Sixth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

The paper examines how the Japanese notion of cute, or kawaii, has been cultivated over the last three decades in the Japanese media. Roughly translated as “cute”, kawaii describes the adorable physical features that kids and baby animals have, and anything that breeds feeling of love and the motherly instinct to care and protect. Special attention is paid to the influence of media on the understanding of kawaii in Japan; media of contemporary Japan present a visual journey into cute design, food, fashion, art and crafts, advertising kawaii in all its forms. The factors that contribute most to the development of kawaii are explored; it is assumed that cultivating innocent, huggable, babyface tenderness seems to offer the ultimate refuge from harsh worklife reality.