Example of several Japan Post mascot characters on official postage stamps.

Pikachu on the side of an ANA plane.

Dejiko from the Di Gi Charat anime.

Kawaii (可愛い, kawaii^?) (pronounced /kaw̜aii/) is a Japanese term which translates to cute or adorable. This subjective term can be used to describe anything an individual considers cute. Image File history File links JapanPostStamps. ... Image File history File links JapanPostStamps. ... Logo Japan Post (日本郵政公社, Nippon YÅ«sei Kōsha) is a public corporation in Japan offering postal and package delivery services, banking services, and life insurance. ... Image File history File links PikachuANAplanepic. ... Image File history File links PikachuANAplanepic. ... Pikachu (ピカチュウ Pikachuu in Japanese, also called Pikachu in German and French) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise. ... ANA Boeing 747-481 All Nippon Airways (全日空 ZennikkÅ« or 全日本空輸 Zen-nippon kÅ«yu) (TYO: 9202) is an airline headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. ... Image File history File links Dejiko. ... Image File history File links Dejiko. ... Dejiko from the Di Gi Charat anime. ... Di Gi Charat is a popular anime and manga series by Koge Donbo. ...

Since the 1970s, cuteness has become a nearly universally esteemed aspect of Japanese culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms. Thus, the term kawaii can be frequently heard in Japan or in discussions of Japanese cultural interest. Western observers often find kawaii intriguing because the Japanese employ cuteness in a vast array of situations and demographics where in Western culture it would be considered incongruously juvenile or frivolous (for example, in government publications, public service warnings, office environments, military advertisements, and commercial airliners, among many others). 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... A girl forming dimples, which is considered a characteristic for cuteness. ...

Prevalence of Kawaii

Elements of kawaii can be found almost everywhere in Japan, from big business to corner markets, national government to ward and town offices.^1,2 Many companies, large and small, use cute mascots to present their wares and services to the public. For example:

• Pikachu, a character from Pokémon, adorns the side of three All Nippon Airways passenger jets
• Asahi Bank uses Miffy, a character from a Dutch series of children's picture books, on some of its ATM cards
• Monkichi, a cute monkey character, can be found on the packaging for one line of condoms
• All 47 prefectures have cute mascot characters
• The Japan Post "Yū-Pack" mascot is a stylized mailbox. ³

Cute merchandise is extremely popular in Japan. The two largest manufacturers of such merchandise are Sanrio (manufacturers of "Hello Kitty") and San-X. This character merchandise is a hit with Japanese children and adults alike. ^4,10 Pikachu (ピカチュウ Pikachuu in Japanese, also called Pikachu in German and French) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise. ... Pokémon (???? Pokemon, pronounced //, although frequently, and even intentionally mispronounced //), is a multi-billion dollar media franchise, created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996 (it celebrated its tenth anniversary on February 27, 2006). ... ANA Boeing 747-481 All Nippon Airways (全日空 Zennikkū or 全日本空輸 Zen-nippon kūyu) (TYO: 9202) is an airline headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. ... Resona Holdings, Inc. ... Billboard Miffy is a picture-book character in the form of a small girl rabbit drawn by Dick Bruna. ... A picture book is a popular form of illustrated literature—more precisely, a book with pictures in it—popularized in the 20th century Western world. ... josh has no legs and no arms he is a bean and should be killed lol ... Logo Japan Post (日本郵政公社, Nippon Yūsei Kōsha) is a public corporation in Japan offering postal and package delivery services, banking services, and life insurance. ... Sanrio Co. ... Hello Kitty plush dolls Hello Kitty (ハローキティ Harōkiti) is one of the many fictional characters produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, and has long been the most popular one out of the companys characters. ... San-X is a Japanese company that specializes in the creation of, production and marketing of goods featuring anime-style anthropomorphic characters such as Kogepan, Nyan Nyan Nyanko and Afro Ken. ...

Kawaii can be also used to describe the fashion sense^5,9 of an individual, and generally includes clothing that appears to be made for young children, outside of the size, or clothing that accentuates the kawaii-ness of the individual wearing the clothing. Ruffles and pastel colors are commonly (but not always) featured, and accessories often include toys or bags featuring cartoon characters.¹ The term fashion applies to a prevailing mode of expression. ...

Appearances in other cultures

Cute merchandise and other kawaii products are popular in other parts of east Asia, including China, Taiwan, and Korea.^1,6 The term kawaii has been well-known and commonly used by English-speaking fans of Japanese pop culture (such as manga and anime fans) for some time now. It has recently surfaced in more mainstream English-language pop culture, such as Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Girls music video⁷ and a list of words⁸ considered neologisms by current and former undergraduate students at Rice University. Asia is the largest and most populous region or continent depending on the definition. ... Korea (Korean: 한국, Hanguk) refers to the civilization and geographical area situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia, bordering China to the northwest and Russia to the northeast, with Japan situated to the southeast across the Korea Strait. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... For other uses, see Manga (disambiguation). ... // A scene from Cowboy Bebop (1998) Anime (アニメ) is a style of cartoon animation originating in Japan, with distinctive character and background stylings that visually set it apart from other forms of animation. ... Gwen Renée Stefani[1] (born October 3, 1969) is an American singer of Armenian origin, fashion designer, and occasional actress; and is the frontwoman of the ska/rock band No Doubt. ... Harajuku girls are women who wear a style of clothing that originated in the street culture of Osaka, Shibuya and Tokyo. ... A neologism is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) — often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. ... Rice University Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly called Rice University and opened in 1912 as Rice Institute, is one of United Statess top teaching and research universities. ...

Nuance

In Japanese, kawaii is used to refer to something that is smaller, or more rounded, than its counterparts. As such, it is most often used to describe babies. The term baby can refer to: an infant a very early computer—the Small-Scale Experimental Machine, nicknamed Baby a musician – Brian Williams – who performs under the name Baby. ...

Due to this, kawaii is also used in situations were there is a certain element of neoteny in the appearance or behaviour of the subject. It is most often used to refer to the elderly in situations where their old age causes them to behave in an infantile manner, and to adults when they show signs of childishness or innocence.¹¹ Neoteny describes a process by which paedomorphism is achieved, and is a subject studied in the field of developmental biology. ...

This tendency of the Japanese to like small things is reflected in the old Japanese word utsukushi (愛し), whose modern counterpart utukushii (美しい) means "beautiful" in the Western sense, but used to mean "small or cute" as in "kawaii" — the very concept of beauty was associated with being small in old Japanese culture.¹²

See also

• Beauty
• Bishōjo
• Cuteness
• Iki (aesthetic ideal)
• Lolita fashion
• Moe (slang)
• Wabi-sabi

A nymph with morning glory flowers by Lefebvre. ... The bishōjo style of cartooning uses large, limpid eyes for increased cuteness, as in the character of NyÅ« from Elfen Lied. ... A girl forming dimples, which is considered a characteristic for cuteness. ... Iki (「いき」, often 粋) is one of traditional aesthetic ideals in Japan. ... Classical and Gothic lolitas in Takeshita Street, Tokyo Mana (Gothic Lolita) Lolita fashion is a style of dress orginated in Japan. ... Common look for characters that an otaku might consider Moe Moe (萌え, //, literally budding, as with a plant) is a Japanese slang word originally referring to fetish for or love for characters in video games or anime and manga. ... Wabi-sabi (in Kanji: 侘寂) represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic. ...

References

Footnotes

• Note 1: Wired: article on "Cute Inc."
• Note 2: Business Week: In Japan, Cute Conquers All
• Note 3: Japan Post site showing mailbox mascot
• Note 4: Kawaii or cute Japanese products
• Note 5: The New Yorker FACT: SHOPPING REBELLION: What the kids want
• Note 6: Cute is cool in Japan
• Note 7: Salon.com: Gwen Stefani neuters Japanese street fashion to create spring's must-have accessory: Giggling geisha!
• Note 8: The Rice University Neologisms Database: K
• Note 9: Time Asia: Arts: Kwest For Kawaii
• Note 10: SFGate Asian Pop: How Hello Kitty Came to Rule the World
• Note 11: Kawaii on the Japanese Wikipedia
• Note 12: Ōbunsha Kogo (Old Japanese) dictionary, 9th ed.

Other online references

• Asia Times: The cat who turned kawaii into cash (book review)
• Backwash.com: Grrl Wanders
• Chanpon: Hello Kitty has no mouth
• The FRUiTS of Japanese Fashion: Reading Resistance on the Streets of Harajuku
• International Herald Tribune: Tokyo's fantasy cafés
• New York Times: The Cute Factor
• Sociologist Sharon Kinsella's analysis of the origins of kawaii
• Taipei Times: How 'kawaii'!
• Time Asia: Young Japan: She's a material girl
• UCLA: Anime's 'Transnational Geekdom'
• What is the effect of the Fantabulous Kawaii Gizmos, Wireless Privacy Daemons & Orientalism

Offline references

• Japanese Cybercultures
• Cute but Deadly: Women and Violence in Japanese Comics, Kanako SHIOKAWA, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1999

"You are doing burikko!:Censoring/scrutinizing artificers of cute femininity in Japanese," by Laura Miller, in Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People, edited by Janet Shibamoto Smith and Shigeko Okamoto, Oxford University Press, 2004. 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

External links

• All Things Kawaii, a web site dedicated to everything cute
• Cawaii!, a Japanese magazine dedicated to kawaii