I am an absolute sucker for cute things. I unironically wear Hello Kitty shirts and have been getting to an age where I can’t help but wonder how old is too old to have a bunch of plushies on your bed. Like moth to a flame, I can’t help but feel attracted to cute things and I know many other Asians (particularly women) feel similarly.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Why is this such a phenomenon in the first place?
The history of Asian cuteness takes us to Japan’s ✯•´¨*•✿ kawaii✿•*¨•✯, which roughly translates to “cute”. Japan’s uptake of kawaii was no accident but a self-aware and calculated political move to build up a cultural spread overseas. This involved a cultural rebrand from Particularly, by associating its culture with coolness and youth.
In the 1970s, while the political awareness from leftist students of the sixties decreased, fashion and mass media cultures boomed. Japan was shifting from political idealism to postindustrial consumerism. People now wanted a change, which reflected in the consumption of images and products.
Now, we can’t talk about cuteness without discussing idol culture. Enter Matsuda Seiko, circa 1980s.
You can check out some of this diva's singing here :)
Idol singers became a huge part of mainstream culture in the 80s. Seiko’s style and mannerisms were dubbed to be burikko (from kawaiko burikko: a child/girl who pretends to be kawaii). At the core of idol cute culture, these women would emulate small children though speech, pastel-colored fashion, cute stationery, and of course, those cute plushies.
i.e., to boil it down, women didn’t want to be wives and mothers just yet-something I think has only gotten more relatable over time with the rise of squishmallows and this current labubu craze.
Another trend during this time, shōjo (meaning “females between puberty and marriage) was also prevalent in the 80s. Simply put, women were in denial to grow up and shōjo provided the ideal for girls to be carefree consumers over producers.
Women wanted to stay in this in-between the shōjo stage because life did not offer them many other options. There was a limited scope of career paths available after schooling and the only other option was to move on to the next stage as wives and mothers.
Shōjo and kawaii culture took a backseat in the late eighties and early nineties. Idol culture and anime also didn’t progress. People were becoming more self-aware of shōjo and kawaii culture, which was now viewed as women evoking a pretentious cuteness rife with self-pity while struggling to connect with her family and achieve youth freedom.
Kawaii could have been a fading fad if it weren’t for Japan’s economic crisis in the nineties. Instead of a form of expression, kawaii was something that targeted a more diverse demographic. From men and women alike who were in their thirties or older, mothers had been part of the original kawaii trend, to even the elderly! Kawaii actually helped the elderly handle computerized systems through easily accessible icons and mascots. Cuteness had finally entered the mainstream.
It wasn’t just corporations who leaned into this trend, but also the Japanese government itself! Japan set to rebrand culturally (the ultimate cultural reset?) from its serious history of honor and samurai to a more playful, soft, and feminine side. The Japanese postal service even incorporated Hello Kitty postage stamps into their repertoire and a “cartoon culture ambassador,” Doraemon!
Growing up, I didn’t even realize Doraemon’s purpose was to be a cultural ambassador. Cuteness has a way of sneaking up on you!
In the 90s, cuteness not only increased in prevalence, but it also started to increase in variety! Different subcultures began to mix mainstream cuteness with other aesthetics. While it’s thought of as usually childish, girly, and sweet, it’s important to note that the application of kawaii is a lot more broad than is often thought of in English (and many other languages for that matter), such as an elderly man or a hot spring. Keep in mind, kawaii is an aesthetical admiration of anything young, small, fragile, and cute.
In the mid-late 90s, cuteness and darkness joined forced to create .••Gothic Lolita••.. This fashion subculture was inspired by elaborate Victorian Gothic doll costumes, which is usually a cross between the French maid vibe, Marie Antoinette, and Alice in Wonderland aesthetic. A typical outfit consists of puffy frilly knee-length dresses or skirts, lace-trimmed socks, and mary jane shoes.
The style drew in many girls and young women for a few main reasons:
It was sweet and elegant i.e. fancy cute
It appreciated the romanticized lives of European mobility and upperclass of the 18th and 19th centuries
It was deliciously impractical! This facet allowed people within the GothLoli subculture to take on more demure mannerisms that were once again, super cute
The subculture grew to be so popular it took shape in mainstream aesthetics!
oh Hello Kitty…you multifaceted diva…so dark, so frilly, so cute! what can’t she do?! <3
Another subject also happened to rise in Japan in the late 90s-early 2000s, the horror genre. Yes, films like Cure (1997) and The Grudge (2004) were instrumental in merging horror and violence with cuteness to create kimokawaii: a grotesque “cute.” Kimoi is short for kimochiwarui, which means-you guessed it-grotesque. A prime example of kimokawaii is the codroe Kewpie, the mascot for cod roe spaghetti sauce from the Kewpie Corporation:
cute and unsettling in a way that keeps pulling you back in
You already know I saved the best for last, lazy cute (yuru-kawaii, yuru = loose, relaxed, calm)! This subtype has an interesting background-although it started in the late 90s, it’s still forming to this day. In 1998 (in the throes of the Japan’s economic crisis), San-X found success with their debut character, TarePanda.
Dear sweet TarePanda…so lazy and droopy they just lay on the floor ^.^
It’s no accident that TarePanda’s success coincided with the popularity of the term iyashi (meaning heal and solace) and Japan’s overall mood for ganbaranai, which means “don’t work hard.”
So how has this lazy cute made a comeback? Meet Gudetama, the lazy egg!
not pictured: its blanket and pillow, which are a strip of bacon and steak
It (and it’s an it-Sanrio has stated since Gudetama isn’t fertilized, it has no gender) does nothing, at least, it does the bare minimum. It’s a combination of lazy, apathetic, tired, and a lil sad. It constantly talks about wanting ot go home, but never explains where that is. Gudetama has become one of Sanrio’s most popular characters (don’t stress though, Hello Kitty is #1, as always), particularly with millennials. People really connect with this egg. Hell, I connect with this egg.
Gudetama comes from the term gude gude, which is a stronger word than lazy and tamago, which means egg. Lazy really is an understatement-Gudetama is too lazy to be consumed, fried, or even come out of its shell.
People, especially adults, gravitate towards yuru-kawaii as a way to cope with contemporary life’s stressors. Looking at Gudetama, or Rilakkuma (San-X’s newer yuru-kawaii character), definitely helps.
Another icon, Rilakkuma (pictured above) even means “bear in a relaxed mood”
Gudetama takes yuru-kawaii a step further by pinpointing a what many people today are thinking: If nothingness and relaxing is the goal, anything else just kinda hurts. Considering today’s climate, I imagine you get where me and many others are coming from.
So what’s next?
People are getting fed up with the shitshow and want more ways to actively blow off steam and vent. Sanrio has picked up on this with one of their newer characters (with their own Netflix show, I might add): Aggretsuko, an aggressive red panda who works in an office with annoying colleagues. She blows off steam by drinking and singing death metal in karaoke bars (mood lol).
While kawaii trends are a greater reflection on Japanese society as a whole, I can honestly understand why rage more deranged cuteness have taken hold in response to the current global instability and pressures.
While “cuteness” is a form of comfort, protest, and reaction to one’s environment and society (whether people know it or not) it’s grown more widespread than ever before. Look at China’s current domination on cuteness and its global influence on the West! Now these important newspapers like NPR having to report on Labubus (designed by Hong Kong-born and Dutch-raised artist, Kasing Lung with inspiration from Nordic fairytales) and the gambling blindboxes! Gambling rates worldwide have significantly grown since since the pandemic, where if I had to guesss, 2020 created the perfect storm of people with a new circumstance of disposable income, free time, and isolation. It was only a matter of time before online gambling got in there with data to get extra hyper-specific and attentive. Pair that the collecting craze stemming out of a reaction for isolation and people’s natural and understandable yearning to be a part of something bigger than themselves (as all humans do!), and you’ve got yourselves these guys on Cher’s Birkin Bag!