Scholars who studied the phenomenon dubbed it Anomalous Female Teenage Handwriting. The Japanese teen magazine CREA called kawaii "the most widely used, widely loved, habitual word in modern living Japanese." According to Sharon Kinsella, a Cambridge University researcher who has written on the subject, the cute craze began around 1970, when a fad for writing notes and letters in rounded, childish characters began to catch on among teenage Japanese girls. This time it was more of a low groan, as though the longing to possess was causing a tangible ache. Minutes later, I heard it again, from a twentysomething OL ("office lady," a uniformed corporate secretary/beverage server). " Kawaiiiiiiii!" The sound came from a girl of perhaps 14, a plaintive, drawn-out keening, equal parts joy ("Look how cute!") and desire ("I want him!"). Though in Japan you may be able to convince high-functioning, self-respecting adults that they can't live without a toaster that browns an image of Barbapapa into their morning slice or that a Hello Kitty wedding is a swell idea, in the rest of the world, thus far, it takes a high tech hook. They're soaking in it.Īt the intersection of Japan's consumer-electronics powerhouses and its character-goods industry lie the rare examples of global cute - billion-dollar sellers like Tamagotchi and Pokémon, which combine appealing aesthetics with an addictive computer-game experience. Salarymen otherwise indistinguishable with their gray suits and cigarettes buy novelty cell phone straps adorned with plastic charms of their favorite cute characters: Thunder Bunny, Cookie Monster, Doraemon the robot cat. Teenage boys tattoo themselves with Badtz-Maru, the Sanrio company's mischievous, lumpy-headed penguin. Well-heeled city women are dropping yen by the millions on a Kansai Yamamoto couture line called Super Hello Kitty. Home-run-swatting ball players are handed a plush stuffed animal when they cross the plate. Each of Japan's 47 prefectures has its own adorable mascot, as do the Tokyo police and the government television station. They see backhoes painted to look like giraffes and police kiosks fixed up like gingerbread houses. They grow up to save money with cute (Miffy the bunny on Asahi Bank ATM cards), to pray with cute (Hello Kitty charm bags at Shinto shrines), to have sex with cute (prophylactics decorated with Monkichi the monkey, a condom stretched over his body, entreating, "Would you protect me?"). The Japanese are born into cute and raised with cute. There, the pull of the cute is a powerful and omnipresent force. To anyone who knows Japan, the assumption seems apt.
The assumption is that Japanese men and women will line up for the opportunity to ride a jet whose fuselage, headrests, and beverage cups are decorated with the adorable yellow whatever-he-is, Pikachu. Over the last year and a half, the Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways spent upwards of a million dollars in licensing fees and paint to decorate the exterior of three Boeing 747s with colorful, 20-foot-high Pocket Monsters from Pokémon, the Nintendo Game Boy phenomenon-slash-hit cartoon-slash-just released Warner Bros.
What can you say about a high-powered exec with an Elmo charm on his cell phone? He gets it.
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