Top 30 most popular Japanese emoticons

Using typing emoticons such as (^__^) or (>__&lt when writting sms, chatting or typing on your PC have become a very usual thing these days. Have you ever wondered what’s the origin of these imoticons? The correct answer is Japan. Yes, first imoticons are said to come from US, where is the birthplace of internet also, however the cuter looking, and nowaday even more popular between young people are come from Japan ^^. Here’s a small compararion between the two styles of emoticon.
Example:

Japanese Smile imoticon _ 2 bytes _ vertical read

American Smile emoticon _ 1 byte _ horizontal read

Isn’t it obvious that the Japanese emoticons are more easy to read, since we don’t need to turn our head 90 degree when seeing them (*_*) :)) Eventhough American imoticons are more convinient to use (because they cost less space) and American imoticons are more popular around the world, Japanese imoticon are gaining more and more attentions and become extremely wide used among teenages in countries around the world, including Vietnam, because of its cute look and easy to type ^^

From 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 using nowadays.

Will you try to use them ?(*^_^*)

Do Thuy Linh_s3183636