The emoji keyboard on Windows is one of my favorite improvements. Windows key + : (semicolon) or win +.(period) then start typing the name of the emoji you want.

I initially dismissed it as a gimmick but now use it often when writing emails (colored check? Behind schedule? )

Of course, adding the emojis to this post doesn't work as HN strips them.

Sadly limited to US English - other English inputs don’t have it.

My keyboard is set to Turkish Q and I can confirm Win+. opens up the emoji panel, maybe the key combination is somewhat different? I don't think they would add it to other languages but skip other English'es

I might have misled you with my initial post - it's not the keyboard or IME that it's restricted to, it's the display language.

en_US only, not en_AU, en_UK etc.

There's a registry key you can change to enable it in other locales, I can't remember it nor find it again though.