[Pashtet]

Okay, this drifts off subject but all this romaji, kanji, hiragana confusion has me asking - what do Japanese use for text message abbreviations? Is there yet another alphabet for LOL, BFF, OMG, WTF, etc?

Because kanji carry semantic meaning by themselves, the kanji themselves can become abbreviations. For example, in Japanese, the All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) is Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei (ZNKR), or abbreviated in Japanese "ZenKenRen" 全剣連. So, if I wanted to do LOL in Japanese, I'd just write 笑, the kanji for laughter. Or, because romaji is used, I could just write "w" for "warau" (laugh). As Alex notes, emoticons are also used heavily, as well as symbols.

?? - doubt, question, WTF
!! - surprise, shock, OMG
... - hesitation, doubtful or pointed silence

They are less used these days in email due to the ubiquitousness of graphic emoticons on phones and emails programs, but the Japanese also devised extremely clever and expressive emoticons. For example,

(^^) - smiling
(Ｔ＿Ｔ） - crying
(ﾟﾛﾟ; ) - shock
p(^^)q - cheering
(^^)b - thumbs up