I will be :-O if there is anyone out there reading this who has not seen or used "emoticons". Emotion + icon, they are symbols used in e-texts that express facial expressions :-) Well, you may be :-( if I tell you that this works in English speaking areas only... In Japan (and other Asian nations), we have different sets of emoticons that we have developed on our own.

As we use the double-size characters of Hiragana, Katakata, and Kanji, we have more options of tools. Since many of our readers' computers may not support them, I will show you the emoticons using the regular English characters. (So you can use them too!)

(^0^) Smiley. This is the most popular.
(^0^)/ Smiley giving salute.

Okay I suppose some or you are :-/ at this point. The trick is to see directly straight (literally to their faces) instead of how you would normally see it from sideways.

(^v^) Here's another smiley. ( ) are the outline of the face, ^^ are the
eyes, and v is the smile. Can you see it??
Good! ('v')/

(^_^;) "oh, okay" See the sweat pouring down.

o(^-^)o "yes!" Hands at sides.

(^.^)b Thumbs up.

(@_@;) "Really??" Eyes bulging out.

(T_T) Tears trickling down. Another one is (;_;)

(-_-)zz.. Zzzing. My personal favorite activity.

(^3^) Kissing. My second favorite (^v-) (wink)

To those who want to step further into this art, here are some of picture-icons that I have created.