On Cuteness in Japan

I'm going to try to write more about my experience and impressions of Japan in my final two months of living here. The first topic I've chosen is a light one, cuteness. So from time to time, if I can stick with it, I'll be posting one of these longer entries, like the one I'm posting today.

On cutess in Japan

I don't know if there's a country on earth that values 'cuteness' more than Japan. To start with, I'd bet serious yen to say that no other country in the world makes a greater effort to 'cutify' the most basic and naturally 'uncute' sorts of things. On a trip to Nagasaki, my girlfriend and I walked by a gas station and saw, on the side of one of its buildings, an oil spill, a gas can, and another petroleum related object, all turned into cute little characters. And if you've looked at my photos from winter vacation, you've probably seen 'Mr. Poo,' a piece of smiling toy poop you can by from toy dispensers in Japan. Really these gas products and Mr. Poo are only a few of countless examples of cute characters I've seen while I've been here. Also, since I left Iizuka, a much smaller rural town, more and more of these characters have been popping up in my life. I think in Japan today, it's hard to go out in the city and not see cute, friendly characters smiling and greeting you inside trains, buses and stores; also at railway stations, construction sites, and even police stations.

Admittedly, the creation of many of these characters seem rooted in advertising - like the Japan Railway (JR) company's cute frog mascot that holds hands with a small clock that is smiling. But that doesn't explain the myriad examples of state and city sponsored signs I've seen hanging in bus windows, bathrooms and neighborhoods often giving out information related to public safety or utility by means of these cute little characters.

These characters seem to define a pattern of cuteness that conforms to an age-old cultural trait often attributed to the Japanese - a profound love of simplicity as an aesthetic expression. That is, these characters are not cute in a big, flashy sort of way but rather in an easy, simplistic sort of way. Take, for example, Japan's most famous animation (anime) characters who, aside from having their own cartoon shows on national cable television, are always guaranteed prime shelf space at any bookstore, selling serious after series of their spin-off comics, or 'manga.' And I'm not talking about any of those intricately drawn characters like those you see in much of Japanese manga. I'm talking about the children's classics: the ones more often doodled in notebooks by the students I teach to and the ones more generally well known in Japan.

Maybe the best example of these is 'Kitty-chan,' or, as she's known where I'm from, 'Hello Kitty.' Last week as part of a school exercise I happened to be drawing her face on the blackboard and realized that she has no mouth! Also she has barely a nose and has eyes the size of Minnie Mouse's pupils. The 3 next-biggest-name anime characters I can think of fit this same cute, simplistic pattern: there's Anpanman, whose face is really just a few dots and 4 circles, Pikachu, the yellow Pokemon character who may be the simplest and cutest of all monsters, and, in my opinion the cutest of all Japanese characters, Doraemon. In my first month of living in Japan I was told that Doraemon was actually made into a firework pattern that lit up the sky (as well I'm sure as a bunch of cute little Japanese kids' eyes) at a fireworks festival somewhere in Japan.

Characters aside, I think nowhere in Japan does cuteness make its mark stronger or deeper than with its kids. I've reluctantly come to believe that, on the average, Japanese kids are way, way cuter than American kids. And, for a long time, I ignored this semi-conscious thought because it just didn't seem rational. But, after 17 months of observation and sound confirmation from a few trusted people, I've come to accept this fact.

The other day I saw a little kid coming back from school wearing a school uniform consisting of mid-thigh length black shorts, medium high white socks, black shoes, a black jacket with gold buttons, a matching black hat with gold trim, and a shiny, boxy black backpack that resembled the shape of a mailbox. The way he was dressed made it seem like he was out that afternoon delivering telegrams. He was beyond cute, but in my experience not at all a rarity in that respect.

I think in trying to understand the cuteness of Japanese kids, it's important to note the kinds of clothes they wear. At school, clean, well-fitting pressed school uniforms really help. Outside of school, many times these kids look like they're dressed as little adults. For example, the little girls I see with their families often wear dresses with simplistic patterns that, if larger, would fit grown women, and make those women look cute. Beyond the kids' clothing, I think another big advantage they have in being cute comes from the fact that in public these kids all seem so darn well behaved. Last, there's gotta be something in the language, or tone of the language, that helps gives them an edge. Japanese seems softer and more rhythmic to me than English - a little easier on the ears in general; I think you get less 'funk' and 'sharpness' coming from Japanese kids' mouths when compared to English speaking kids'. So, dressed up like little adults, these small, well behaved, often toothless Japanese kids speaking their softer language seem to me unrivaled in cuteness when compared to children in America.

Another example of prevalent cuteness I find in Japan is in Japanese lunchboxes. Everyday at school, many students and teachers bring a 'bento,' or lunchbox, to eat at lunchtime. These bentos are basically small containers, usually half the size of any American lunchbox. These small containers of food are wrapped with a clean cloth, usually patterned with an eye-pleasing design and often with bright colors. At the top of this wrapping is a knot holding a smaller rectangular box, which contains a pair of chopsticks. Nearly everyday around lunchtime I watch teachers and students carrying these small bundles that look unmistakably like presents, done up with a cute, simple wrap-job.

But inside the bento may lie the greater cuteness. Now, keeping in mind I haven't seen this example myself, I've heard stories from other foreign English teachers that there are Japanese mothers who use cute cookie cutter sorts of shapes to cut out their kids' cooked veggies with - like a little star shaped cooked carrot to go along with their fish /meat and rice. Worse, I've also heard about mothers' getting competitive about how cute they can make their child's bento; but remember these last two examples are only hearsay.

Speaking of cute food, I distinctly remember the first moment I realized such an adjective such as 'cute' could be so applied. Running late to work one morning I stopped at a convenience store to grab some breakfast. Being the only kind of banana available I bought a small, individually wrapped one and brought it to school. As soon as I reached my desk "How cute!" were the first words I heard from the young teacher sitting across from me. Before she spoke those words of my mini-banana I had never in my life thought that fruit could be cute.

The word for cute in Japanese is 'kawaii.' Hearing so many students and particularly young girls say the word since I'v been here, I kind of figured it was a newer word. But, recently I asked my Japanese relative Koki about it and he told me it's actually an older word, as he recalls his parents and their generation using it (Koki is 37). But, he said, back in the day it was applied only to 'truly' cute things like babies, or puppies. Nowadays, he says, for young people, anything is cute. Older people get angry, he said, because the word is used so loosely now. I think my small banana wouldn't have looked so cute to the older generation, at least not enough to be described as 'kawaii.'