‘Cool Japan’ and the Commodification of Cute:

Selling Japanese National Identity and International Image

by Brian Lewis

Chulalongkorn University

January 29, 2015

Abstract
In this paper, I will explore the dimensions of Kawaii as a core value of all aspects of Japanese
society and how this Japanese ‘Culture of Cute’ has been embedded, commodified, exported and
adopted to become a transnational culture and international image of Japan. This qualitative
analysis will focus on: 1/ Kawaii’s central role in promoting immaturity as key to Japanese
national identity, 2/ Kawaii as a peculiar Japanese aesthetic and 3/ Kawaii as a regionalized and
globalized culture that increasingly has become part of policy and diplomacy, communication
and entertainment and product creation, advertising and marketing to such an extent that it is
modifying and defining social tastes, trends and behavior in Japan, Asia and beyond.
The aesthetic of Kawaii centers on “Baby Schema”; a set of features commonly seen in young
animals and children: a large head relative to the body size, a high and protruding forehead, large
eyes, and so forth (Nittono et al. 2012). As replicated in various Kawaii art forms such as manga
and anime, the attributes of this ‘Baby Schema’ are designed to elicit behavioral responses
rooted in passivity, child-like innocence, superficial playfulness and pseudo- nurturing. Cute
culture is designed to promote and celebrate the Burriko (fake child) Syndrome among women
and the “Peter Pan Syndrome” among men as an officially sanctioned policy of the Japanese
national identity in the face of zero population growth and an aging population that fears an
uncertain future and thus finds comfort in being frozen in a perpetual child-like state. Adulthood
becomes less scary if your sex toy is pink and decorated with Hello Kitty, your girlfriend is
perpetually Lolita-like or your phone strap is Doraemon (popular among Japanese men).
Japan’s success in redefining its post-World War II national identity and international image as
peaceful, harmonious and cute has in turn become a rebranded fetishist cultural commodity
exported to other Asian countries and ultimately the world, causing a rupture in a global market
of heroes, icons, and fantasies long dominated by the [macho] cultural industries of the United
States (Allison 2002).. Therefore, archetypical American fare is being supplanted by such Cute
Culture icons as diva Kyary Pamyu Pamyu promoting Kawaii J-Pop, cosplay and fantasy fashion
and Pokemon fighting adorable pocket monsters.
This analysis will examine the shifting complexities surrounding the global reach of ‘Cool’
Japan Cute culture by discussing the opinions of ardent supporters and virulent detractors both in
Japan and around the world.
Keywords: Kawaii, Culture of Cute, commodification, transnational culture, Japanese aesthetic,
Japanese national identity and international image

Introduction
The traditional façade of Japanese society is of a culture ruled by regimental uniformity and
patriarchal values, where freedom of individual expression is a luxury: perhaps best exemplified
by the figure of the “salaryman” (Hammond 1999) and of woman reduced to a subservient role,
either as a housewife and mother or pre-marriage twentysomething “OL” ("office lady," a
uniformed corporate secretary/beverage server). The contrasting image to this is that of the
Japanese Culture of Cute (Kawaii), with its focus on perpetual youth and freedom and apparent
lack of seriousness, rigidity, rules or conformity. On the surface, kawaii and the traditional image
of Japanese culture would appear to be at polar opposites and kawaii seen as some sort of
rebellious reaction to the stifling conformity of old Japan. However, the seeming modernity and
non-conformity of kawaii is pure artifice.
The word “cute” can only partly capture nuances of what kawaii actually means. The word is
semantically rich and cannot be easily defined. Thus, it also incorporates other associated
meanings – ‘dear’, ‘lovely’, ‘pretty’, ‘charming’, ‘pet’, ‘attractive’, ‘tiny’, and ‘helpless’
etc. Kawaii is also related to kawaisô (可哀相) which stands for ‘poor’ and ‘pitiable’; and it is
related to kawaigaru (可愛がる) which stands for ‘to love’ and ‘to be affectionate’. All these
words express human sentiments linked to power relations. These power relations combine
weakness, submissiveness or humility with domination, control and influence. All these aspects
are associated with authority, harmony and hierarchy. Thus, the grounding for the popularity of
kawaii culture can be traced to the cornerstones of the Japanese culture and society itself
(McVeigh 2000).
This concept of kawaii is an integral aesthetic construct of Japan’s conscious re-invention of a
pure “Japaneseness” designed to differentiate its culture from all other non-Japanese cultures in
the face of globalization and an American cultural imperialism that dates back, first to Japan’s
re-emergence and modernization policies of the late 19th century and again to the post-World
War II period. As far back as 1891, Oscar Wilde wrote that Japanese people are the deliberate
self-conscious creation of certain individual artists, and thus the whole of Japan is a pure
invention.
Therefore, the figure of the stiffly traditional “salaryman” and playful images of kawaii which at
first would seem to be incongruous, in fact blend seamlessly together in modern Japanese
society. 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. Cute is everywhere. They're soaking in it (Roach
1999/2011).
The most obvious appeal of cute to the Japanese is, in large part, the appeal of childhood. "There
seems to be this feeling of always wanting to be at that level, of never wanting to move on, to
grow up and leave it behind," says Yuuko Yamaguchi, assistant general manager of Sanrio's
character-design department (the creators of Hello Kitty). Japan is collectively a society with a
12 year old’s mentality and for many there is a strong resistance to grow out of this prepubescent
stage. As adults, Japanese people are expected to conform to strict social norms and
expectations. Therefore to cope with the harsh realities of adulthood, many Japanese people seek
the comfort of cuteness (Nakata 2014).

http://onehallyu.com/topic/5903-do-you-ever-fantasize-with-anime-characters/ http://www.kawaiistudyjapan.com/?tag=kawaii-anatomy

Cuteness is a function of the resemblance of many elements of kawaii to human infants, to whom we're
programmed to respond sympathetically because of their helplessness. Given that Japan has one of the
world's lowest birth rates (and one of the highest ages of marriage) it suffers from a surplus of unused
parenting instincts. Enter Hello Kitty. "Hello Kitty needs protection," explains Merry White, a
sociologist at Boston University who has followed the kawaii phenomenon since the 1960s.
Childless adults get obsessed with Hello Kitty as a substitute for offspring. "She's not only
adorable and round, she's also mouthless and can't speak for herself" (Garger 2007).
Even more powerful than the need to nurture is the pervasive desire by the Japanese to be
nurtured. This deep nostalgia for childhood permeating Japan is not surprising, given that
Japanese adulthood is, perhaps more so than in most cultures, a time of onerous responsibility
and pressure to conform (Roach 1999/2011). Japanese child-rearing practices, which juxtapose
great freedom early on with fierce discipline once school age is reached, also breed fondness for
early life. The dramatic switchover helps explain why acting childish (in addition to looking
childish) is a key component of Japanese cute
At the pinnacle of Kawaii Inc. is Sanrio, the firm responsible for Hello Kitty, whose likeness
appears on more than 20,000 products. While it may just be marketing spin, Sanrio envisions its
flagship character as a kind of cute-therapist for the emotionally exhausted masses (Garger
2007).
Unlike any other modern cultural phenomena, cute reaches across gender and generation. The
Japanese are born into cute and raised with cute. 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?") (Roach 1999/2011).

https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091227091453AAv7cni

Japanese ball players who hit a homerun are rewarded with a plush stuffed animal when they
cross home plate. Affluent urban women spend millions of Yen on a Kansai Yamamoto couture
line called Super Hello Kitty. Teenage boys and girls tattoo themselves with cute characters:
Badtz-Maru, the Sanrio company's mischievous crown-headed penguin for boys, and the iconic
Hello Kitty for girls.
http://favim.com/image/129761/

Institutionalized Cute
Each of Japan's 47 prefectures features its own adorable mascot, as do official organizations like
the government television station, the Tokyo police and the Japanese Defense Forces.

http://muza-chan.net/japan/index.php/blog/japanese-mascots-pipo-kun

An image of Peopo (People's Police), the mascot of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police

Such characters have long been used in Japan to win hearts and minds and to soften the image of
authority. This could only happen in a country that is so open to immaturity,” said Rika Kayama,
a psychiatrist and author. “Authorities here feel it’s easier and less threatening to use characters
to get the public to accept them, rather than explain the facts” (New York Times 2007).
Prince Pickles, a perky cartoon character with saucer-round eyes, big dimples and tiny, boot-clad
feet, poses in front of tanks, rappels from helicopters and shakes hands with smiling Iraqis (New
York Times 2007).

http://www.japanprobe.com/2007/02/18/prince-pickles-the-cuddly-mascot-of-japans-self-defense-forces/

As Japan sheds its postwar pacifism and gears up to take a higher military profile in the world, it
is enlisting cadres of cute characters and adorable mascots to put a gentle, harmless sheen on its
deployments. "Prince Pickles is our image character because he's very endearing, which is what
Japan's military stands for," said Shotaro Yanagi, a Defense Agency official (New York Times
2007). Prince Pickles masks the real motives of Japan’s leaders, to increase nationalism and flex
military muscles abroad. The Defense Agency was upgraded to a full ministry in January 2007
and there are moves to expand military operations with Japan’s top ally, the United States. The
Japanese government uses cute culture to distract Japanese society and create harmony, but also
a culture of avoidance so people don’t notice societal problems.

(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

A worker controls traffic beside pink bunny traffic barrier near a construction site in Tokyo,
Tuesday, July 9, 2013.
The Meaning of Kawaii
The word ‘kawaii’ is spoken alone or in a sentence, always as a core sentiment unto itself. The
Japanese teen magazine CREA called kawaii "the most widely used, widely loved, habitual word
in modern living Japanese” (Roach 1999/2011). Mary Roach, a Salon columnist who writes on
popular science and culture described various emotive expressions of the word, ‘kawaii’ while
observing shoppers at the Tokyo train station in a small shop devoted almost entirely to a
penguin named Pingu, a superstar of cute:
"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!"). Minutes later, I heard it again, from a
twentysomething OL (office lady). This time it was more of a low groan, as though the longing to
possess was causing a tangible ache.”
In keeping with the general aspect of nurturing, kawaii refers to small children, babies and small
animals, who are seen as being helpless and needing care and protection. In a culture that values
youth, both men and woman are attracted to anything youthful, but more specifically to anything
having the child-like characteristics of innocence, purity and helplessness.
Kawaii in Japan, more than merely cuddling cute things is all about 'becoming' the cute object
itself by acting infantile. Being cute means behaving childlike which involves acts of self-
mutilation: posing with pigeon toes, pulling wide eyed innocent expressions, acting stupid, and
essentially denying the existence of the wealth of insights, feelings, and humour that maturity
brings with it. In cute culture young people become popular according to their apparent
weakness, dependence and inability rather than their strengths and capabilities (Kinsella 1995).
Women want to appear as young girls, naïve and needing protection as long as possible, largely
because Japanese men, especially middle-aged men are attracted to young girls. A good example
of this attraction is the popular phenomenon of bands like AKB48, a Japanese idol (アイドル
aidoru-Japanese pronunciation of the English word) girl group comprising 140 girls aged from
their early teens to their mid-20s who perform in teams.
http://www.tofugu.com/2013/02/26/the-things-i-do-not-miss-about-japan/

While AKB48 is the most popular, it is just one of numerous idol singing groups: young
manufactured stars/starlets who are promoted as being particularly cute role models that
everyone loves. Idols must have a perfect public image, be good examples to young people, be
adored for their sweetness and innocence, fallen in love with and have a frenzied following
(Craig 2000).
Kawaii and the Lolita Complex in Otaku Culture
The irony is that while it is imperative that idols maintain pure public images, they’re popularity,
especially with middle-aged men makes them a key part of ‘Lolicon’ (Lolita Complex) in Otaku
culture, a major sub-culture of kawaii, some social critics and government officials see as a
darker, unsavory side of kawaii dominating Japanese culture with its focus on an erotic fixation
on young girls, particularly those below the age of consent, whether real or in anime and manga.
The term otaku, while generally meaning anyone obsessed with anime and manga, and a
somewhat more negative and pejorative version of the English words ‘geek’ and ‘nerd’ tend to
focus particularly on socially inept males attracted to prepubescent girls. In response to this
trend, Tokyo’s governor from 1999-2013, Shintaro Ishihara introduced Bill 156 to regulate
sexual depictions of young girls in manga and anime. Although the bill passed in the Japanese
parliament, it has been strongly opposed by the manga and anime industry, not to mention otaku
males, resulting in the law not being stringently enforced. Therefore, this legislation has not been
successful in curbing the Lolicon trend in otaku culture. From its inception, the whole concept
and aesthetic of kawaii has always had a very strong gender bias towards young females, which
serves to fuel the lolicon trend in otaku culture. Female children also are primary users of the
word, kawaii, which supports the notion that they are acquiring kawaii as an index of female
gender identity (Asano-Cavanagh 2012).
Burdelski and Mitsuhashi (2010) observe that by the age of five, boys are no longer expected to
think of themselves as kawaii. The Japanese patriarchal mindset encourages boys to distinguish
girls as kawaii, while seeing themselves and other boys as kakkoii ‘cool’. Therefore, the
consumption of kawaii images by boys and men falls into two categories: those that are cool,
boyish and perhaps tough (but still cute), like Badtz-Maru with which they can identify, and
those that are prepubescent and feminine like idol groups or other Lolicon heroines, either real or
cartoon, that they can admire and desire.
Responding to Bill 156, Fujimoto Yukari (2011) commented that manga and anime are “not
always about the representation of objects of desire that exist in reality, nor about compelling
parties to realize their desires in reality.” In other words, Lolicon largely exists as ideal fantasy
images, often erotic, but always existing in an unreal, fantasy world. There is little evidence that
its overwhelming popularity has led to widespread, increased sexually criminal exploitation of
female minors in the real world. However, critics such as Naitō Chizuko (2010) have called
Japan a “loliconized society” (rorikonka suru shakai), where lolicon has come to represent
“societal desire in a broader sense”.

http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=174408&p=7504931
Japan has a history of positioning the young girl at the center of consumer and media culture.
(Galbraith 2011). Ōtsuka Eiji (1989) argues that the young girl, or “shōjo,” has become a
dominant image in the media, representing consumptive pleasure suspended from productive
functions. Shōjo [young girls] excel in cuteness, yōjo [little girls] in innocence, and both have
come to signify an idealized Eros in Japanese culture. The tendency to attribute this quality to
females at ever-younger ages can be seen as the inevitable consequence of the spontaneous drive
in consumer society to market an unproductive Eros as a new universal – a new commodity (Eiji
and Nakamori 1989). John Whittier Treat (1993) comments:

“Magazines, radio, above all television: in whatever direction one turns, the barely (and
thus ambiguously) pubescent woman is there both to promote products and purchase them, to
excite the consumer and herself be thrilled by the flurry of goods and services that circulate like
toys around her”.

Mass media in Japan communicates through images of young girls (shōjo), and comfort-seeking
consumers positioned as infantilized and feminized subjects (Hartley 1998).

http://virtualneko.com/kawaii-neko-grunge-neko-sl/

This trend goes as far back as the 1970s, when “otaku” males investing in hobbies rather than
relationships, turned to the fictional girls (the shōjo) of manga and anime (Honda 2005). Itō
Kimio (1992) described this as a move towards a “culture of distance,” an avoidance of direct
physical engagement in favour of visualizing and controlling fantasy objects. In other words,
some men could not keep up with the rapid changes in Japanese femininity, particularly in
emerging independence and less subservient female roles away from those of the past, and so
disengaged from real adult women and retreated into a boyish fantasy world in which, through
the images of young girls they perpetuate their own eternal youth and romantic fantasies. Sharon
Kinsella (2006) suggests that the shōjo possesses her own power, and male viewers identify with
her to negotiate an ambiguous gender role. Kinsella discusses the shoji as a concept scripted by
and for men and central to those transitioning from the traditional role of the Japanese patriarchal
male to one that has become more feminized and infantilized by this fantasy consumption.

http://de.ffxivpro.com/forum/topic/43593/no-one-does-sexist-like-the-japanese/

A popular indicator of the empowered shōjo and the infantilized Japanese otaku male is seen in
the popularity and proliferation of the “Maid Café”, a growing and integral part of otaku Lolicon
culture. Maid cafes first appeared in 2001 in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, the centre of everything
related to otaku. The waitresses in these small coffee shops dress in French maid costumes and
engage in various bizarre rituals that portray customers as masters and husbands, but also
children. These coffee shops developed out of cosplay (anime and manga costume play) cafes,
popular at the end of the 1990s. Cosplay cafes featured hostesses costumed as various characters
from anime and manga franchises, but due to popular demand, such costumes soon disappeared
in favour of the French maid outfit (Ronen 2007).
The shōjo maid is the new, kawaii version of the traditional Geisha, with her own set of skills
and talents, language and personality designed to entertain, but also in many cases to lightly
ridicule and emasculate Japanese male customers through comic sarcasm and game play. At
maid cafes, waitresses not only dress in a French maid uniform, but also act the part. They
address their customers as "master" ("go-shujin sama"), greet them with "welcome back home"
("o-kaeri nasai") instead of the traditional "irasshaimase" when they enter the restaurant and
indulge them with additional services, far beyond what is expected from a waitress in a regular
restaurant. Depending on the shop, maids are expected to spoon-feed their customers like babies,
put sugar in their drinks or cut their food. They must also hold long conversations with the
customers, or play party games with them (Hotta 2005).

http://www.midweek.com/hawaii-food-dining/food-fun-ohana-sundays-at-shirokiya/ Photo from Jo McGarry

Also, the maid act employed by maid cafe waitresses often includes feigning helplessness and
asking for a male customer's help when some task requiring physical strength or assertism is
attempted. Inclusion in the "kawaii" culture not only places maids and maid cafes into familiar
territory for the average Japanese, but also reinforces norms of male and female positions within
society (Ronen 2007).
The growing obsession of otaku males with the maid café experience has led to the development
of maid café-themed products for the lonely male. As the maids are not actually sexually
available and in fact always maintain a discreet distance from their customers, customers can
fantasize about their favourite maid with such kawaii/lolicon trinkets as a cellphone charm,
mouse wrist rest or a pillow that looks like a maid's lower half.

http://inventorspot.com/articles/japanese_maid_cafe_girl_sexy_plush_ball_chain_charm_30460

Kawaii Aesthetics and Japanese Self-Image

The old cultural residue of traditional Japanese female subservience to men is being supplanted
by a subtle, but new independence bringing empowerment, increased social responsibility and
pressure, which sometimes results in alienation from men. This new empowerment has ironically
led women to adopt the characteristics of the shōjo to retain or recapture their “girlishness” and
appear attractive to men. These little girl characteristics have been the driving force behind
kawaii and have thus informed its aesthetic make-up and personality since its inception in the
1970s.
The kawaii aesthetic emerged in 1974 when Japanese teenage girls rejected traditional forms of
Japanese writing and began using an informal and cute style of writing. This new writing style
led the equally new word kawaii, itself to go through a ‘cute’ transformation from a traditionally
rigid Japanese letterform 可愛い to this かわいい a rounder, less formal style. This new style
was more westernized than traditional Japanese, using a left-to-right format as well as many
English words and slang. The writing was decorated with things like hearts, happy faces, animal
cartoons and multiple exclamation marks. There were also many slang words created during this
time by using childish pronunciations of regular words. Girls, when speaking would obscure
their words to sound like children learning how to speak. This included also talking about oneself
in the third person. This new cute writing known as maru-ji, koneko-ji or manga-ji (kitten or
childish writing) and childish speaking known as burikko-Ji (fake child) was not well received by
most adults and was even banned in some schools, being seen as a rebellion against traditional
Japanese culture (Kinsella 1995).

http://www.tofugu.com/2012/08/09/japan-why-so-kawaii/

The emergence of childish writing and speaking coincided with a sudden craze of young adult
females acting kawaii. What is certain is that the childlike behavior was also completely
contrived. Therefore, the baby talk, the pastel and lace, and the obsession for kawaii trinkets was
calculated. But, over time it has become so completely ingrained in Japanese female behavior
that it has become difficult to discern the fakery. With the strong undercurrent of lolicon in some
key aspects of kawaii, it’s not surprising that Japanese teenage girls and young women are not
entirely innocent, even if trying to appear so. For example, a common expression, the saccharine
nyan nyan suru ニャンニャンする or “to meow” is a burikko euphemism for “to flirt” or even
“to have sex.” Besides the wide-eyed, innocent expressions, pouting, puffed out cheeks and
childlike (kitten) poses (fists held to chin, cheeks or head, for instance), another trademark of a
burikko is exclaiming Hazukashii! (恥ずかしい) or “I’m so embarrassed!” even though it’s clear
they’re not (tofugu 2015).

http://www.tofugu.com/2012/08/09/japan-why-so-kawaii/, http://naokiss2013.blog.fc2.com/blog-date-201205.html

The physical attributes of the Kawaii aesthetic center on “Baby Schema”; a set of features
commonly seen in young animals and children: a large head relative to the body size, a high and
protruding forehead, large eyes, and so forth (Nittono et al. 2012). In particular, the attribute of
large eyes, is due to the proliferation of manga, whose characters almost always have oversized
eyes. The origin of this key characteristic is the influence of “Bambi” and “Snow White” on
Osamu Tezuka, the Father of Manga. In fact, until Disney’s animated movies flooded into the
country during the Allied Occupation (1945-1951), the Japanese depicted themselves with
stereotypical Asian features, often with smaller than life eyes in ukiyo-e (浮世絵) woodblock
prints and e-maki (絵巻) scroll paintings (tofugu 2015).

http://www.tofugu.com/2012/08/09/japan-why-so-kawaii/

Evolution of the female face from woodblock print to the big eyes of manga and anime
The recent fashion trend called “Big Eyes” contact lenses is an attempt to emulate in real-life the
look of female anime and manga cartoon faces, as part of an overall trend called “living Doll”.

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/07/23/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-kawaii/

The common baby-schema characteristics of kawaii cartoon characters and toys that include
large heads and small, soft-looking bodies with an air of helplessness are intended to provide
relief from adulthood, but at the same time create a pseudo-adult responsibility of nurturing and
protection in a country suffering from zero population growth and a rapidly aging population.
Kinsella (1995) points out that the essential anatomy for a cute cartoon character to be
considered kawaii is small, soft, infantile, mammalian, round, without bodily appendages (arms),
without bodily orifices (mouths), non-sexual, mute, insecure, helpless or bewildered. This
description is supplemented by Yano (2006) who suggests that many characters are animals or
quasi-animals who must be cared for or trained. This is particularly important because as living,
breathing, active things, they exist somewhere in between being human but not quite human,
controllable but not too controllable, allowing us to project our own selves onto them (Yano
2006).
These exaggerated features are clearly seen in various kawaii merchandise characteristics
including the soft and cuddly Tarepanda (たれぱんだ), for instance, who is so helpless he can’t
even walk! Tarepanda only manages to gets around by rolling over and over at the top speed of
2.75 miles/hour.

http://www.quazoo.com/q/Tarepanda

The ability to project oneself onto cute characters suggests in part the reason for their success.
This feeling is created by not just a human/animal hybrid character but especially by giving the
characters a blank expression. This key element of the kawaii aesthetic can be seen in characters
such as Hello Kitty, who has small expressionless eyes and no visible mouth. Despite this lack of
detail or perhaps because of it, the viewer feels the kawaii character can ‘respond’ personally by
being a blank slate onto which the viewer can project their own personalities and emotions.
Therefore, the kawaii character not only exists to be cared for and nurtured but also serves as a
surrogate for self-nurturing in a perpetual child-like state.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ana-garcia/hello-kitty-is-how-old_b_6072916.html
It is also important for older people to keep in touch with youth culture. A fifty-year-old woman
with a Hello Kitty key ring is showing that she still belongs. And men have to sign up to it, too,
if they want to appeal to women (Cwiertka and Smits 2011).
Perhaps no other kawaii character best exemplifies ‘baby schema’ than Hello Kitty.

“Hello Kitty is not normally given a mouth because without it, it is easier for fans to project their
feelings onto the character, and they can be happy or sad together with Hello Kitty.”
– Sanrio, the Japanese company that owns the trademark

Hello Kitty was initially developed in 1974 by Japanese novelty company Sanrio Co. Ltd. to
decorate writing paper aimed at girls caught up in the kitten writing craze at that time. The
character was then used to adorn petty merchandise like coin purses and pencil boxes, all
targeted primarily at small girls.

http://hellokittybio.weebly.com/first-merchandise.html

However, after Hello Kitty became hugely popular, Sanrio extended the brand to a variety of
other products and after 50 years, she now features prominently on the Sanrio website, has
dozens of stores and cafes in Japan and around the world, her own touring global show as well as
licensing deals with companies as diverse as Mac Cosmetics, Fender Guitars and Mercedes
Benz.
http://www.hawaiikawaii.net/2012/hello-kitty-cafe-in-seoul/

Hello Kitty Café, Hongdae, Korea

http://www.makeuptutorialforyou.com/mac-makeup-hello-kitty/

Hello Kitty Mac Cosmetics

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1050720_customize-your-smart-car-with-hello-kitty-graphics

Hello Kitty Mercedes Benz Smart Car

Japan “Cool” and the Internationalization of Cute

With the celebration of her 50th anniversary in 2014 with a landmark exhibition put on by Sanrio
at Santa Monica Airport in Los Angeles, Hello Kitty confirmed her status as the original and
most widely recognized face of kawaii around the world. Over the last decade, Hello Kitty has
been joined by a host of other kawaii cultural artifacts spreading the Japanese government’s
‘Cool Japan’ brand across the globe.
“Cool” may be the official buzzword attached to Japanese pop culture by the national
government, but if the chants of the 20,000 strong audience who turned out for the Kawaii!!
Matsuri two-day festival held on April 20-21 [2013] are to be believed, the word kawaii still
dominates (Samuel 2013). A brief glance at the April 2013 festival lineup headlined by the
current International Ambassador of Kawaii, musician Kyary Pamyu Pamyu went far beyond a
teen-oriented notion of cute to present a range of events that ran from cosplay (costume play)
shows featuring video-game characters to fashion shows by credible brands and boutiques,
followed by performances by idol acts that would ordinarily be confined to otaku-central in the
Akihabara district of Tokyo.
Kyary has been the catalyst for a renewed interest in Japanese pop culture abroad since her first
single “Ponponpon” and its video became a viral hit internationally in 2011. The YouTube clip
has since chalked up a staggering 47 million views. Originally a street-fashion icon and blogger,
Kyary has moved on to be the face and voice of the kawaii generation, and was officially titled
as such by the mayor of Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward in 2012 (Samuel 2013). When interviewed in
2013 by Thomas Samuel for the Japan Times, Kyary said:

As someone living and breathing kawaii culture and music, and whose style grew out of walking
the streets of Harajuku [the kawaii fashion district], I just want to reveal that culture to the
world. Now that I have a platform to do so, I want to help make the concept of kawaii into a
bridge between Japan and the world.

http://www.totes4tikes.com/2014/internationalization-and-innovation-of-kawaii/

Lady Gaga and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

Kyary is representative of Japan’s conscious efforts to spread its soft power ‘Cool Japan’ brand
globally. The concept of ‘soft power’ – the ability to indirectly influence behavior or
interests through cultural or ideological means - became popular after the publication of David
McGray’s article titled ʻJapan’s Gross National Coolʼ (2002). ʻCool Japanʼ linked to the concept
of soft power has been embraced by Japanese scholars and policy-makers, and has joined the
nation’s mainstream discourse (Lam 2007 cited by Garvizu 2014) becoming central to the
government’s use of ‘cute’ to achieve its international objectives. In 2007, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (MOFA) proposed sending cartoon artists abroad as cultural ambassadors, and
the government created an executive panel to advise on ways to market Japanese kawaii and
otaku culture to foreign audiences. It was argued that international interest in Japanese kawaii
culture would translate into positive acceptance of Japanese foreign policy.
"The more positive images pop into a person's mind, the easier it becomes for Japan to get its
views across," Japan’s foreign minister, Tarō Asō said in a speech in 2007 to student animators
at Tokyo's Digital Hollywood University, whom he called the "people involved with bringing
Japanese culture to the world" (New York Times 2007).
The ‘cute’ offensive seems to have worked immediately. During Japan's mission to Iraq, the
military decorated water trucks with a figure from a globally popular Japanese soccer cartoon,
variably known as Captain Tsubasa in Japanese, Flash Kicker in the United States and Captain
Majed in Arab countries.

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/oda/shiryo/hakusyo/05_hakusho/ODA2005/html/honbun/hp200000000.htm

"Everybody loved it," said Aki Tsuda of the Foreign Ministry's aid department. "Cultural
diplomacy could be one of the most effective tools of Japanese diplomacy," said Hiro Katsumata,
a research fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore (New York Times
2007). The international consumption of Japanese anime, manga and other aspects of ‘Cool’
kawaii culture by a younger generation of fans, who will eventually fill leadership roles in their
own countries, is expected to greatly benefit Japan’s image abroad in the future.
In an address to the Japanese parliament in 2005, then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
announced a policy of promoting businesses that capitalized on pop cultural content such as
anime as a response to the already high level of interest in Japanese animation that began as far
back as Astro Boy broadcasts in the United States in 1963. By the early 2000s, anime had
become a mainstay globally with Hayano Miyazaki’s Spirited Away surpassing $10 million in
gross box receipts in the US alone by September 2003 (Cannon 2012) and winning the Academy
Award for best animated picture in 2003. In 2005, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also
conducted a program bringing cultural journalists from around Asia to Japan in order to formally
introduce them to Japanese pop culture and in particular, anime and manga that already enjoyed
a high level of popularity throughout Asia. The purpose of this 11-day media event was to make
this key aspect of ‘Cool Japan’ more widely known in the reporters’ respective countries in
response to the popularity of Japanese pop culture which was already an ongoing trend, in vogue
among Asian youth (MOFA 2005a as cited in Canon 2012).
Outside of Asia, no less a celebrity than Lady Gaga has been a major promoter of Kawaii
culture. In fact, Hatsune Miku, a massively popular Japanese “digital” pop star, was her opening
act for the first leg of her ARTPOP Ball tour in 2014. Miku is a personification of a highly
sophisticated voice synthesizer program. She’s a bubbly, Manga-styled 16-year-old with long
blue hair who is projected as a hologram in live shows and a future trend in Lolicon otaku
culture, wherein the fantasy girls will be able to jump from the virtual world of manga, anime
and video games to literally the center of the real world (Internationalization 2014).

http://www.c-k-jpopnews.fr/2014/04/18/hatsune-miku-participera-au-artpop-tour-de-lady-gaga/\
http://www.totes4tikes.com/2014/internationalization-and-innovation-of-kawaii/

Hatsune Miku appearing “Live” in Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP Ball tour, 2014

What makes Japan successful in its marketing of games, comics, and cartoons is not simply
technological or business prowess, but what some call the ‘expressive strength’ (hyo¯genryoku)
of Japanese creators. According to some, the stories, images, and ideas generated by these
products constitute an ‘international common culture’ in which Japan’s contribution is both
significant and historically unprecedented (Allison 2003). Intertwining intimacy and
commodification has been at the center of the “Play” industry in Japan, but also a more general
trend in what is called character merchandising or the selling of cuteness. Since the late 1970s,
there has been a successful international marketing of cute character creations: the blue robotic
cat, Doraemon; Sanrio’s femmy white cat, Hello Kitty; the droopy, cuddly panda, Tarepanda; the
yellow electric-charged Pikachu (The Cultural Politics 2015), not to mention the growing
popularity of what is still a niche market with cult status, yet globally widespread: adult kawaii,
including cosplay and Lolicon staples like idol groups, maid cafes, “living dolls” and shōjo
anime and manga with an erotic edge.
http://www.bangkok.com/magazine/maid-cafe.htm

Maid café in Bangkok

International anime/manga and cosplay conventions, where global ‘otaku’ fans dress as their
favourite anime and manga characters are hugely popular. For example, there are literally
hundreds of anime/manga and cosplay conventions throughout the year in Asia, Europe and the
US with “one of North America's largest celebrations of anime and East Asian popular culture”
(Animecons 2015), OTAKON in Las Vegas and the traveling 2015 Wizard World Comic Con in
New Orleans, both on January 16-18, 2015.

http://wwno.org/post/photo-gallery-2015-new-orleans-comic-con
Conclusion
The global reach of kawaii and the official commodification of its cultural artifacts through
“Cool Japan” has been successful in promoting the “soft power” image of Japan. Cute/cool
provides global currency in a market trade of youth culture that spans continents and oceans. At
a time when Japan’s political regime faces fierce global and domestic critics, when its economic
ascendancy faces challenges from that other East Asian giant—China—as well as the overall
global downturn, and when its self-defense force questions its possible role in international
disputes, retreat into the easy comforts of soft power cute/cool sounds like a welcome respite
(Yano 2009).
Asking “Is Japan too cute?” some critics in Japan and abroad have expressed concern over the
country’s image, as it relies on the exportation of frilly youth culture. There is concern that the
new cultural capital in youth-oriented, feminized cuteness trivializes Japan as infantile and
superficial (Yano 2009).
Given the insular, protective nature of Japanese culture that resists change and external
influences combined with institutionalized immaturity resulting from the national obsession with
all things kawaii, Japan increasingly faces the challenge of being taken seriously.
If the Japan of old was epitomized by sober, warrior-infused masculinity accompanied by
gracious kimono-clad women in an atmosphere of high aestheticism, then this newly promoted
Japan may be epitomized by pink-clad girls, animated fantasies, and winking Kitty logos. In the
process, the masculinized image of Japan at work (including wartime sacrifices, high-yield
productivity, and nose-to-the-grindstone education) has given way to that of feminized Japan at
play. In fact, it is not only Japan at play, but Japan as play, that loads the message (Yano 2009).
Such assumptions, often dismissive or reductionist, evince an underlying uneasiness with kawaii,
its manner of production, its emotional appeal, its Japanese origin (Brown 2011).
But, while the light-hearted commodities of kawaii have spread across the world as cultural
ambassadors of the image of the new Japan, it should not be assumed that the Japanese lack
substance and are superficial. The root of the apparent frivolous nature of kawaii culture is
actually quite serious and fundamentally at the core of modern Japanese society: the overriding
sense of dependence and the need to care for and be cared for, exemplified by the term amae (甘
え) coined by the Japanese psycho-analyst Doi Takeo (Doi 1992 cited by ElDidechabo, 2011).
According to Doi (1992) the concept of amae means “to depend and presume upon another’s
love or bask in another’s indulgence”. Amae plays a fundamental roll in the collectivist society of
Japan where individualism is discouraged and people defer to group power (Garcia, 2011).
Kawaii behavior and the cute commodities that have institutionalized kawaii support the concept
of Amae and help in the process of creating harmonious interconnections inside the family, in the
companies and between friends. Japanese do not usually confront each other and it is rare to see
Japanese people arguing. Therefore amae, underpinned by all the trappings of kawaii is
calculated to keep the harmony and peace in Japanese society. As modern and pervasive as
kawaii may be, it is in the end a tool to provide sanctuary within the status quo in a Japan under
pressure both internally and externally in a globalized world.

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