research - Kawaii Globalisation

How the Japanese Term Kawaii Is Perceived Outside of Japan: A Study in Israel

Shiri Lieber-Milo1 and Hiroshi Nittono - 2019

The export of kawaii products from Japan to other parts of the world has been a huge success since the 1990s, with Japanese companies such as The Pokémon Company andSanrio gaining revenue from Western consumers. Kawaii products created a “pink globalization,” a term that was coined by Yano (2013), where the kawaii/cute aesthetics of childlike physical characteristics, bright colors, and soft tex- tures spread across the global market. This global success ofkawaii has encouraged numerous international corporations such as Victoria’s Secret, Motorola, and Google to use “cute- ness” as a tool of persuasion for motivating a broader con- sumer base to buy commercial products, as well as to arouse positive emotions in consumers (Lieber-Milo & Nittono, in press, spring 2019).

The question that arises from this phenomenon is how these products and characters became such a success in Japan and abroad. Studies of the psychology of cuteness began many years ago, when Konrad Lorenz (1943), a pioneer in the field of ethology, proposed Kindchenschema (baby schema). According to his ideas, some visual features—such as a high forehead, big eyes, an oversized head, and full cheeks—trigger positive feelings with a desire to protect and care for the observed object. Inspired by Lorenz’s baby- schema theory, many researchers have attempted to expand the field of kawaii/cuteness. For instance, Sherman and Haidt (2011) argued that cuteness is not a releaser of parental instincts.

Though researchers such as Kinsella (1995) stated that kawaii behav- ior includes a certain amount of weakness, May (2019) argues that cute behavior “is not as helpless as it may seem.” One of the reasons for its strength is its “seductive” qualities that entrap a person, bringing them to a state where they are unable to resist the person employing kawaii. Thus, being “cute” toward other members of society might be a useful tactic for obtaining favors, attention, trust, and even control over them.

These studies show that the power of cuteness response, the Aww affect as Buckley (2016) and Dale (2017) present, is an effective and powerful source that can motivate an emo- tional reaction in humans. In resemblance to Lorenz (1943) theory, Marcus et al. (2017) also argued that the global suc- cess of kawaii goods came as a result of a similar emotional mechanism in humans: a universal sensitivity to all things that comprise the visual characteristics of baby schema.
While the appreciation of cuteness is universal and appeals to many, Japan is considered to be one of the first countries who understood the economic potential of cuteness and in the words of Marcus et al. (2017) had “opened” the world to kawaii design from the 1970s (p. 43). 

As an exam- ple, Sanrio is one of the most famous Japanese companies that introduced kawaii aesthetics to the West, with over 450 character brands and more than 3,000 products in 46 differ- ent countries since their establishment in 1962. During the 1990s, Sanrio introduced the world of kawaii with their ambassador Hello Kitty [Haro Kitty in Japanese] to English speaking countries (especially North America) with a focus on the youth market. The success of Hello Kitty came not only from her “cute” design but also from her story that every child can relate to, regardless of his or her nationality. To generate a sense of close emotional bonding between the consumer and Hello Kitty, an attempt was made to create a qualitative bridge between the character of Hello Kitty and the potential buyer in the shape of a background story that included a birthplace, hobbies, and more. For example, she was “born” in England, has a family and a boyfriend, her blood type is A, and she loves baking and playing the piano (Yano, 2018).
This “identity of the product” was created to bring Hello Kitty to “life” and to make her a relatable figure (Marcus et al., 2017). According to Pellitteri (2018), these narratives and tactics have made Japanese characters such as Hello Kitty a global success that have successfully penetrated the international market.

Japanese cuteness later during the 1990s, with the introduction of the Japanese anime industry. Created in 1995, the Pokémon Company is a media franchise centered on fictional creatures called Pokémon (pocket monsters), which people capture and train to fight each other. 

According to Tobin (2004), the Pokémon world dominated children’s con- sumption world around 1996 and 2001 and is considered to be one of the most successful children’s computer games and television programs ever created. Although by the end of 2001, Pokémon success in Japan and abroad decreased, thanks to new mobile games such as “Pokémon Go” (an aug- mented reality mobile game, first released in 2016; https:// www.pokemongo.com) and movies such as Pokémon Detective Pikachu (produced in 2019; http://www.detective- pikachumovie.net/), a global revive of interest in the Pokémon world arise to the surface.

In today’s world, where many young people are commu- nicating with each other via social media networks rather than in face-to-face encounters, the close relationship that evolved between Ash and Pikachu and the unconditional love and self-sacrifice Pikachu is willing to make for his friend/master are desirable to many of the TV show’s fans, Japanese and non-Japanese alike. Allison (2006) even pre- sented these characters as a “shadow family,” companions who will always love and be there for you in a time of need, sometimes even more than your family.

With sales in over 124 countries (as of March 2018) and over 6.0 trillion Yen in domestic and global sales (as of March 2017), the world of Pokémon creatures became one of the biggest fads among children in the last two decades (The Pokémon Company, 2018).