Noun
Examples
kaomoji (plural kaomoji or kaomojis)
A text-based Japanese emoticon, distinct from a Western emoticon in that it is meant to be written and read horizontally, and often includes a larger variety of characters (originally from Shift JIS, now including Unicode).
Coordinate term: emoji
Japanese style Users from Japan popularized a style of emoticons (顔文字, kaomoji) that can be understood without tilting one's head to the left. Source: Internet
There is another type of one-line ASCII art that does not require the mental rotation of pictures, which is widely known in Japan as kaomoji (literally "face characters".) Traditionally, they are referred to as "ASCII face". Source: Internet