Kawaii

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.

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).

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.Template:Fn^,Template:Fn 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. Template:Fn

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. Template:Fn^,Template:Fn

Kawaii can be also used to describe the fashion sense Template:Fn^,Template:Fn 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.Template:Fn

Appearances in other cultures

Cute merchandise and other kawaii products are popular in other parts of east Asia, including China, Taiwan, and Korea.Template:Fn^,Template:Fn 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 videoTemplate:Fn and a list of wordsTemplate:Fn considered neologisms by current and former undergraduate students at Rice University.

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.

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.Template:Fn

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.Template:Fn

References

Footnotes

Other online references

Offline references

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

External links