Top thirty Japanese emoticons
In the middle of June, goo Ranking surveyed its readers by means of a public internet questionnaire on what emoticons, or smilies, they often used in mail from their personal computers. The following table presents the top thirty results. As usual for goo Ranking, number one slot gets ranked with 100 points, and all the rest with the proportion of votes relative to the top vote. More detailed demographics, etc, are not available.
Back in April, I translated another survey on the use of smilies, or emoticons, on Japanese mobile phones, that you may want to reference. Even though the people responding to this survey are (supposed to be!) adult, emoticons reveal a childish playfulness, I feel.
Please feel free to use these in your email or messenger applications to liven up your chat a little!
Oh, and if you like the emoticon in the corner, it can be yours for just a few dollars from Strapya, that fine supplier of keitai straps. 
Ranking results
Q: What 顔文字, kaomoji, emoticons do you often use in mail sent from your personal computer?
Rank Emoticon Score Emotion 1 （＾_＾） or （＾_＾）v, etc 100 Laughing 2 (>_<)> 66.4 Troubled 3 (^_^;) 54.4 Troubled 4 (ToT) 53.3 Crying 5 m(_ _)m 52.9 Apologising 6 (^^ゞ or (^^;) 38.3 Shy 7 （￣ー￣） 20.6 Grinning 8 (≧∇≦)/ 18.9 Joyful 9 （￣□￣；） 18.9 Surprised 10 (#^.^#) 18.8 Shy 11 （*´▽｀*） 16.1 Infatuation 12 (ーー;) 15.4 Worried 13 (*^▽^*) 15.0 Joyful 14 ＿|￣|○, orz, OTL, etc 13.7 Depressed 15 (＾▽＾) 11.1 Laughing 16 キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!!!!!, (゜∀゜), etc 11.1 I think it is “I’m here!!!”, but I just don’t really know! 17 (´･ω･`) 10.3 Snubbed 18 （ ﾟ Дﾟ） 8.8 Shocked 19 （・∀・） 7.7 Laughing 20 (Ｔ▽Ｔ) 7.1 Crying 21 (*￣m￣) 6.8 Dissatisfied 22 （ ´∀｀） 6.0 Laughing 23 （⌒▽⌒） 5.3 Laughing 24 （＾ｖ＾） 4.9 Laughing 25 ヽ（´ー｀）┌ 4.7 Mellow 26 （’-’*) 4.1 Laughing 27 (’A`) 3.8 Snubbed 28 （゜◇゜） 2.1 Surprised 29 (*°∀°)=3 2.1 Infatuation 30 ∩( ・ω・)∩, ( ・ω・), etc 1.3 Joyful
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きれいな青い海を歩いて… » Japan’s Top Thirty Emoticons? said,
August 16, 2006 @ 23:25
[…] The survey may be found here. […]
andedammen said,
August 17, 2006 @ 02:31
[…] Min bruk av smilefjes i e-post virker ekstremt primitiv nr den sammenholdes med de 30 mest populre emotikonene i Japan. Den lista er bare (*∀)=3 […]
Japan Probe » Blog Archive » Japanese Emoticon Survery (^_^) v said,
August 21, 2006 @ 16:18
[…] What Japan Thinks has posted data on the 3most popular Janese internet emoticons. Check it out, and make sure your browser is set up to read Japanese character sets (or else the emoticons might appear as a bunch of garbled boxes and characters). Help Japanprobe Grow by sharing this post:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
Osaka-ben said,
October 14, 2006 @ 06:29
キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!!!!! is roughly equivalent to the American English “Hell yeah!”
Emoticons enough for email expression » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,
October 19, 2006 @ 23:30
[…] As a sort-of follow-up to one of my more popular recent translations, the emoticons of Japan, let’s have a look at the results of a recent opinion poll reported by japan.internet.com. In the middle of October Cross Marketing Inc interviewed 300 mobile phone mail-using members of its internet monitor pool regarding their use of features like デコメール, deco-mail, available on most of the newer mobile phones that allows the user to send an HTML message with a border or similar template, in-line graphics, selected font colours and sizes, and other decorative features. The demographics of the sample were the usual Cross Marketing equal divisions - half and half male and female, and 20.0% in each of the five age groups from teens to fifties. […]
Top 100 goo searches of 2006 » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,
November 29, 2006 @ 23:16
[…] 顔文字 […]
soufulow said,
January 19, 2007 @ 03:32
Can’t agree more! as everytime i got emails from my Japs friend, i will at least see this emoticon (^_^) for once.
Ken, great blog! i think i’m a bit late in discovering your blog but its straight went into my bookmark list as i saw this.
FIFIX BLOGS » Japnas Top 30 smaidii » web,lietojamba,dizains,sports,informcijas tehnoloijas un izklaide said,
February 27, 2007 @ 06:07
[…] ka ms esam rdti minimlisti, saldzinot ar Japiem, vismaz lietoto smaidiu zi. Japu Top 30 ir diezgan […]
Life and Times » Blog Archive » Daily Linkage [07.02.26] said,
February 27, 2007 @ 11:40
[…] Japan’s top 30 emoticons […]
Ivan said,
February 27, 2007 @ 13:29
GAMBATE KUDASAI
p ( ^ ^ ) q
Balakumar Muthu said,
February 27, 2007 @ 19:33
That’s a great list … thanks!
TIOJACK » Blog Archive » 30 Emoticons mas usados en Japon said,
February 28, 2007 @ 00:55
[…] Via: WhatJapanThinks.com […]
MisticalBlade.com » Blog Archive » February 27, 2007 said,
February 28, 2007 @ 05:04
[…] FairPlay works: Apple iTunes DRM Dilemma. Japan’s top thirty emoticons. 80’s Cartoon Openings ! Memories. The Turtles hit myspace! Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and […]
Classifica delle emoticon giapponesi « Usare meglio il PC said,
February 28, 2007 @ 08:10
[…] a sapere da cosa corredano le proprie e-mail e i propri sms i giapponesi? E’ stata pubblicata una classifica delle 30 emoticon più usate. […]
La casa di Jollino said,
February 28, 2007 @ 08:54
Emoticon giapponesi…
Le riporta questo post, ordinate per utilizzo. Mah!
……
links for 2007-02-27 at Ejovi Nuwere said,
February 28, 2007 @ 09:28
[…] Japan’s top thirty emoticons » 世論 What Japan Thinks Japan’s top emoticons. Some of them seem to be labeled incorrectly, but what do I know. (tags: japan emoticons japanese) […]
Japanese Emoticon List by Asia Blog said,
February 28, 2007 @ 11:10
[…] a pretty cool list of the top 30 or so Japanese Emoticons. Asian emoticons generally seem to come in the following form: emoticon ::= ear (eye mouth/nose […]
Japán smileyk at hullahaz.hu said,
February 28, 2007 @ 21:35
[…] Na ezeket ne használd az ircneten.
[…]
The Asteroid Belt: Japanese emoticons and buffet theft « System 13 said,
March 1, 2007 @ 00:45
[…] chat online quite a bit with friends, and I use emoticons often. However, the Japanese seemingly use a whole hell of a lot more. Do they offer classes on their emoticons? All joking aside, I don’t understand a lot of […]
웹초보의 Tech 2.1 - 디지털 2.0 + 아날로그 0.1 » 일본에서 가장 많이 사용하는 이모티콘 TOP 30 said,
March 1, 2007 @ 02:17
[…] via What Japan Thinks […]
huh said,
March 1, 2007 @ 03:38
(@.@;)
Emoticons japoneses « Favoritos said,
March 1, 2007 @ 05:48
[…] Link: Japan’s top thirty emoticons […]
Tiara said,
March 2, 2007 @ 17:15
-_- isn’t grinning, it’s sort of a “i am not amused” face.
Where’s XD?
Ken Y-N said,
March 6, 2007 @ 15:18
Tiara, thanks for the feedback. Yes, -_- is a sad frown, but look again at the Japanese one in position number 7:
（￣ー￣）
The mouth and eyes are higher, which is indeed a grin.
Working Japanese women and stress » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,
March 6, 2007 @ 22:50
[…] Giganews picking up my emoticons translation, from the same article I learnt about a survey conducted by Nagase Beauty Care into the matter of […]
emoticons smiley central » Japan’s top thirty emoticons said,
March 7, 2007 @ 07:13
[…] Original post by Ken Y-N […]
Maddie said,
March 22, 2007 @ 08:52
キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!!!!! is used when you’ve been waiting for something and it finally comes. Like when you order a package and it arrives and such, then you are happy and scream “KITAAAAA!” (”It’s here!” or “Finally!”)
Listerate » Blog Archive » List of Japan’s top thirty emoticons said,
March 24, 2007 @ 11:33
[…] Japan’s top thirty emoticons […]
Ranking Emoticon ที่คนญี่ปุ่นนิยมใช้ที่สุด said,
April 11, 2007 @ 21:38
[…] view http://ranking.goo.ne.jp/ranking/092/facemark หรือ Whatjapanthink เข้าไปดูครับ […]
Socialpreneur said,
June 21, 2007 @ 09:31
Understanding Japanese Emoticons…
What Japan Thinks has a good explanation.
Back in April, I translated another survey on the use of smilies, or emoticons, on Japanese mobile phones, that you may want to reference. Even though the people responding to this survey are (supposed to be!) …
Japanese cell phone emoji graphical icon usage » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,
July 12, 2007 @ 23:57
[…] than text-based smilies that we’ve looked at in earlier surveys, this time we look at the emoji graphical icons that […]
Japanese kaoani & emoticon | Jayhan Loves Design & Japan said,
August 14, 2007 @ 23:56
[…] I found a great reference site of compiling the Japanese emoticon which shown on screenshot above. That site has a lot! Some of them are cute! Plus this site showing the Japan’s top 30 emoticon. […]
arere14age said,
September 6, 2007 @ 10:47
ε=ε=(o ･ω･)o moving
:-) turns 25, but how old are Japanese emoticons (?_?) » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,
September 19, 2007 @ 12:30
[…] recorded use of western smileys on usenet. However, that got me wondering as to how old horizontal Japanese emoticons were. With a little investigation, I came across this Japanese page on the evolution of smiley […]
www.alswalf.com said,
September 23, 2007 @ 21:35
(#^.^#)
http://www.alswalf.com/vb
Thinks
kitty Lee said,
October 10, 2007 @ 03:44
(^_^)/! (((o(^¡^”)o)))!! o(^^o) (o^^o) (o^^)o that i have guessed correct! Can you (^_-)db(-_^) & (=_=)?? (^0_0^) with (=T.T=)! (^^)/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((((;^^) ( ^)(^-^)
does anyone know meaning of all these? i only know some so im slightly confused….
xx
(^_^) « 喚き声。 said,
November 1, 2007 @ 00:19
[…] http://whatjapanthinks.com/2006/08/14/japans-top-thirty-emoticons/http://wedder.net/misc/smilies/ […]
Stephen Bro said,
November 2, 2007 @ 00:16
I am in America.
My Japanese friend e-mail me and used these emoticons.
What do they mean?
Could you please tell me?
\(^^)/
Thanks for your time
Stephen Bro
Emoticons a trend to last? said,
December 7, 2007 @ 10:36
[…] While it is known that across cultures facial expression hold a strong evolution impact (face expressions as survival signals, infants strong preferences towards face representation over other geometrical patterns), it has been found that different cultures interpret face expressions as emoticons differently: The University of Alberta study suggests that “in cultures where emotional control is the standard (such as Japan) focus is placed on the eyes to interpret emotions. In cultures where emotion is openly expressed, such as the United States, the focus is on the mouth to interpret emotion”. The study shows that Japanese emoticons for happiness and sadness vary in terms of how the eyes are depicted, while American emoticons vary with the direction of the mouth. See most popular emoticons in Japan. […]
Japan News & Notes for the Week « A typical Life said,
December 7, 2007 @ 16:48
[…] don’t use a lot of emoticons in my writing but What Japan Thinks has a listing of the thirty most popular ones in Japan. They definitely have an Asian flare and I […]
Lundy said,
January 26, 2008 @ 10:12
orz is used as a kowtow here, deep bow, head on floor, serious apology
» Blog Archive links for 2008-01-27 » Things that go Ching! said,
January 27, 2008 @ 09:38
[…] Top thirty Japanese emoticons » 世論 What Japan Thinks （’-’*) (tags: japan emoticons culture japanese reference) […]
Free Articles, Submit Your Original Content » Blog Archive » Liven Up Electronic Communications With Japanese Emoticons said,
February 4, 2008 @ 20:55
[…] writing standard computer email, Japanese emoticons get used and abused. A survey on the top thirty Japanese emoticons showed that the top five were, in reverse order, as follows: At number 5, m(_ _), an apologising […]
Cowboy Caleb – Top thirty Japanese emoticons said,
February 5, 2008 @ 10:07
[…] Top thirty Japanese emoticons […]
The One With The Emoticons « So no one told you life was gonna be this way. said,
February 27, 2008 @ 00:42
[…] Japanese Language (日本語), Random Musings — tutousan @ 11:42 pm I chanced upon an interesting article. “In the middle of June, goo Ranking surveyed its readers by means of a public internet […]
karen-anto said,
March 1, 2008 @ 09:23
hola
escribo esto por que todo lo que he visto sobre esta pag…… me parecio muy chebre….
suerte un besote.
chao
Mark said,
March 16, 2008 @ 05:45
凸(*´_ゝ`)
I bet this is easy to guess.
ashley scott » Blog Archive » Liven Up Electronic Communications With Japanese Emoticons said,
April 22, 2008 @ 23:59
[…] writing standard computer email, Japanese emoticons get used and abused. A survey on the top thirty Japanese emoticons showed that the top five were, in reverse order, as follows: At number 5, m(_ _), an apologising […]
Design for Interactive Media 2 » Blog Archive » Top 30 most popular Japanese emoticons said,
May 6, 2008 @ 20:44
[…] the website http://whatjapanthinks.com/2006/08/14/japans-top-thirty-emoticons/ I have discovered a ranking result in Japan, about the most popular emoticons that Japanese people […]
Top 30 most popular Japanese emoticons « A cup of tea said,
May 6, 2008 @ 21:08
[…] the website http://whatjapanthinks.com/2006/08/14/japans-top-thirty-emoticons/ I have discovered a ranking result in Japan, about the most popular emoticons that Japanese people […]
Bamboo Forest said,
May 13, 2008 @ 14:28
I love emoticons!!! *_*
kimimaru37 said,
May 16, 2008 @ 20:11
emoticons rock!!!!! (^o^)
Japan News & Notes for the Week said,
May 20, 2008 @ 10:39
[…] don’t use a lot of emoticons in my writing but What Japan Thinks has a listing of the thirty most popular ones in Japan. They definitely have an Asian flare and I […]
Emoji versus Kaomoji - graphical icons versus text emoticons » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,
June 26, 2008 @ 01:42
[…] previously translated surveys looking at Japanese text emoticons (kaomoji) and at graphical icons (emoji) but now let’s look at a recent survey from BlogCh on emoji and […]
cartoon photo said,
July 2, 2008 @ 13:28
japanese emoticons are so cute.
it becomes more and more popular nowadays.