Smiles Have Accents

I recently read an interesting article by Jennifer Margulis. She wrote, when reading facial expressions, different cultures home in on different parts of the face. In the United States, we focus on mouths; the Japanese, by contrast, search for feeling in the eyes. These emoticons say it all:

                   HAPPY                       SAD

U.S.               :)                               :(

JAPAN         (＾_＾）                    (;_;) 

Does non-verbal communication have an accent? What are your thoughts?