Among the headlines were:

In Japan, debate takes a cute turn

Yeah, it’s interesting because if you get to know enough Japanese people really well, you do eventually have this conversation with them. It’s always touchy, of course. But there eventually this sort of self-criticism emerges, this sense that Japan views itself as inferior . . . which is then followed by all the reasons why Japan isn’t inferior.

I don’t know. I’m with you. I think it’s (the inferiority/infantalism complex) an interesting theory, and maybe part of the story, but not the whole story. I would also agree that kawaii as an “antidoe to violence/stress” probably gets at some of the meaning of the aesthetic within the culture.

But these things are never simple, and can’t ever be summed up in one sentence.

Thanks for posting, Shae! You always have something interesting to say and to share.

I don’t know how much I buy into that part of his theory, but I definitely empathized with what he was saying about kawaii as an antidote to violence/stress, and as a manifestation of and/or haven from the “blankness” of modernity.

I don’t think kawaii will ever go over very well in US or UK or OZ, but it has already conquered Taiwan and parts of Hong Kong, where “ker-ai” is the Mandarin borrowing of kawaii and it is very strong in both places among teen girls there.

But again, yes, it’s just a local thing in Japan and very very …..kawaii!

outside Japan, I think most Westerners roll their eyes when they hear about this fascination with kawaii among Japanese teen girls

Danny, this is a bit ironic, as another thread from an earlier post criticizes Japanese for slavishly trying to copy Westerners. Culture is, by definition, local. Who cares what someone from outside the culture thinks?

Westerners these days roll their eyes at everything – that’s why the West is in cultural decline. Scared to death to have eyes rolled at them. Frankly, I think the fake “attitude” I see in America is pretty eye-rollable myself.

The problem with asking Japanese if they are happy here, particularly if asked in English, is you are getting a skewed sample. First, many people complain about where they are, but wouldn’t be happy anywhere else either. I heard non-stop complaints about San Francisco when I lived there.
Secondly, many Japanese who are unhappy would gravitate to foreign acquaintances. I know countless Japanese who would never live anywhere else. So far as being brutal, well I guess it is if you allow yourself to be brutalized. But any Japanese with a bit of confidence can carve their own path without too much trouble at all. I think the sense of brutality comes from within for people who simple haven’t the will to break out. Admittedly, society encourages the lack of independence, but enforcement is spotty.

That being said, it can get to be too much. I once went to the Tokyo Gift Show, and man, there were so many characters and cute things there that my head was swimming.

One thing i have never understood about Japan, despite having lived there for five wonderful years, relates to that quote: if there is a need to escape from a daily brutal reality, as the quote has it, why do people think Japan is a paradise and full of cute kawaii worth exporting? If life inside Japan is so brutal for the Japanese (is it? can anyone answer that one?) then why is Japan seen as such a cool, wonderful place, and cuteness so…cute?

Outsiders see Japan one way, coolville, but ask most Japanese who live inside Japan, with all its pressures and stress and invisible walls of social interaction, if they are happy there. My Japanese friends tell me they are very happy in Japan and they also tell me they are deeply unahppy there. It’s a very difficult place to be Japanese in. But for foreigners, it’s paradise, and very very cool, yes.

Yutaka Onishi, editor in chief of CanCam, the 650,000-circulation magazine that propelled Ebihara to stardom, says the petite, girl-next-door Ebihara, is pioneering a look that’s distinct from the tall sexy beauties of the West.

“Cute is that exclamation from the soul of Japan’s younger generation,” much like “soul” or “La Raza,” teen girl magazine Onishi said. [THAT IS SO WRONG, Ms. ONISHI!]

Ryoko Sato, a Japanese artist, shrugs off much of pop culture as empty fluff and seeks to delve deeper through works like “The Kiss.” The photo of a skinned mouse next to its furry hide is a statement on how cute is as skin-deep as cruelty or ugliness.

“To me, cute always in my work couples with the grotesque,” she said. “There’s always a dark side to it.”