Japan employs a number of related symbols (◎ ○ △ ×) in a system that expresses degrees of affirmation.
A bullseye "◎" (nijūmaru; 二重丸) is often used for "excellent", the circle is a plain affirmation, the triangle "△" (sankaku; 三角) means "so-so" or "partially applicable", and the "×" expresses disagreement.
The hanamaru is frequently written on tests if a student has achieved full marks or an otherwise outstanding result.
It is sometimes used in place of an O mark in grading written response problems if a student's answer is especially good.
Unicode provides various related symbols, including: U+2B55 ⭕ HEAVY LARGE CIRCLE has both text and emoji presentations, as shown in the table.