Why Is Tokyo So Cute?

The Cute is everywhere in Tokyo, and you’re not going to escape it. You shouldn’t even try. This is a city with fluffy animals on every corner. Where buses prowl the streets disguised as pandas. Where every corporation and even the police force have their own charming mascot. The Cute cannot be avoided, so you might as well embrace it.

Cuteness is so pervasive in Japanese society that there’s even a term for it: Kawaii. Kawaii encompasses everything from mascots, to girls talking in exaggeratedly-affected voices, to boys shaving their legs, to cosplay fashion and cutesy stickers and Pikachu and making hearts with your hands and countless other obnoxiously darling mannerisms.

The nationwide obsession with cute can be infantilizing (the police mascot Pipo-kun seems especially frivolous, and there’s nothing more irritating than a 25-year-old woman blathering on like a toddler) but on the whole, we like kawaii. Cute things make people happy, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to maximize that.

-Cute Toys From Japan And The USA

This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Did you know that Pi-Po, the police department mascot, is so named because he symbolizes good feelings between PEople and POlice?  His name also sounds rather like the continental two-tone police sirens that Tokyo police cars still use.   

  2. memographer

    This is the best set of street photography from Japan I’ve ever seen. Some shots are real keepers! Great job! 

  3. Vegard NerdyExplorer

    First of all i want to say that I love this blog!I’m going to Tokyo myself this summer and i’m staying for 1 month. I will also make blog posts and make videos from my trip. Explore what i can in the 29 days i will be there.Thanks for the inspiration.

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