research - Kawaii Aesthetics from Japan to Europe: Theory of the Japanese “Cute”

source: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/7/3/24

by Marco Pellitteri, 2018

Therefore, the kawaii is not to be merely seen as a subculture, but rather as an integrated and fundamental part of Japanese general and popular/massified culture. A hyper-consumerist and technologically developed society such as the Japanese one appears as needing the resources (also) of a kawaii culture to promote consumption and the development of that consumerist system. This culture of kawaii is integrated in Japanese society. It has contributed to the birth and growth of some of those highly profitable creative industries that have allowed the flourishing of a wealthy society whichhasknownwealthmorethananyothersincethe1970s(Ōmae2001);somuchsothatkawaii things and commodified fictional characters, such as aforementioned Hello Kitty, have been discussed in relation to their presence in international newspaper headlines and as catalysts for the boosting of certain fields of Japan’s creative industries and overall appeal (Yano 2009)

It is not a coincidence that the prototype and, still today, the apotheosis of a kawaii style in the world of imaginary characters of consumption stemming from Japanese companies is indeed Hello Kitty, which became a multimedia star since the early 1980s and is loved today across the wealthy world and increasingly appreciated and present in developing countries in East/Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The worldwide licensing rights of Hello Kitty are since 1976 a property of the Japanese company Sanrio; the character has become globally famous as an emblem of the kawaii.

Hello Kitty integrates all the characteristics of a kawaii object: it (or “she”) is small, defenseless, in simple pastel colors, and its looks have the proportions of a newborn—large head, small body. In short, it is designed to inspire tenderness and affection.
Italian scholar Cristiano Martorella, pointing out that no mouth is ever drawn on Hello Kitty and that its face is basically expressionless, argues that children can
project their emotions [on the kawaii-style characters and dolls] [ . . . ] much more easily. If the child is sad, it sees Hello Kitty grow sad, if he/she is happy, it sees the character smile.

o this end, it has been empirically proven that feelings and attraction for objects deemed as kawaii in style are socially driven—guided by positive, approach-motivated feelings—rather than purely psychologically driven (Nittono 2016, p. 89 ff.; Kringelbach et al. 2016). 

The kyara is, in the Japanese context, a type of very stylised character, often in animal form, an iconic figure with a recognisable name that lends itself to the most varied kinds of marketing: by its visual design as well as the narratives it conveys, kyara can be hugely successful in the creative industries that commodify heroes and figures of manga or anime.

French cultural anthropologist Clothilde Sabre (2014), who analyses the development and role of so-called yuru-kyara in Japan-located tourism: that is, the kawaii-styled mascots designed to promote locations, towns, or companies. There, kyara are almost constantly deprived of any narrative content and only exist in the context of tourism promotion.

Hiroki Azuma has a similar opinion (Azuma 2001) and analyses the kyara from a postmodernist viewpoint, framing it as able to “migrate” from one work to another among the media, unlike characters, which are seen as unable to “escape” from the medium for which they were originally created.

Regardless, in the commercial world, the kawaii aesthetical category was born from a strategic desertion of problematic content and the exasperation of the visual and emotional traits connected to the concept of kyara.