As a kid I remember feeling a little bit affronted by how willfully-and-completely-without-irony cute things were in Japan. As so many Japanese friends have said to me – off the record, of course — the Japanese like to make things “cute” and therefore more friendly and accessible.

As an adult, things that are kawai now feel very natural to me, which I guess goes to show how we become acclimated to different cultures. I had sort of forgotten to be on the lookout for things that were unusually kawai by American standards until I took a western friend to Japan for his first visit last year. After watching him take the culture in for the first time, I vowed to try to pay more attention. So, I’m going to try to include more kawai posts for your enjoyment.

Here’s a favorite. How do you encourage people to take digestive and “body cleansing” medicines and drinks? How do you convince people that your diet drink really will help them to slim down?

How about including a nice cute turd as a mascot? That should make the whole “Wash Out Drink” much more accessible.