What is Kaomoji?

Kaomoji is a popular Japanese emoji style composed of Japanese characters and grammatical punctuation, used to express emotions in text and online communication. The concept is formed from two kanji characters: "kao" (顔 - "face") and "moji" (文字 - "character").

Japan is a country rich in emotion and creativity. Therefore, in Japan, the popularity of emojis is higher than anywhere else in the world.

Japanese people believe that eyes are the mirror of the human soul. Therefore, unlike Western emojis where the mouth is the main focus, in Japanese emojis, the most important part is the eyes. Additionally, kaomoji are so popular because you don't need to tilt your head to read them.

The origin of kaomoji dates back to the early days of the internet and instant messaging. At that time, due to the lack of face-to-face communication, misunderstandings in text messages were common. To solve this problem, manga and anime enthusiasts began using kaomoji to more accurately express their emotions and humor.

Japanese emojis are extremely diverse. Some internet sources claim there are 10,000, but in reality, there are even more. This diversity can be explained by at least two factors:

Unlike Cyrillic and Latin alphabets which are usually written with single-byte character sets, Japanese writing requires at least a double-byte character set, providing a wider range
Kaomoji can express not only individual emotions but also complex actions, objects, and even entire stories
Japanese emojis are categorized based on the emotional components of forms, actions, or objects. These emojis can also use special characters to add meaning.

Today, kaomoji are no longer limited to Japan. People around the world use them to add emotional color to their messages. The simplicity and intuitiveness of kaomoji make them a cross-cultural communication tool that can be easily understood and used regardless of country.

On this website, you can find an interesting collection of cute (kawaii) Japanese emojis, mainly sourced from various internet sources. Since it's impossible to find and display all emojis, we've selected the most interesting and cute ones, and have also added some of our own.

Emoji List