"Apparently, Japanese Smileys(Emoticons) are read vertically whilewestern Smileys(Emoticons) are read hosizontally.And Japanese Smileys have more variation than eastern ons. I think the reason is that while American(alphabet) letters in computer are 1 byte, Japanese letters in computer are 2 bytes, so Japanese letters can have more characters. Second reason seems to that Japanese comics(manga) have many ways of express their feelings and situations by certain lines or graphics and Japanese do the same thing when they create smileys. So, a large number of Japanese Smileys(Emoticons) are influenced by comics."

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