Kawaii

Chapter 8 of "The Cool Kawaii". Abstract: Like cool and kawaii, dandyism uses ironical forms of resistance to fight bourgeois society up to the point that it produces a cultural situation that comes close to New World Modernity. Cornel West’s culture of alienation, combined with an eccentric pride derived from a past of oppression and the belief in a “decadent American civilization at the end of the twentieth century”, was anticipated by Baudelaire who wrote that “dandyism is the last spark of heroism within an age of decadence”

Tato přednáška se zabývá japonským fenoménem roztomilosti („kawaii“), který představuje jeden z hlavních pilířů estetiky nového milénia. Kawaii je zároveň důležitým ekonomickým pohonem japonského kulturního průmyslu, zatímco představuje odlehčený způsob komunikace mezi politickými/korporátními subjekty a japonskou veřejností. Na různých příkladech kawaii estetiky ukážu, jak je roztomilost komodifikována v rámci afektivní ekonomiky, a jak lze kawaii kulturu vnímat jako jemnou rebelii japonských mileniálů proti zavedené sociální realitě.

This set of books is essential reading for those who aim to take Japanese culture seriously. They have been published in a postmillennial zeitgeist when course enrollments in Japanese popular culture (JPC) are on the rise, with scholars gradually becoming preoccupied with how to effectively use popular culture in higher education. Further, this set of books represents a pinnacle of serious academic research on JPC, which started booming around two decades ago when Douglas McGray stated that Japanese culture and economy came to be shaped through the appeal and attraction of JPC. While expanding the vast pool of knowledge on JPC, the three books reviewed here provide the most complex picture to date. Reading them together is recommended since they focus on the same phenomenon while offering differing yet compatible approaches.

Japanese contemporary culture, including fashion, has increasingly gained popularity outside Japan, making it a timely topic for both scholarly and wider publics. Most current studies of popular culture focuses on manga, anime, and other such forms of visual culture, and dress and design studies are also emerging as a rapidly growing field. Building on the works of McVeigh (2000), Miller (2006), Slade (2010) and Steele (2010), this book addresses this new interest in an innovative fashion, expanding the significance of dress and delving into a wide range of examples from films, magazines, music videos and literature. By connecting diverse topic areas including dress, gender, media and cultural studies, Japanese Fashion Cultures analyzes the relationship of fashion aesthetics and gender identity within an increasingly interconnected, transnational world.
The book pays particular attention to the relationship of past and present. It examines contemporary Japanese fashion trends that adopt and restyle European historical clothing forms: the Edwardian dandy style, Victorian little girls’ dresses, and the Rococo and Romantic dress typical of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Japanese fashion culture actively promoted European clothing styles both politically and aesthetically, particularly since the country’s re-engagement with Euro-America in 1868. Throughout this book, I refer to the theory of “format” and “product” articulated by cultural sociologist Keiko Okamura (2003) where a cultural form, in this case Euro-American clothing styles, can be seen as a “format” when accepted globally. This standardized “format” becomes a carrier of the locality of cultures, allowing its “local” characteristics to be visible, measurable, and comparable with that of other cultures. Through this theoretical idea, I explain complex cultural theory using compelling examples. For instance, differences in preferred modes of masculinity and fashionability in Japan and Euro-America will be explained via garments and advertisement campaigns of Dolce and Gabbana. This process will therefore reveal the characteristics both universal and culturally specific to the Japanese context, including the ways in which Japanese men and women engage with fashion today. This poses a challenge to a widely held, often Eurocentric notion that Japanese men and women simply desire to imitate their Euro-American counterparts.

Japanese Fashion Cultures provides comprehensive insights into representations of clothes and gender in a society still poorly understood by outsiders. I dispel the popular misconception that Japan approves of gender inequalities and that women still occupy inferior social positions to men, expressed also in clothing. I argue that using the lens of fashion reveals the complexities of gender relations in Japan. Four contemporary case studies position the argument: young men’s fashion magazines, female performers’ use of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice” in music video, “Lolita” fashion and Tetsuya Nakashima’s film Shimotsuma monogatari (Kamikaze Girls, 2004), and the continuing remarking of “Ivy-League” style in Japan. These four examples are notable for their adoption of historic European and American clothing forms. Their relatively “mainstream” stature in contemporary Japanese culture comes with a “twist” or unconventional characteristics. The “mainstream” standing of these types of popular culture indicates their reach, consumed by a great number of individuals within Japan. Certain qualities they manifest, on the other hand, impose a subtle, almost “delicate” kind of revolt against a set of idées fixes surrounding the relationship between clothes and gender. Using media and cultural texts as a primary source for discussion enables consideration of these complex links between distortion and reality. As Diana Crane (1990) has argued, both are parts of the “real” world where these case studies are first produced.

The first important issue this book raises is that, through negotiating male readers’ desire to attract admirers and to dress for their own pleasure, young men’s fashion magazines endorse the idea that crafting a pleasant look is the foundation of self-assurance and a successful life. Secondly, I show that female Japanese singers allow an accentuation of femininity without necessarily sexualization through the use of Japanese cute (kawaii) aesthetics. The third possibility this book explores is that highly decorative styles of Japanese Lolita fashion should not be read as symbolic of restriction and passivity. The fourth point this book addresses is that, as illustrated by the Japanese embrace of the “Ivy style,” both men and women engage with fashion in very similar ways. This is a major point of difference with the role of fashion historically in Euro-America.

These readings offer novel ways to understand the relationship between gender and dress, which is often blamed for maintaining repressive distinctions between “man” and “woman” in contemporary culture. Ultimately, this book aims to show that the Japanese appropriation of European clothing forms shows that there might be different, and hence less rigid approaches to understanding the relationship between fashion and gender. Japanese refashioning of European clothing concepts, this book argues, offers a compelling case for the implication of the aesthetics of fashion, gender, and cross-culturalism.

“Masafumi Monden's book is a gem. By bringing together and exploring colourful examples from Japan's vibrant street culture and fashion, he artfully demonstrates just how individualistic, innovative, and original the Japanese are. He also dismantles myths and misperceptions about gender relations, sexuality, and social relations in Japan.” –  Brian J. McVeigh, University of Arizona, USA,

“Monden provides a rich and detailed examination of the subtle intricacies of gendering and sexuality in contemporary Japanese fashion. While exploring the extremes of Tokyo street fashion he is able to illuminate some of the mechanism behind the perplexingly divergent ways to be a man or a woman in today's Japan.” –  Toby Slade, University of Tokyo, Japan,

“Masafumi Monden's fascinating and important book, Japanese Fashion Cultures, will be of great interest to everyone interested in fashion, gender, globalization, and youth culture. His research on young Japanese men and their attitudes towards fashion is especially significant, as it calls into question persistent stereotypes about how men and women are assumed to engage with fashion.” –  Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator, The Museum at FIT, New York City, USA

“From the possibility of subversion in lace-trimmed Lolita outfits and petite pinafores straight out of Alice in Wonderland, to the enchantments of Milkboy dandyism, Masafumi Monden's Japanese Fashion Cultures offers up a delightful combination of case studies that reveal the very best thinking in fashion theory today.” –  Laura Miller, Eiichi Shibusawa-Seigo Arai Endowed Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of Anthropology, University of Missouri–St. Louis, USA

"Masafumi Monden’s Japanese Fashion Cultures shines a spotlight on many of the looks that brought the world’s attention to an island nation which, like Britain, has consistently punched above its weight in matters of dress and appearance...In Japanese Fashion Cultures you have some most interesting comments about gender and I for one have learned a lot about the less reported (in the West at least) looks for young Japanese males." - Ted Polheums, Author of Streetstyle: From Sidewalk to Catwalk

[AMAZON LINK BELOW TO BOOK ITSELF -- TOC and book summary in downloadable .doc]      Our instincts—for food, sex, or territorial protection— evolved for life on the savannah 10,000 years ago, not in today’s world of densely populated cities, technological innovations, and pollution. We now have access to a glut of larger-than-life objects, from candy to pornography to atomic weapons—that gratify these gut instincts with often-dangerous results. Animal biologists coined the term “supernormal stimuli” to describe imitations that appeal to primitive instincts and exert a stronger pull than real things, such as soccer balls that geese prefer over eggs. Evolutionary psychologist Deirdre Barrett applies this concept to the alarming disconnect between human instinct and our created environment, demonstrating how supernormal stimuli are a major cause of today’s most pressing problems, including obesity and war. However, Barrett does more than show how unfettered instincts fuel dangerous excesses. She also reminds us that by exercising self-control we can rein them in, potentially saving ourselves and civilization.

This thesis functions to outline the various questions within my artistic practice. Deeply connected to my upbringing and familial ties, I navigate the interwoven themes embedded in my artwork and personal history.
Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1990s’, I was surrounded by the culture of a billboard landscape, while equally entrenched in the religiosity of Judaism. I therefore describe my autobiographical relationship to Judaism and the nuclear family, while dually questioning the symbolic functions of television and pop cultural symbology within my visual arts practice. Television is used as a symbol for escapism, this is butted up against a complex understanding of a religious culture weighted with the traumatic history of the Holocaust. I employ the personal artifact of my Grandfather’s Holocaust survival testimonial to complexify these relationships and search for their combined meaning.
Hello Kitty is introduced within my work as an additional trope of escapism and commodity culture. I further define that Hello Kitty, a Japanese creation and cultural icon, emerged as a capitalist symbol of comfort, cuteness, and security in a nation that was still bleeding the wounds of World War II.  Hello Kitty and other famous Japanese figures served a semi-pacification of the traumas never dealt with in Japan, and became a global phenomenon whose origins of pacification became generally unacknowledged, which furthered its purpose to delusional fans of the cute kitty.
Ultimately, this thesis acts as an invitation to contemplate the present political moment.  Unfortunately, the world is not very different from the one my Grandfather describes in his testimonial. Hopefully, the reader will be for affected to engage in a further search for truth and peace in a world where so many are desperately trying to destroy the foundations of life, liberty and freedom.

The author investigates the lolicons in the digital age by looking at social, political, and psychological factors that might explain interest in the subculture. There is also consideration of legal restrictions and their effectiveness by looking at economics and how frequently lolicons appear in social media. This investigation is important as the topic of pornography is controversial as a right of free speech, and the Supreme Court views are discussed.

The aesthetic of kawaii (cute) is a fundamental part of contemporary Japanese society. This aesthetic, however, is mostly displayed by and linked to females, especially young women and girls. It has been suggested by many academics that the 'kawaii' aesthetic disempowers females. This essay will discuss how 'kawaii' can be seen to both empower and disempower females, looking at mainstream culture, subculture, internalisation and adaptive preferences.

Susan Hopkins describes in her book on “Girl Power” how a postpunk and postfeminist environment has produced the cute but powerful girl-woman, that is, the heroic female overachiever who knows how to make things happen, is not afraid of what men think, but still insists on a “girlish” aspect that helps her to gain even more personal power.

The term kawaii, commonly translated into English as “cute” and “sweet”, has long been a part of Japanese culture. However, the modern concept of kawaii originates from a subculture associated with young schoolgirls in the 1970s. This conception of kawaii has since passed into the mainstream and can be seen in almost every aspect of Japanese culture: stylistic, visual, artistic, and even governmental. Because kawaii images evoke feelings of caring and nurturance, many private corporations have invested in the creation of cute merchandise that is based on the aesthetic qualities of kawaii/cuteness, such as infantile features, bright colors, and soft textures. This practice has not been limited to private corporations either. Governmental organizations are also making use of kawaii culture to increase the favorability and recognition of the services they provide. The present paper combines a review of the contemporary academic literature on the topic with original survey data in order to introduce the meaning and significance of the word kawaii among Japanese women, its psychological characteristics, and its commercial and governmental applications.

Analysis and Interpretation of Contemporary Japanese Graphic Communication: Kawaii, Typography and Flatness Interpreted from a Sociocultural, Aesthetic and Historical Point of View.


Image interpretation is a process that can be accomplished in different ways and at different levels of detail. In other words, it is up to the researcher to seek for information that is relevant
to him or her according to the purpose of the analysis. A more comprehensive perception of the image, requires a transdisciplinary approach that transcends the area of visual language. To this objective, a research about sociocultural, historical, aesthetic, economic, and political issues open new perspectives for a better understanding of production and image consumption.

An overview of the evolution of the pre-World War II Japanese visual communication will provide theoretical support to start a deeper contextualization about the socio-cultural, historical, and economic issues in Japan. Then, this information will be used to analyze characteristics of the Japanese visual communication, in a kind of pursuit of socio-cultural traits embodied in the printed media of Japan. Prior studies developed by the researcher and
a survey done among teachers and professionals involved in the field of visual communication formed the basis to better choose the subjects discussed in this research. Thus, in addition to
the historical context of Japanese visual culture and gathering of primary data on issues related to Japanese graphic design, the aim of this thesis is to exploring three cultural and visual features present in Japanese graphic design: kawaii, typography, and flatness. Each of these three elements has a chapter dedicated to the development and explanations, and contextualized analyzes that rely on theoretical support of primary and secondary sources of information obtained through interviews, surveys, information, and images obtained through field research as well as various kinds of bibliographical sources.

This study shows that there are socio-cultural and historical elements peculiar to Japanese society that are detectable in the images produced for advertising purposes. Despite the interest
of Japan in European visual languages, Japanese designers have maintained a balance between foreign graphical influence and Japan’s visual culture. It was also verified through samples analysis that the flatness is a common feature in modern Japanese graphical communication. However, it is not a visual manifestation as specific to Japanese culture as kawaii and the Japanese writing system, although this is common in Japanese visual culture
from the earliest works of art as sumi-e, ukiyo-e and rinpa.
It is concluded that Investigation of Japanese socio-cultural issues is essential for understanding the mode of operation and the intention in visual communication to the Japanese public. This applies especially to a graphic culture not broadly studied in academia as the Japanese contemporary graphic design and visual communication. It can be also concluded that it is possible to detect in urban visual communication cultural traits of a
nation and its people. Also, a graphic style at first exotic to the observer can be understood by ethnological, economic, historical, and socio-cultural bias of the society in which it occurs.

Keywords: Visual Communication; Japan; Society and Culture; Kawaii; Flatness.

Derived from Vladimir Nabokov’s eponymous 1955 novel and its pre-adolescent heroine, seen by the older male narrator as a ‘nymphet’, the ‘Lolita’ look typical in the United States, for example—generally characterized by highly eroticized adolescent or preadolescent girls—has stirred controversy in many Western societies. Japanese Lolita fashion, on the other hand, is characterized by images of women adorned in elaborate dresses with delicate fabrics inspired by stylistic interpretations of early-modern European clothing such as Rococo and Victorian dresses. The style thus exudes the look of European bisque dolls, yet one senses there is something odd about these Japanese ‘European’ dresses.

Lolita style also references various forms of contemporary popular culture, including Western Goth subculture, manga, anime and Visual-kei (Visual-Rock) music—a Japanese music genre popular in the 1990s, typified by musicians wearing elaborate make-up and hairstyles, with flamboyant, rather androgynous costumes. Although it is practised by a small group of people, Lolita fashion has received substantial media and academic attention, perhaps due to its visually spectacular and eye-catching nature. Moreover, the presence of Lolita fashion has increasingly been noted in locations worldwide. But why do people wish to dress in Lolita fashion?

When discussing cultural flows within a transnational context, often the focus of debate is the issue of whether cultures tend towards unification or. In this chapter however, I am interested in whether flows of culture override or dissolve cultural differences in the places they reach, via an examination of Lolita fashion. The first section focuses on Lolita fashion in the Japanese context. Paying particular attention to its stylistic aspects, I examine one of the ways in which historical European clothing has been appropriated in Japan. The second section looks at the Lolita trend outside Japan by way of a textual analysis of an Anglophone on-line community for Lolita fashion lovers, ‘EGL (Elegant Gothic Lolita) The Gothic & Lolita Fashion Community’. In so doing, I will explore how concepts such as ‘local’ and ‘global’ have been relativized or renegotiated in Lolita fashion.

There is a certain curiosity inscribed to the character Alice of Lewis Carroll's famous children's books. Perhaps reflecting the ‘enigmatic’ sexuality of the author, Alice herself has been perceived and interpreted in a dualistic way, namely as an innocent child and as a self-assertively sexualized ‘Lolita’. However, Alice can also be perceived as an emotionally flat yet autonomous character. My article explores this reading of the heroine, which is notable in the context of Japanese culture. In aspects of contemporary Japanese popular culture, for instance, the idea of ‘Alice’ embodies the idealised image of the ‘shojo’ (girl), who is situated between child and adult and is largely detached from the heterosexual economy. Paying particular attention to a group of music videos in which female Japanese pop singers, such as Alisa Mizuki, Tomoko Kawase (AKA Tommy February) and Kaela Kimura, offer their own versions of Carroll's heroine, I examine significant meanings that lie in Japanese appropriations of the imagery of Alice. The importance of their performances as Alice is highlighted by the tendency in which the aesthetic concept of kawaii (cuteness), particularly when it is mingled with sweet, girlish, and ‘infantile’ qualities, is deemed as unfavourable and demeaning in Euro-American cultures. Do their performances of Alice demonstrate a compatibility between girlish aesthetics and senses of agency and autonomy? Can their emphasis on sweetness, demureness, and femininity without hinting at sexual allure or seeking the male gaze serve to repudiate the stereotyped representation of femininity as passive, compliant, and powerless and prevent the sexual objectification of women?

This seminar examines Japanese popular culture from historical and theoretical perspectives. It offers a deeper understanding of various pop-cultural phenomena as they developed in historical and contemporary Japan. While introducing students to the basic social theories of popular culture, we conduct analyses of topics such as kabuki, ukiyo-e, kami-shibai, moga, anime, J-cinema, and J-pop. Throughout the course, we will also take a closer look at the affective-economic relationship between the Japanese idol industry and the devoted subcultural communities "otaku". The general implication of the course is that popular culture is not always a spontaneous representation of our ideas and beliefs. To examine this, we will observe the mutual influence of institutional environments and (pop)cultural scripts throughout the course of Japanese history. This will enable students to study how Japanese popular culture is both generative and constitutive, simultaneously creating and reflecting the zeitgeist in which it emerges.

Wakamono I paradossi della cultura giovanile giapponese di Cristiano Martorella Dopo alcuni interventi che hanno suscitato roventi polemiche, torniamo sull'argomento della cultura giovanile giapponese per occuparcene in modo più approfondito e dettagliato. A dispetto della presunta occidentalizzazione della gioventù nipponica, soltanto recentemente si è scoperto quanto siano originali e creativi i giovani giapponesi (wakamono significa appunto giovane). Invece di considerare il fenomeno per quello che realmente è, ossia la normale ricerca di un'identità da parte dei giovani, molti opinionisti e studiosi hanno cominciato a descrivere la cultura giovanile giapponese con termini inquietanti e appoggiandosi alla documentazione inattendibile della stampa scandalistica. L'immagine decadente della gioventù giapponese si diffuse così rapidamente, e senza controllo, da divenire un luogo comune anche della stampa che si definisce scientifica. Ed è questo un caso molto interessante da studiare, per capire i reali meccanismi dell'informazione mass-mediologica. Fra i tanti articoli italiani spicca in questo senso l'intervento di Michele Scozzai. Collezionano biancheria femminile usata […] e divorano fumetti manga, storie d'amore, di sesso e di violenza disegnate con eccezionale realismo. Comunicano via computer, si drogano di immagini (da quelle innocenti di Goldrake o Lupin III alla più spinta delle pellicole pornografiche) e delle quattro mura del piccolo monolocale dove vivono hanno fatto i confini del loro mondo. Eccoli gli otaku, un esercito di giapponesi stanchi, ribelli, figli del consumismo, "maniaci di una cybercultura masturbatoria". [Michele Scozzai, La strana tribù del Giappone, in "Focus", n.95 settembre 2000, p.66] La correlazione fra gioventù contemporanea giapponese e sesso, fumetti, masturbazione e prostituzione è ormai una costante in tutte le pubblicazioni, anche scientifiche, sull'argomento. Ma indagini sociologiche approfondite e serie che forniscano dati accertabili e metodi della ricerca non sono mai state pubblicate. E perfino in Giappone, le ipotesi di sociologi come Okonogi non sono andate oltre le supposizioni e le proposte di interpretazione dei fenomeni (cfr. Keigo Okonogi, Moratoriamu ningen no jidai, Tôkyô, Chûô Kôron Sha, 1981). Al contrario, c'è stato chi ha puntato l'attenzione sulla crescente disinformazione intorno al Giappone contemporaneo. Negli ultimi anni il Giappone è tornato a stupire il mondo occidentale, ma questa volta dando l'impressione, ormai generalizzata, di un paese in forte crisi, non solo economica, ma di identità. Confermando, secondo alcuni, le tesi che vedevano nel

Il riarmo del Giappone e la rivincita pop 1. Il contesto internazionale e geopolitico Negli ultimi anni il Giappone ha occupato un posto rilevante sulla stam-pa internazionale per i temi che riguardano la geopolitica e le questioni mi-litari, con una sorprendente ripresa di interesse per argomenti che si crede-vano dimenticati nei meandri della storia. La causa di ciò è facilmente rin-tracciabile nella consistente crescita della spesa militare delle potenze nel-l'area dell'Estremo Oriente, provocata dalla reazione all'imprevedibile mi-naccia della Corea del Nord e ai timori per l'aumentata assertività e l'ag-gressiva politica espansionistica della Repubblica Popolare Cinese. Il pericolo rappresentato dalla Corea del Nord è ben noto, e nonostante gli aspetti stravaganti di questo regime dittatoriale, si può affermare che sia una minaccia molto seria, considerando i progressi raggiunti nel produrre armi di distruzione di massa. I primi cinque test nucleari, che si sono svolti il 9 ottobre 2006, il 25 maggio 2009, il 12 febbraio 2013, il 6 gennaio 2016 Cristiano Martorella (Genova, 1971), nipponista e filosofo della scienza, membro dell'As-sociazione Italiana per gli Studi Giapponesi (AISTUGIA) e del Centro di Cultura Italia-Asia "Guglielmo Scalise". Dopo essersi laureato in Filosofia della Scienza all'Università degli Studi di Genova, si è specializzato in filosofia giapponese all'Università di Kyōto. Ha pubblicato numerosi saggi e articoli sulla filosofia, religione e cultura giapponese.

Today, Japanese popular culture (JPC) represents a valuable teaching resource that can serve as a didactic tool for the progressive lecturers of JPC worldwide. The core presumptions of this approach in global teaching is that a serious study of JPC should not only enhance the Japanese language-learning experience, but students should be trained to think critically about their favorite pop-cultural products.

When I teach JPC, I distinguish the three “functions” of culture in general: it is not only the classical notion of culture as "imitation" (mimesis, re-presentation), but also culture as "cultivation" (contemplation, propaganda), and finally culture as "play" (deconstruction, convergence). In this framework, I focus more closely on the Japanese “culture of cuteness” (kawaii bunka). This is important, because kawaii is one of the most culturally pervasive aesthetics of the new millennium, and a strong economic driver in manga, anime, fashion, television, magazines and pop-music.

By analyzing their favorite cute characters, students can learn 1) how does kawaii culture imitate and essentialize lived experience through new performances and artifacts, 2) how does kawaii culture contribute to a “cultivation of the soul” (both positively and negatively) and finally 3) how does kawaii culture operate within the postmodern discourse (which lies in a playful emancipation via deconstruction, media-mixing, and proactive participation). Such pedagogy enables students to approach the ongoing kawaii fever in Japan not only as a spontaneous cultural boom promoting things Japanese, but also as a political process that appropriates the unique, subtly countercultural appeal in order to pursue an ideological and commercial agenda.

The notion of “Cute” has been studied as a global aesthetic form in consumer and popular

culture. Aside from being a dominant aesthetic of mass culture, the cute also became a form

of expression with increasing virtual and visual communication. Oscillating between physical

world of commodity culture and digitalized media culture, cute’s visual, cultural and

economic meanings are expanded. The specific form of cute (and inevitable weird) culture

has paved its way to the top of the world economy: Japanese Kawaii Culture. The

proliferation of Kawaii aesthetic brought about revelations in art, fashion, and design even in

everyday life practices. Obsession with Kawaii culture opens the door to new distorted

visualities that create paradoxes between mundane reality of everyday life and surreal fantasy

life.

The focus of this paper is the exploration of the Japanese cute (and the weird) aesthetics

impact and its conceptual methodology in the popular visual culture and the contemporary art

scene. As a visual way of distorting everyday life, glitch aesthetics is experimented and used

by mostly video artists. In the complementary art work; experimental glitch and multilayered

video effects are used for the artistic expression and exploration of ‘distorting everyday life’

regarding ‘Japanese cute’s conceptual methodology; intensifications, hybrid visualization and

complicated imagery.

Kawaii and cute are increasingly prominent aesthetics in contemporary global culture. While Japan’s kawaii boom arguably began in the 1970s (Kinsella 1995: 220), it wasn’t until the late 20th/early 21st century that cuteness began to explode worldwide as the number of cute images, commodities, foods, fashions, and fandoms underwent rapid expansion (Dale 2017: 1). The new field of cuteness studies, formed to address this phenomenon, analyzes not only its history and development, but also the connection between cuteness and gender, race, ethnicity, age, nationality, politics, and interspecies affiliations. Its aim is to take seriously what is often dismissed as a facile commodity aesthetic because of its gendered association with femininity, childhood and the domestic sphere (Dale 2017: 2; Ngai 2012: 3).

This paper explores the concept of Gothic in relation to the contemporary Japanese Gothic & Lolita movement (G&L). Although it discusses G&L as a whole, it places a specific focus on the Gosurori (Gosu-loli, Gothloli, or Gothic Lolita) by tracing the evolution of the fashion-based Lolita subculture, from its historical, transcultural origins, and the development of its meanings.

The Japanese Lolita subculture, now becoming an increasingly worldwide preoccupation, is represented by women who dress as doll-like children. The image of this “Lolita,” which may either be categorized as “Gothic” or “Sweet,” or both, is inspired by traditional European clothing from the French Rococo and Victorian periods. Whilst it emerged from “little-girl” Japanese street styles of the 1970s, it transitioned through the New Romantic 1980s, picking up more frills, lace and ribbons on the way. For the Gothic Lolita, these influences were also fused with Neo-Victorian characteristics of gothic subcultural fashions, including elements of mourning dress, and accessories such as cameos, crosses, crucifixes, and rosary beads.

The transmigration and translation of ideas that have contributed to the G&L phenomenon are examined in context with the formulation of the gothic aspects of the Gosurori identity. In doing so, the following question will be raised and investigated, “What is gothic about Lolita?”

At the turn of the millennium, international youth culture is dominated by mainly two types of aesthetics: the African American cool, which, propelled by Hip-Hop music, has become the world’s favorite youth culture; and the Japanese aesthetics of kawaii or cute, that is distributed internationally by Japan’s powerful anime industry.

Men increasingly define themselves through the management of their bodies in today’s media-driven society, and bodily ideals operate as a major point of cultural reference —influencing men’s perceptions of their own bodies, and indeed their self-identities. One of the dominant modes of ideal male beauty in contemporary Japan, as embodied by many of the country’s male actors, models, and celebrities, differs from the generalized Western ideal of muscularity; being slender, shōnen-like (boyish), and predominantly kawaii (cute) are in vogue. These clean-cut, boyish demeanors, I argue, visually allude to a type of male identity that is situated in a liminal realm between boyhood and manhood, embodied not only by adolescent boys but also by young men in that timescape between “adolescence” and what some societies see as manhood. The primary aim of this article is to examine a particular sector of the significance of this male beauty in contemporary Japanese popular culture —namely the bishōnen, the beautiful boy positioned between child and adult. While the term bishōnen has been used extensively in its literal sense —any beautiful young man, in studies of the aesthetic imagination of Japanese boyhood —it is much more than just a genre label; it denotes a critical concept and an imagined figure of the boy. This article examines bishōnen as a cultural imagination, a complex ideal of boyish identity in Japanese popular culture, and argues that the way bishōnen is perceived and conceptualized calls into question the widely assumed equation of human beauty with sexual desire — pointing to the potential of bishōnen beauty to be appreciated purely on an aesthetic level.

O  presente  estudo  tem  como  objetivo  apresentar  a  expansão  e  a  cultura/estética,  em diferentes  nichos  sociais,  do  "kawaii"
que  é  um  adjetivo  usado  na  língua  japonesa.  Ele  é geralmente traduzido para o português como fofo e gracioso, mas não se limita a esta única tradução pelo seu conceito etimológico complexo. Além disso, desde a perspectiva histórica-política-social, destacam-se no
kawaii  as abordagens políticas e filosóficas nas sociedades não
somente a Japão, porém em outras por ser conhecida principalmente pelos mangás, animes e games;  inclusive  no  Brasil.  No  campo  das  artes  visuais, "kawaii"  foi  uma  das  bases  para  a criação  do  movimento  artístico  "superflat",  inicialmente  conceituado  pelo  artista  Takashi Murakami (1962) em 2001. Além disso, no período de pós Segunda Guerra Mundial, o Japão se tornou uma potência econômica e utilizou desta estética doce como ferramenta expansiva
no mercado global, principalmente por meio dos quadrinhos, animações e venda de artigos em setores  diversos.  Ao  aproximar  esta  cultura/estética  com  o  mundo  ocidental,  há  o  uso  do conceito eurocêntrico "kistch"  junto de um trabalho fotográfico em lojas de diversos segmentos que  tinham  produtos  com  o  conceito 
kawaii,  presente  no  cotidiano  do  cidadão  comum brasileiro.  Foram  realizadas  também  entrevistas  com  diferentes  artistas  nacionais,  cujas produções se associam ao tema abordado desta pesquisa.

- kawaii is one of the most frequently used words by Japanese today
- kawaii is one of the most culturally pervasive aesthetics of the new millennium
- the popularity of kawaii culture can be traced to the cornerstones of Japanese culture and society (cf. Japan as "Kingdom of Cute")
- kawaii became a significant economic driver in manga, anime, fashion, television, magazines, pop-music, etc.
- Japanese consumers are apt to ignore political messages and advertisements without kawaii characters

The word kawaii, meaning ‘cute and sweet’ in English, has been part of the Japanese culture for centuries. While the word and trend were historically associated with young women and children, there has recently been an attempt to expand the definition of kawaii outside of its traditional borders to other age and gender groups by creating uniquely synthesised words and trends. The newly coined term otona-kawaii [‘adult-cute’] refers to mature women who passed their teen years and continue to dress cute and behave innocent and adorable. In this paper, a focus will be taken upon the new concept of otona-kawaii, and how it is defined and evaluated by the Japanese people.

Results of a recent survey conducted among male and female respondents between the ages of 18 to 29, showed that many of them were in favour of the idea of behaving cute at an older age. It was also found that women were more familiar with the term otona-kawaii and had a more positive approach towards it than men. The results of the study suggest that kawaii can be extended beyond infants and may apply to other age populations, such as mature women.

The aim of this study is to bridge the gap between kawaii and maturity by providing some empirical evidence and information, bringing to a deeper understanding of the concept of kawaii, contributing to the scholarship of the kawaii culture in Japan.

Çok eski zamanlardan beri pişmiş topraktan oluşan kullanım araçları neredeyse bütün kültürlerde görülmektedir. İhtiyaçtan doğmuş denebilecek seramik sanatı günümüzde işlevselliği yanında daha çok plastik değer veya kavramsal öge olarak kullanılmakta, yeni bir kimliğe bürünmektedir. Aynı şekilde örmeciliğin de insanoğlunun örtünme ihtiyacı hissedildiği zamanda başladığı ve günümüze kadar toplumların zevk ve
ihtiyaçlarına cevap verecek şekilde geliştiği söylenebilir.

Örgü öğrenilmesi kolay bir tekniktir. Ailede nesilden nesile öğretilmesi yaygındır. Herkes, muhakkak örgü ören birini tanır. İster bir arkadaş, ister bir aile yakını, ister bir komşu... Örgü cana yakın, insani ve etkisi geniş bir alana sahiptir. Dünyanın çeşitli kültürlerinde farklı biçimlerde örnekleri görülebilir. Japon kültüründe giderek popülerleşen ‘amigurumi’ de bu örneklerden biridir. Amigurumi, Japonca örgü anlamına gelen ‘Ami’ kelimesiyle, doldurulmuş canlı anlamına gelen ‘Nuigurumi’
kelimelerinin birleşiminden doğmuştur. Genelde karşılaştığımız örnekleri antropomorfik (insan biçimci) özellikler taşıyan oyuncaklardır. Aslında, çok eski kökenlere dayanmayan amigurumi 1950'lerden beri yavaş yavaş büyüyerek bir fenomen olmuştur. İkinci Dünya Savaşı'nın sonlarında Hiroşima-Nagazaki felaketleri ve savaşın kaybedilmesiyle Japon kültürü değişime uğramış; bütün yaşananlara ve hayatın
acımasızlığına karşı bir kaçınma olarak yeni bir sevimlilik (kawaii) kültürü oluşmuştur.

1960'lara gelindiğinde Japonya'nın gücünü yeniden kazanmaya baslamasıyla ‘kawaii’ kültürü ve amigurumi de giderek dünya popüler kültürünün bir parçası haline gelmiştir.

Bu çalışmada, seramik sanatının yeni anlatımlar ve yeni arayışlar içinde amigurumi ile birleştirilmesi ve iki alanda da bir yenilik ortaya konması amaçlanmıştır. Tez kapsamında örgü ve seramiği birleştirebilecek bir teknikle ilk denemeler yapılmış,
Anadolu Üniversitesi Eğitim Karikatürleri Müzesi'nde bir sergi açılmış ve alınan tepkilere göre sanat açısından da ilgili çekici, özgün ve başarılı bulunduğu tespit edilmiştir. Kullanılan tekniğe uygun formlar, dokular, malzeme ve seramik pişirim teknikleri denenerek kullanılan tekniğin idealleştirilebilmesi için ilk adımlar atılmıştır. Amigurumi örnekleri ve farklı örgü teknikleri araştırılmıştır. Seramik malzemenin, farklı bir malzemeyle birlikteliği denenirken bu tarz uygulamalara sahip sanatçıların
çalışmalarından örnekler değerlendirilip çalışmayı desteklemek adına sunulmuştur.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Seramik, Örgü, Amigurumi, Japonya, Kawaii

Nesta comunicação, focar-me-ei na relação da estética moe, subgénero japonês de representações culturais de cuteness ligado à cultura do manga e do anime, e o formato yonkoma, equivalente nipónico das comic strip americanas, tendo por base o conceito de “estuplime” desenvolvido por Sianne Ngai (autora de ensaios de teoria crítica de filmes e literatura, como Ugly Feelings).
Moe (萌え, “mou-é”) é um termo de jargão japonês, multivocal, em circulação há pouco mais de uma década (ainda que com raízes traçáveis até ao início dos anos 90), utilizado com diferentes sentidos de acordo com o contexto e o utilizador. Desde que surgiu, esta buzzword nipónica do século XXI tem vindo a ser fonte de extensos debates sobre o seu balizamento conceptual, estético e político; contudo, num sentido amplo, a palavra moe refere-se, simplesmente, ao culto em torno de qualquer tipo de particularidade ou subgénero de pessoa, animal ou objecto (moe de raparigas com óculos, moe de gatos ou de comboios, etc.).
No entanto, o termo é também amplamente utilizado para descrever um tipo de cuteness (kawaisa) que emergiu e se desenvolveu no seio da subcultura japonesa conhecida por otaku – fãs obsessivos, geralmente (mas não necessariamente) de ficção científica, manga, anime, jogos de computador, etc. (com um sentido semelhante ao termo inglês nerd ou geek) –, e que pode ser sumarizada, grosso modo, como uma síndrome da “filha” ou da “irmãzinha” (imouto), ligada a um culto do vulnerável e do infantil; inclusivamente, o verbo “moeru” significa, literalmente, “desabrochar” (de um botão de flor ou rebento), estando conotado com a ideia de algo pequeno e delicado que queremos fazer florescer, nutrir e proteger. Por outro lado, o moe é, com frequência, considerado um herdeiro ou mutação contemporânea do mal-afamado rorikon (termo derivado da transliteração e contracção da frase “Lolita complex”), um subgénero erótico (ou mesmo pornográfico) de manga, anime e jogos de vídeo, dirigido a um público masculino adulto, em que as protagonistas são raparigas pubescentes e pré-pubescentes (THOMPSON: 2009).
Porém, apesar do eixo de continuidade entre rorikon e moe, com o surgimento deste último, a cultura otaku subiu um degrau na escala da cuteness, descartando a sexualização explícita das personagens, “que destruiria a ilusão de inocência que faz parte do apelo do moe”(THOMPSON: 2009), em favor do seu encanto infantil e inocente. Deste modo, os conteúdos obscenos do rorikon transfiguraram-se em temas quotidianos do slice of life, ou nas sequências de acção e piruetas dinâmicas importadas do género, tradicionalmente feminino, mahou shoujo (ou magical girl). Em qualquer dos casos, “meninas adoráveis fazem coisas adoráveis” (THOMPSON: 2009), habitando mundos suaves onde as “paixões impetuosas que asseguram as grandes formas e géneros canónicos como o épico homérico e a tragédia shakespeariana” (NGAI: 2007), parecem inteiramente extintas ou, na melhor das hipóteses, reduzidas a momentos de embaraço colegial e frustrações débeis, prontamente consoláveis com macarons e madalenas.
Esta preponderância do universo doméstico, associado à proliferação de personagens femininas infantis, doces e inocentes – ao invés de maduras e independentes –, tem fomentado uma série de interpretações para a popularidade do moe que ultrapassam as críticas mais directamente ligadas ao seu eventual subtexto pedófilo. Por exemplo, poderá indicar que “os otaku parecem querer preencher o vazio que as mulheres estão a criar” (OPPLIGER: 2011), assumindo o papel de pais e educadores (num Japão contemporâneo envelhecido, em que as raparigas parecem inclinadas a renunciar ao seu papel tradicional como esposas e mãe e as crianças se tornam, cada vez mais, um bem precioso); ou a manifestação de uma pulsão regressiva, alicerçada no desejo retrógrado de re-instauração desses modelos perdidos da feminilidade tradicional.
Contudo, se entendermos o sucesso fulgurante de que o moe tem vindo a desfrutar na última década, não só no contexto da subcultura otaku, como no prisma mais alargado da cultura kawaii (o adjectivo japonês que corresponde ao vocábulo anglo-saxónico cute), o moe-kei (estilo moe) torna-se pertinente dentro de um ethos (peculiar) de resistência (política, social) que a cultura cute nipónica tem vindo a desenvolver desde os anos 70. Na minha comunicação, focar-me-ei em alguns dispositivos através dos quais este ethos se torna visível na banda-desenhada, em particular, na relação entre o estilo moe e o yonkoma, um subgénero de manga composto por quatro vinhetas do mesmo tamanho dispostas verticalmente de cima para baixo. Tradicionalmente um género de gag manga (manga de carácter cómico ou paródico), com origens nos anos 20 e 30 do século XX – resultando da importação das comic strip americanas –, o yonkoma, ou 4koma, é um dos formatos de banda desenhada japonesa que mais consistentemente abraçou o moe.
Neste sentido, o conceito de “estuplime”, introduzido por Sianne Ngai em Ugly Feelings (obra dedicada ao estudo dos “afectos menores”), como uma combinação entre o estupor – entorpecimento das faculdades intelectuais, motoras ou sensitivas – e a componente disfórica de assombro presente no Sublime kantiano, servirá de alicerce para a minha comunicação. A partir desta ideia de “estuplimidade”, e recorrendo a exemplos de yonkoma, procurarei analisar alguns pontos que, entre outras questões, se prendem com: a linguagem infantil e afectos “menores” ou frouxos (desprovidos de intensidade); a temporalidade lenta e repetitiva/atenção implacável ao pequeno, ao finito e ao irrelevante no universo doméstico, slice of life do yonkoma; a fissão do corpo e do espaço/tempo pictórico, i.e., partes destacáveis, separadas ou dissociadas da sintaxe do organismo, e operações de enumeração, permutação, classificação, soma, agrupamento, subdivisão, multiplicação…; o humor baixo e o eufemismo, por exemplo, em subgéneros como o moe gijinka ou o mili-moe.
Finalmente, espero apresentar como válida a hipótese de que o ataque às amarras do giri (義理, literalmente “dever” ou “obrigação”) – valor fundamental na organização da sociedade japonesa tradicional que estipula a obrigação moral de cada indivíduo pagar a sua dívida para com a sociedade e os seus superiores (pais, chefes, professores, etc.), regulando toda a pirâmide hierárquica – é, não só central à estética kawaii em geral, como particularmente operativo na obsessão do género moe pela “estuplimidade” do mainichi (“vida quotidiana”), que os yonkoma materializam de forma exemplar.

"Readers unfamiliar with contemporary Japanese media might be puzzled by the appearance of men in fashion magazines. This is particularly the case for images of Japanese young men whose strong concerns over their appearance and slender physicality seem to enhance their (hetero)sexual desirability. These publications suggest to their male readers that crafting fashionable looks through selection of the right clothes, cosmetics, fragrances, and maintaining a balanced diet is necessary to self-assurance and a successful life. Do Japanese men engage with fashion differently from men in Europe, Australia, and North America?

The co-presence of Asian and non-Asian models can make these publications seem even more confusing. Readers might wonder if these models are another reification of the ‘Westernised’ nature of Japanese youth. This article shows that a rich study of subjectivity and aesthetics might be found in these Japanese men’s publications. Male aesthetic sensitivities at a cultural level and notions of “the self” might be understood in different terms than they are in many Euro-American cultures. Likewise, the male aesthetics favored by some contemporary Japanese youth might imply an attempt to reject the more established, dowdy mode of ‘salaryman’ masculinity. In short, I argue that Japanese young men’s almost narcissistic concerns about appearance and fashion might offer a different, more ‘relaxed,’ approach to understanding men’s relationship with fashion."

The notion of “Cute” has been studied as a global aesthetic form in consumer and
popular culture. Aside from being a dominant aesthetic of mass culture, the cute also
became a form of expression with increasing virtual and visual communication.
Oscillating between physical world of commodity culture and virtual media culture;
cute’s visual, cultural and economic meanings are expanded. The specific form of
cute (and inevitably weird) culture has paved its way to the top of the world
economy: J apanese Kawaii Culture . The proliferation of Kawaii aesthetic brought
about revelations in art, fashion, and design even in the everyday life practices.
Obsession with Kawaii culture opens the door to new distorted visualities that create
paradoxes between mundane reality of everyday life and surreal fantasy life.
The focus of this paper is the exploration of the Japanese cute (and the weird)
aesthetics impact and its conceptual methodology in the popular visual culture and
iii
the contemporary art scene. As a visual way of distorting everyday life, glitch
aesthetics are experimented and used by mostly video artists. In the complementary
art work; experimental glitch and multilayered video effects are used for the artistic
expression and exploration of ‘distorting everyday life’ regarding Japanese cute’s
conceptual methodology; intensification, hybrid visualization and complicated
imagery.
Key Words: Kawaii, Cute, Aestheticization, Everyday Life, Japanese Cute, Hybrid
Aesthetics, Visual Distortion.

During the second decade of the twenty-first century, the phenomenon of ‘kawaii metal’ has garnered significant attention in English-language mainstream press alongside more limited discussion in metal journalism. An ostensible fusion of metal and Japanese aidoru (idol) music, kawaii metal artists frequently juxtapose the traditional aesthetics of kawaii (cuteness) with those of metal, emphasising a combination of influences distinctly Eastern and Western. Prominent among kawaii metal artists, Babymetal have generated substantial press coverage in the Anglophone world. Despite emanating from the Japanese idol industry and singing almost exclusively in Japanese, touring the United States and Europe (producing live CDs and DVDs recorded in the US and UK) have made Babymetal one of the most visible Japanese bands in Anglo-America. This chapter explores Babymetal's fusion of idol and metal by analysing the lyrics for the band's first two albums, Babymetal (2014) and Metal Resistance (2016). Following an introduction to kawaii metal through the lens of Anglo-American press, the author elucidates Babymetal's origins as a sub-unit of the idol group Sakura Gakuin. With this background established, the author investigates the use of wordplay and themes relating to childishness and adolescence in the lyrics on Babymetal's debut album. Examining the lyrics of the band's second album illuminates a more thorough integration of idol and metal tropes, including more English-language lyrics, seemingly designed to align Babymetal with a more global metal audience, managing the interplay of Western and Eastern influences.