NIPPON-ICHIGO

Kawaii is more than just a word meaning “cute” to be thrown around by 14-year-old manga fans on deviantArt. In Japan, it’s an entire culture, one that has captured the hearts of many and slowly creeped its way westwards to claim others as well. Good thing, too: I’m weak to adorable and tiny things. Very weak.

Sweet lord.

Japan has pretty much cornered the market on cute. And since Japan appointed a cartoon ambassador of anime last year, it stands to reason that the next step would be appointing (non-cartoon) ambassadors of cuteness.

They're so cute it's killing me

It’s no surprise they’re already popular in Harajuku. They look like they stepped right out of anime. They might start glittering and undergo a magical transformation at any moment…and then giggle innocently, completely unaware of why you gape and stare.

Foreign Ministry head of cultural affairs Tsutomu Nakagawa said this:

“We want people abroad to know these kind of people exist in Japan and to feel close to them.”

I think what would surprise us more is letting us know that people other than this exist in Japan. Because, let’s face it — all these foreign otaku and other sorts obsessed with Japan abroad would like to think one out of every two Japanese people they would encounter would appear to be this way.

Anyway, I like it. I’m all about style, and “kawaii” never dies. Japan already has huge cultural appeal, but still seems aloof to many. This will help.

A while back I came upon this article called The Japanese face and the eye of the beholder. Almost sounds like one of their movies, right?

It talks about how the perception of a particular photographer on the faces of Japan, and how the writer, a friend of this photographer, says it’s both a mix of singular and worldwide influences.

Japan was a very different place not too long ago in history. It had yet to feel the influence of anything outside its tiny island, but now with an influx of Western culture, who can deny that they, too, are looking more “western”?

The thing about such a fact is that, classic or contemporary, I still love the Japanese aesthetic. No matter how much they’ve changed in the last half-century, no matter how much of Western and worldwide culture has been introduced there, they still have a style distinctly their own, from their lifestyles to their looks. Pretty amazing what they can do, right?

(Yes, we’re fangirling an entire nation here.)

The article expresses the yearnings of a world-traveler at heart. It also makes good points about how time and technology also influence our views of the past and the present. I think it’s good to assume that certain eras are transient and can never be recaptured – but, you have to love the times you’re in. I’m thankful for the world and the Japan we have right now!