I’m not going to explain the obvious ones like
and 
but I’ll go down a little list of some that I think people might find interesting or useful…
refers to the Japanese version of the expression “see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil”
good for “sorry” or “pretty please” (although it looks like someone praying)
referring to rock-paper-scissors
celebration or congratulations
refers to hurrying, being busy, or sometimes trying hard
throw this one up around your words or sentences when you are ANGRY
ramen 
curry and rice 
pasta 
pizza 
breaded fried shrimp 
fried chicken 
candy 
burger and fries 
bread 
fried egg 
sukiyaki or some other dish with boiled meat and vegetables at the table that the family eats together 
sushi 
“oden” or various things boiled in a soup, often eaten in fall or winter 
a bento or Japanese boxed lunch 
rice 
onigiri, or a rice ball 
sake 
this is the red lantern outside of some food shops 
kakigori, crushed ice with syrup or other toppings 
pudding 
honey 
sembei, the rice based crackers wrapped with a little seaweed (nori) 
dango (mochi on a stick)
New Year’s 
Hinamatsuri, the girls’ doll festival
this is the kind of backpack most Japanese kids carry with them to school. If you live in Japan, you have no doubt seen these and wondered why they are so expensive.
This is the koi nobori, the flags flown outside of homes with sons on Boys’ Day (Kodomo no Hi)
Tanabata 
Japanese wind chimes 
Tsukimi, a moon watching festival, the one when they eat dango and look for the rabbit in the moon
Mt. Fuji or Sunrise 
sunrise 
tsunami
western clothes 
kimono 
nail art
fishing 
onsen (hot spring) 
fortune teller 
mah jong 
pachinko (can also be used to mean “lucky”)
Sixth ezweb
shinkansen (bullet train) 
school 
junior high school 
hospital 
work 
hospital 
live hotel 
train station 
church 
castle 
castle 
gas station 
convenience store
beginner (this is a mark that all new drivers have to put on their car during the first year they drive so now it can be used to refer to a beginner in anything)
money
ticket 
mail or post
secret 
special 
discount 
full (as in a parking garage, train seats, etc) 
vacant, or space available… the opposite of the previous one 
this one refers to something set or chosen, like assigned seating on a train 
business, or in business
Eighth docomo
yes… this is Munch’s Scream… used for surprise, or “Oh no!” type occasions
secret 
forbidden, or not allowed 
open, vacant (as in seating, parking lot, schedule) 
passing, as on a test, you could use this to say you passed your driving test, or something similar 
full, no vacancy
shinkansen 
hot spring or onsen 
no way (NG refers to no go, I believe)
hurry 
fire, hot passion 
another poop 
rock-paper-scissors 
bye-bye 
please or sorry
maru, or a circle, meaning OK! 
batsu, or an x, meaning no
profuse apologizing
fireworks, specifically a kind called Senkou Hanabi that looks like little tiny fireworks dripping off a sparkler type thing
Japanese wind chimes
ramen
school 
post office 
hospital 
love hotel 
hotel 
church, or something like a wedding chapel 
church 
park
here 
refers to their being something as opposed to 
which you would use if there’s nothing, or if something weren’t somewhere… kind of hard to explain so I’ll give an example… if you went to rent a certain dvd and someone sent you a text asking if the dvd you were looking for were there, you could use these two emoticons to answer succinctly
restroom (comes from the WC used in some countries, I believe referring to the “water closet”
the blood types (which are still a big deal in Japan as they are believed to reveal something about a person’t personality)
So that’s my interpretation of a bunch of these emoticons that have been taken directly from the major cell phone carriers in Japan and dumped into the gmail system. If there are any more symbols people want to know about please feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll see what I can do to explain them.
They can be useful in Japan for efficiently communicating an idea in a short amount of time. This used to be useful when people had to write their texts and cell phone emails as briefly as possible, but now they are fun and fashionable.