Cute is cool in Japan.
Look anywhere and everywhere: Cartoon figures dangle from cellphones, waitresses bow in frilly maid outfits, bows adorn bags, even police departments boast cuddly mascots.
These days, Japan Inc, known in the past for more serious products like Toyota cars and the Sony Walkman, is busy exporting the epitome of cute -- bubble-headed Hello Kitty, Pokemon video games, the singing duo Puffy and the Tamagotchi virtual pet, just to name a few.
But the obsession with things cute -- or kawaii (pronounced Ka-wuh-EEH) in Japanese -- has the world's second biggest economy doing some soul-searching, wondering what exactly is making its people gravitate so frantically toward cuteness. A big reason for the emerging debate: Cute-worship is gaining such overseas acceptance it's rapidly becoming Japan's global image.
American pop star Gwen Stefani often uses a Tokyo street-inspired look in her performances. Spirited Away, an adventure story of a doe-eyed girl by Hayao Miyazaki won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.
Nintendo Co, which makes Super Mario and Pokemon video games, recorded about ?350 billion (US$3.1 billion) in the US and European sales last fiscal year. Japan's entertainment content business totals some ?13 trillion (US$116 billion), or about two-thirds of Toyota's sales, according to the Digital Content Association of Japan.
Skeptics here say Japan's pursuit of cute is a sign of an infantile mentality and worry that Japanese culture -- historically praised for exquisite understatement as sparse rock gardens and woodblock prints -- may be headed toward doom.
Hiroto Murasawa, an expert on the culture of beauty at Osaka Shoin Women's University, believes that cute proves the Japanese simply don't want to grow up. "It's a mentality that breeds non-assertion," he said.
On the other hand, Tomoyuki Sugiyama, author of Cool Japan, believes cute is rooted in Japan's harmony loving culture.
Collecting miniatures such as mementos for cellphones can be traced back 400 years to the Edo Period, when tiny carved netsuke charms were wildly popular, said Sugiyama, president of Digital Hollywood, a Tokyo school for computer-graphics designers, video artists and game creators.
"Japanese are seeking a spiritual peace and an escape from brutal reality through cute things," he said.
Model and actress Yuri Ebihara, 26, widely viewed as the personification of cute, commands such influence that when she sports lacy pastel skirts in a fashion magazine, they become instant sellouts.
"I make it a point never to forget to smile," said Ebihara, often seen on TV ads and billboards. "If someone doesn't find me cute, I want to know why because then I'll work on it to get better at being cute."
Yutaka Onishi, editor in chief of CanCam, the 650,000-circulation magazine that propelled Ebihara to stardom, says the girl-next-door Ebihara, standing a demure 168 centimeters, 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," Onishi said.
Through her work, artist Ryoko Sato is raising questions on how lines get drawn between what's cute and what's not. She shrugs off much of pop culture as empty fluff and seeks to delve deeper through works like The Kiss, a photo of a skinned mouse next to its furry hide, a statement on how cute is skin deep.
"To me, cute always in my work couples with the grotesque," she said. "There's always a dark side to it."
Still, such naysayers are a minority.
A survey on beauty standards by cosmetics company Kanebo found that women in their 20s and early 30s favor the cute look, accentuated by a childish round face, rather than the elegant face, compared to women over 35.
"Japanese women see value in youth and want to combine childishness and cuteness with sexiness and glamour," says Sakae Nonomura, a Kanebo researcher. "Cute has now grown so widespread that various types of cute coexist."
Indeed, Japanese have come up with nuances of cute and use phrases such as "erotic-cute" and "grotesque-cute" in conversation.
Hideki Kojima, 38, a garbage collector, is such a believer in cute he patronizes a "maid cafe," one of several that have sprung up in Tokyo, where waitresses in maid outfits greet customers by squeaking: "Welcome home, master."
The cafe serves food and allows customers to take photos and play games with the maids. Kojima sometimes goes there three times a day, dropping as much as ?10,000 yen (US$90) a visit for a chance to gawk at the maids. Prostitution and other sexual favors are strictly off-limits.
"They're cute," Kojima says. "It can't really be explained in words."
Nobuyoshi Kurita, a sociology professor at Tokyo's Musashi University, says cute is a "magic term" that encompasses everything that's acceptable and desirable -- this nation's answer to the West. The cute concept, he said, could determine Japan's cultural influence on the world.
"Where cute goes determines the future of Japan," he said, adding that Japan's cute offerings may one day command the respect of European luxury goods.
"If it succeeds, Japan's future will be bright," he said.
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