Here are all the important facts you need to know about the Kawaii culture
1. What’s in a word? What does Kawaii mean?
The history of the word Kawaii dates back to the Golden age of Japan and is said to have originated from “Kaohayushi”. Kaohayushi was soon changed to “Kawayushi” which morphed into Kawaii; it means a plethora of things: small, vulnerable, lovable, embarrassing.
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2. The Kawaii rebellion
During the emergence of Kawaii in the 1970s, some university students defied authority by refusing to attend lectures and reading the academic books prescribes to them, in order to favour Manga. They also started a youth movement which involved “cute” handwriting where the youth began to write horizontally instead of vertically, defying the traditional Japanese way. They wrote in child-like fonts with symbols of stars, hearts and faces.
3. Pioneers of Kawaii
Speculated to have begun in the 1970s, when young girls started to incorporate letters that stood out from the traditional vertical writing style. In the same year, the biggest soft toy industry of Japan, Sanrio, produce the legendary fictional character of “Hello Kitty.”
4. Kawaii-Characteristics
Although, all the Kawaii characters are diverse in nature, they follow a similar pattern. All the characters are portrayed with big heads, very little or no facial expressions, wide eyes and a tiny nose. A psychological factor being the reason behind this trait, where the unproportional body of the Kawaii characters, awakens in the viewers the need to care and nurture for the things weaker than us.
5. Kawaii Cats
The fact that Japanese are obsessed with their cats is no lie. In Japan, cats have their own shrines and an island as well; and the Kawaii world too, wouldn’t be what it is, if not for the cats. So, it is safe to say that a lot of the Kawaii art, from the earliest of the times have been influenced by cats.
6. Representatives of Kawaii in Manga and Anime
Kawaii representations have also been inculcated into Anime and Manga. The use of big doe-like eyes and the accentuated eyelashes for the characters in both Anime and Manga is to invoke an instant connection with the readers.
7. Kawaii pop-culture
The Japanese cultural trend of Kawaii has extended itself into a wide range of pop concepts, varying from fashion, to clothing and food. There is Kawaii street fashion with all the industry styles in Japan being the hallmarks of Kawaii; then there is Kawaii cosplay, where people dress up like Kawaii characters; the emergence of cute pop music—known as J-pop (Japanese pop); and public events such as Kawaii parades.
8. The Art of Bento
Bento is a single meal, which consists of rice, fish, meat, vegetables and is usually served in tiffin boxes. What’s interesting is the Bento preparation, which is heavily influenced by the Kawaii culture and is mostly done in two popular styles, known as—“kyraben” (character bento) and “oekakiben” (picture bento).
9. Kawaii designs
Kawaii designs are becoming widely popular nowadays, with talented illustrators and graphic designers being able to promote their work on different social media platforms and getting recognized. Kawaii designs are mostly attributed to cuteness overloaded and inducing emotions and feelings of happiness and joy. The designers usually use Kawaii colours (usually pastel, rainbow hue) to bring out Kawaii aesthetics.
I hope that you enjoyed reading my blog and I will be back with more fun stuff shortly!
Till next time!
Yours truly,
Kawaii Korner- Everything Cute!
picture credits: pixabay
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