Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No. 478

日本語はこちら→「Kawaii」（かわいい）はほんとうに日本文化の核弾頭なのか！

Recently, I have obtained very KAWAII embroidered vintage obi. It is so KAWAII, I decided to write about the word KAWAII today.

You probably hear this word so frequently in Japan, actually this word seems to be used worldwide.

KAWAII seems to work almost everything. Highschool girls describe a politician, KAWAII, this is just a simple exampe. People use this word so often to describe something cute.

KAWAII is now epidemic word?

I googled and the word hit 3.5 hundred million!

I also googled other Japanese words also.

kawaii　    　 　　  349,000,000

hentai　　      　 　344,000,000

karaoke　　　 　   341,000,000

sugoi　　　　  　  255,000,000

Hello Kitty                 238,000,000

samurai  　　           174,000,000 

kimono　　　           100,000,000

manga　　　 　         99,300,000

otaku  　　　　　       53,000,000

pokemon                      50,200,000

ukiyoe                 　         3,020,000

(Googled on 2012/12/22）

KAWAII is the clear number one! Sadly, Kimono is about a half of Hello Kitty.

Hentai is the second, and it is too much. KAWAII is of course cute and HENTAI is erotic matter---KAWAII is all right but HENTAI being a famous word--I am not happy about the result.

I found this website:「 How to be kawaii 」

It is introducing the points of KAWAII- for example KAWAII fashion has bright colors, unique patterns, layered look, bags with message and decorations. Make-up should be not too heavy and has to have fesh look.

KAWAII people are cheerful and laugh so much, listen to J-pop music or Nightcore music, and are confident whether they are fat or skinny. That is the essential point.　

＊Here is the example of Nightcore Music:

At tumblr, there is a project called 「The　Kawaii　Project」.

That is to change serious look leaders of countries KAWAII look. The project is to wish for more generous and peaceful world!

 

Still my question remains-is Japanese KAWAII culture really acceptable in the world? I mean do all people like KAWAII culture? Is it acceptable only by manga fans?

If you have some time, could you visit the following questionnaire link?

This is a favor to ask you from KAWAII Ichiro(me!).

Web Questionnaire　

'Do you really like 'Kawaii'?' 

→If you are 10's or 20's, please answer on this page ( to 10's and 20's )

→If you are 30's or 40's, please answer on this page ( to 30's and 40's )

→If you are 50's or over, please answer on this page→(to 50's and over )