Kaomoji (Japanese Emoticons)

Users from Japan popularized a style of emoticons called Kaomoji (顔文字) that can be understood without tilting one's head to the left.

This style arose on ASCII NET of Japan in 1986.^[11][12]
Similar looking emoticons were used by Byte Information Exchange (BIX) around the same time.^[13]

These emoticons are usually found in a format similar to (*_*). The asterisks indicate the eyes; the central character, commonly an underscore, the mouth; and the parentheses, the outline of the face.

Different emotions such as (")(-_-)("), are expressed by changing the character representing the eyes, for example "T" can be used to express crying or sadness (T_T).

The emphasis on the eyes is reflected in the common usage of emoticons that use only the eyes, e.g. ^^.

Looks of stress are represented by the likes of (x_x) while (-_-;) is a generic emoticon for nervousness, the semicolon indicating sweat that occurs during anxiety.

Repeating the /// mark can indicate embarrassment by symbolizing blushing. Characters like hyphens or periods can replace the underscore; the period is often used for a smaller, "cuter" mouth or to represent a nose, e.g. (^.^). Alternatively, the mouth/nose can be left out entirely, e.g. (^^).

The parentheses also can often be replaced with braces, e.g. {^_^}. Many times, the parentheses are left out completely, e.g. ^^, >.< , o_O, O.O, e_e, e.e.

A quotation mark ", apostrophe ', or semicolon ; can be added to the emoticon to imply apprehension or embarrassment, in the same way that a sweat drop is used in popular and common Asian animation.