(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Well? Can you figure it out??

It's an angry (or frustrated) person flipping over a table. It's only one of countless hundreds of "emoji" (the Japanese word for emoticons). It's also one of my favorites!

In the west we seem to have developed a system of emoticons which pretty much all require the reader to read the emoticon horizontally - think along the lines of:
:D  &  =P  &  :*( 

In Japan, emoji utilize a whole host of characters and symbols that most of us westerners don't even know exist. These emoji are much more interesting, pleasing, and descriptive than their western counterparts. However, many of them are downright confusing, and a lot of the time I cannot even figure out what they are trying to convey.

As you can see from the title of the blog, Japanese emoji are read vertically (i.e. you don't have to tilt your head to read them). There are a whole range of emotions/actions that can be conveyed including: happiness, anger, sadness, kissing, dancing, singing, confusion, shock, evil/plotting, apologizing, drinking, and writing.

That said, I thought it might be fun/interesting for me to list some Japanese emoji and see if you can figure them out! And I thought it would be interesting if I didn't provide you with the answers until my next blog post!

So... without further ado, here are a handful of Japanese emoji! Can you figure out what they are trying to convey??


Ψ(´▽｀)Ψ  ***eating; holding two forks 


d=(´▽｀)=b  ***two thumbs up


ヽ(＾Д＾)ﾉ  ***general happiness


(ヘ。ヘ)  ***whistling


 (♡∀♡)  ***in love


【・_・?】 ***confused


ヽ(ー_ー )ノ  *** think "Whatever, I give up!"


щ(゜ロ゜щ)  *** think "WHY!?!"


(*´∀`*)  ***shy


 (⌒_⌒;)  ***embarassed


（￣へ￣）*** think "I'm better than this/that!"


(¬､¬)  ***annoyed; to be fed-up with


凸(｀0´)凸  ***giving the fingers


(＃｀д´)ﾉ  ***really angry; shaking a fist


^(#｀∀´)_Ψ  ***feeling evil or sneaky


☆⌒(＞。≪)  *** think "Ouch! That hurt!"


o(╥﹏╥)o  ***crying


(´∩｀。)  ***general sadness


(シ_ _)シ  ***bowing or apologizing


ヽ(´ー`)ﾉ  *** think "I don't understand!"


〜(￣▽￣〜)  ***dancing


┏(＾0＾)┛ ***more dancing


(　 ゜Д゜)⊃旦  ***drinking or serving drinks


（*＾3＾）***kissing


ヽ(○´∀`)ﾉ♪  ***singing


ヾ(。￣□￣)ﾂ  ***yawning


＿〆(。。)  ***writing or taking a memo


￢o(￣-￣ﾒ)  ***holding a gun


ლ(´ڡ`ლ)  ***licking lips; lust


Ｏ( ｀_´)乂(｀_´ )Ｏ  ***fighting


ヽ(^o^)ρ┳┻┳°σ(^o^)/  ***playing table tennis


( ^o^)ノ ．．．…___ｏ  ***bowling


＼（＾∀＾）メ（＾∀＾）ノ  ***friends holding hands



I hope you enjoyed!