ￢, ¬ ¬ or arrows. This will create the impression that their eyes look toward as if they hear a lie.

Surprise

For shocked and surprised emoticons use mouth wide open (ｏ, 〇, ロ), surprised eyes (O O, ⊙ ⊙) and raised hands. You can also add character Σ (sharp jerk) or some cofusion (character ;). Furthermore, you can try to use big eyes in combination with small mouth (for contrast).

Japanese Emoticons: Various Actions

Greeting

For greeting (and farewell) Japanese emoticons you can use forward and backward slashes as a standard. However, there are a few more interesting options, such as ﾉ or ノ. And if you want your emoticon to wave its hand, try to use ヾ, ﾉﾞ and their various combinations with the "tilde".

Hugging

For hugging emoticons use respective outstretched arm characters.

Winking

Winking Japanese emoticons look cute and they are quite easy to be made. Just use different characters for left and right eye.

Apologizing

In Japan, when expressing apology, it is common to perform a traditional bow. Therefore, apologizing Japanese emoticons are created this way. Use lowered eyes (_ _ or . .). If the bow is performed from a sitting position, you can use m m for the eyes. Otherwise, use characters <> for shoulders.

Nosebleeding

If you want to depict nosebleeding / nosebleeds like in anime and manga use the following characters: i, ﾊ, ;, 〃.

Hiding

Using character | for hiding emoticons makes them look like if they are peeping from behind the wall hiding from somebody.

Writing

Character φ looks good as a pen, if you want to make writing emoticons. You can also add a few underscores or dots to depict the process of writing itself.

Running

You can create running Japanese emoji by adding special motion effects. Among available charactrers are ε, =, ミ and C.

Sleeping

Use zzZ for snoring. You can also put your sleeping emoticon on a pillow [ ]. Simple as that!

Japanese Emoticons: Animals

Cat

Japanese believe that cats are insanely cute creatures. This explains a variety of anime and manga fetishes: cat ears and tail, saying "nyaa~" (nyaa - "meow" in Japanese) and other kawaii things. Therefore, it's not a surprise that in kaomoji main animals are cats. So, if you want your emoticon to become a nice kitty, use = = for its mustache and ^ ^ for the ears.

Bear

Japanese bear emoticons are easy to identify by their special snout (ｴ) or ears ʕ ʔ.

Dog

The secret of dog emoticons is in the ears ∪ ∪. Use these characters instead of brackets.

Rabbit

It’s not a secret that rabbits are extremely cute animals. And emoticons are able to make them even cuter. You can use x for your rabbit’s face and slashes for its ears.

Pig

You can use (оо), (OO) or (ω) for a pig nose. Add it to your emoticon and you'll get a funny cute pig.

Bird

For bird japanese emoticons and their mouths (beaks) you can use such characters as Θ or θ. This is the main idea.

Fish

Fish and seafood is an inevitable part of Japanese life. That's why fish and sea creatures emoticons are quite popular too. You can use << or 彡 for a tail, and )) for the gills.

Spider

For spider emoticons use characters /\╱\╮╭╲ for the legs and try to add a few pairs of eyes.

Japanese Emoticons: Other Types

Friends

If you want to describe friends and friendship, the best way is to make your Japanese emoticons holding each others hands. You can use 人, メ, 八 and 爻. Although, there are other suitable characters. You can try to find them.

Enemies

The concept of "enemy" here is used in a joking manner. Just try to describe how your emoticon kicks his opponent, or anything like that. You can use special effects like ☆, ﾐ, 彡 and Σ for emphasis. You can also use x x for the eyes of unconscious emoticons. All the rest is your creative approach.

Weapons

Rifle ︻デ═一, sniper rifle ︻┻┳══━一, shotgun ︻┳═一, minigun ✴==≡눈, gun ￢, laser ・・・--------☆, chain ○∞∞∞∞, bow D・・・・・------ →, bomb (((((((((●～*, syringe ―⊂|=0, pepper spray 占~~~~~, jo-jo ~~~~~~~~~~◎, boomerang (( く ((へ, spear ―――→, grabber ――――C, sword _／ or ¤=[]:::::>, boxing gloves QQ.

Magic

Japanese emoticons can depict even magic in its all diversity.

Food

Japanese like to drink very much! You can use 旦, 口, 且 and similar characters (for example, simply []) for this purpose. And for hot drinks (tea, coffee) just add ~~ (steam) characters. There is also a great variety of eating emoticons (see examples in the table below).

Music

Japanese emoticons can also describe musical aspects of life (singing, dancing, listening to music, etc.). You can just add ♪ character to your kaomoji or change its hands position (if you want to make it dance).

Games

Japanese can describe even games and sports through kaomoji. Here are a few examples: tennis, ping pong, volleyball, basketball, ball, boxing, kendo, fishing, bowling, playing video games. Try to find out what is what.

Faces

These emoticons have human-like faces.

Special

No specific category emoticons are added here. So each of them has special description.

2022
Kaomoji | Japanese Emoticons | Kawaii Emoticons

Kaomoji Collection Latest update: May 13, 2022

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