Kaomoji   (´,,•ω•,,)♡   is a special Japanese style of emoticon images based ◕  on the Japanese hieroglyphic system. They include all alphabetic systems: kanji, hiragana and katakana using punctuation marks (•ิ_•ิ)? and other symbols. The diversity of the kaomoji allows to turn emotions into a written text. The main difference with emoji ヽ(≧◡≦)八😍ノ is that emoji is a broad concept of pictogram that can depict  ლ  more than just emotions, while kaomoji aims mainly at displaying
the speaker's range of feelings (kao 顔 – "face" and moji 文字 - "symbol, written sign", while 絵 e - "picture").

In 1872, Charles Darwin formed six basic emotional states: happiness (´ ∀ ` *), sadness ( ; ω ; ), fear ~(>_< ~), anger ٩(╬ʘ益ʘ╬)۶, surprise w(°ｏ°)w and disgust (；⌣_⌣). Since then, technological advances have changed the way we think about communication: new ways of interacting have emerged, face-to-face (*＾ω＾)人(＾ω＾*) interactions are no longer necessary, and it is possible to quickly contact anyone anywhere in the world. Now there are dozens of ways to communicate. The main struggle is that the stable associations inherent in human perception cannot really be interpreted unambiguously. For example, a smile 😃 can express joy, sadness, humility and not mean what it seems to mean.

The diversity of the kaomoji visual system allows to turn emotions into a written text. In many languages there are words which express unique emotions that cannot be translated, so mostly visualization of the emotion is necessary. Kaomoji, which includes linguistic, cultural and social aspects, can handle this task best. ฅ(^◕ᴥ◕^)ฅ

Often we limit ourselves with (: and ): in text (in very rare cases with :D), although it's hard   ლ(ಠ_ಠ ლ)   enough to convey the whole emotional spectrum in two or three characters. If you imagine a person without nose 👃, ears 👂, eyebrows 👁 and other elements that Western emoticons lack, it would be hard to imagine what emotion could be expressed with such a face ʕಠᴥಠʔ.
However, kaomoji use all the possibilities of body language, thanks to which they manage to show any nuances of emotional state.