How the Japanese Term Kawaii Is Perceived Outside of Japan: A Study in Israel

Abstract

In Japan, many products contain the characteristics of small, round, bright colors, and are adorable and sweet, in short kawaii (“cute” in direct translation into English). Over the years, the mass production of kawaii goods has made its way to the West, initially through visual media and later on through consumption goods. This exposure has brought increased interest in Japan and its culture among young Westerners as well as a rise in familiarity with everyday Japanese words like kawaii. This study illuminates how non-Japanese people, in this case Israelis, define and treat the term kawaii. The results of the survey showed that a high number of respondents were familiar with the term kawaii, were able to define it in their own words, and had a positive approach toward it. This article provides some empirical evidence of a successful penetration of the Japanese consumer-related culture and popular words in Israel.

Introduction: The Term Kawaii and Its Aesthetic Qualities

Considered to be one of the most widely used and beloved words in modern day Japan, the Japanese term kawaii describes playfulness, warmth, cuteness, eliciting maternal instincts and even the feelings of empathy and compassion, and is usually used to indicate small objects, like infants and young animals, young women who look lovely, and fancy goods (such as decorations and toys) that please us. Although the word is often translated as “cute and adorable” in English or “hamud” in Hebrew, kawaii comprises a variety of meanings such as sweetness, pitifulness, and ludicrous that can be seen as contradictory to one another (Nittono, 2016).

As a term, kawaii originated from kawahayushi, which meant “embarrassed.” This conjoined word of “face” [kao] and “flushing/illuminating” [hayui] was used to describe a sense of sympathy and pity toward weaker members of society, such as children. Over the years, the meanings of “pity” [kawaisou] and “ashamed” vanished, while the sympathetic and affective meanings of kawaii remained (Nittono, 2016). Today, “pity” is no longer a part of the modern meaning of kawaii; according to Dale (2017), at present the word has no negative connotations in Japan. In other words, while kawaii had a negative connotation in the past, its positive meaning overrode its negative meaning, and today kawaii generally implies something good.

Aesthetically, kawaii figures and icons include the physical characteristics of a rounded face, large eyes, bright colors, and a small body, which played a significant role at the outset of modern Japanese popular consumer culture. These qualities have been established kawaii aesthetics as central, a kind of “soft power,” to the consumer culture, where marketers have learned that consumers will embrace products that create an atmosphere of warmth and neediness (Granot, Alejandro, & Russell, 2014). To attract more non-Japanese tourists to Japan and to bring to a positive attitude toward the country, the Japanese government had adopted this “soft power” tactic and employed it as a campaign entitled “Cool Japan.” This campaign began in 2009, where the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced three new Kawaii Tashi (ambassadors of kawaii cultures) as the main representatives of Japanese pop culture in the field of fashion. These three young women represent three different styles of kawaii fashions—high school student fashion with cute high school uniform, lolita fashion (a street fashion that is inspired by historical Victorian dolls), and gyaru fashion (a street fashion of young women who dyed their hair, have tanned skin, and heavy makeup (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2009). Lieber-Milo and Nittono (in press, spring 2019) regarded this type of official collaboration as a typical example of the fundamental impact and importance of the kawaii/cute culture in Japan. Unlike the “conservative” design of cuteness in the West (such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse of Disney characters, modern Teddy Bears), Japanese kawaii design sometimes can be less cuddly and more provocative in a way that may evoke a blend of mixed feelings in the observer, such as disgust and repulsion. For example, Gloomy Bear, a 2-meter tall, violent, covered in blood, pink bear that hurts people, may not be seen cute by non-Japanese but for many Japanese this bear is entitled kawaii.

These aesthetic qualities often generate, according to Dale (2017), a sense of close emotional feelings in the observer and can motivate potential consumers into buying a certain product. For thus, kawaii aesthetics became central to the consumer culture and marketing strategy in Japan, up to a level of “national obsession” in the words of Allison (2006) and a “stepping-stone” in a product’s success as described by Marcus Kurosu, Ma, and Hashizume (2017). As such, when creating cute products, brands (such as Sanrio and Disney) follow the general guidelines of “cute” and “neoteny” design characteristics of childlike, rounded, simple, small, and soft, with warm and bright colors (Marcus et al., 2017).

While kawaii fancy goods were initially produced for young women of the 1970s, over the years the application of kawaii design has spread beyond its traditional borders and today it is being used and marketed by the mass media. For example, government organizations such as police departments and cities often utilize characters, known as mascots or yuru kyara, that convey kawaii physical characteristics and place them as the “face” of the organization. This strategy has a few purposes: to inspire fondness for the organization and to form a kind of “united identity” of the selected group. This application has become so common that almost every city and corporation in Japan has its own cute character; there is even an annual gathering that brings all the city mascots to one place. Lieber-Milo and Nittono (in press, spring 2019) mentioned that not only Japanese corporations and governmental offices but also foreign ones, such as the Embassy of Israel in Japan, understood the power of kawaii aesthetics in Japan and have supported mascot selection contests through social media in an attempt to design their own cute mascots. According to Nir Tork (personal communication, August 15, 2015), an Israeli employee in the Culture and Science Affairs section of the Embassy of Israel in Tokyo, Shalom-chan, the Israeli mascot in Japan, had succeeded in softening the image of Israel in the eyes of the Japanese as well as increasing Israel’s incoming tourism rate from Japan.

Over the years, it has been said that the world of kawaii aesthetics has stretched beyond the borders of Japan and now its related products are being sold and practiced in numerous countries. However, empirical evidence for this has been relatively scarce. Although past studies (e.g., Kinsella, 1995) described kawaii aesthetics in a more criticizing tone, as childish and inappropriate for certain people, the present study was conducted under the hypothesis that today many non-Japanese people have a positive attitude toward kawaii. In this study, by means of an online survey in Israel, we examined how the term kawaii is defined and evaluated by Israelis. The results of the survey demonstrate the spread of consumer-related culture outside of Japan and provide an example of the successful assimilation of Japanese terms and trends in Israel.

Kawaii Globalization

The export of kawaii products from Japan to other parts of the world has been a huge success since the 1990s, with Japanese companies such as The Pokémon Company and Sanrio gaining revenue from Western consumers. Kawaii products created a “pink globalization,” a term that was coined by Yano (2013), where the kawaii/cute aesthetics of childlike physical characteristics, bright colors, and soft textures spread across the global market. This global success of kawaii has encouraged numerous international corporations such as Victoria’s Secret, Motorola, and Google to use “cuteness” as a tool of persuasion for motivating a broader consumer base to buy commercial products, as well as to arouse positive emotions in consumers (Lieber-Milo & Nittono, in press, spring 2019).

The question that arises from this phenomenon is how these products and characters became such a success in Japan and abroad. Studies of the psychology of cuteness began many years ago, when Konrad Lorenz (1943), a pioneer in the field of ethology, proposed Kindchenschema (baby schema). According to his ideas, some visual features—such as a high forehead, big eyes, an oversized head, and full cheeks—trigger positive feelings with a desire to protect and care for the observed object. Inspired by Lorenz’s baby-schema theory, many researchers have attempted to expand the field of kawaii/cuteness. For instance, Sherman and Haidt (2011) argued that cuteness is not a releaser of parental instincts. Regarding the response to cuteness as an affective mechanism, they proposed that its primary function is to motivate sociality by activating mentalizing processes that attribute mental states to agents. Kringelbach, Stark, Alexander, Bornstein, and Stein (2016) reviewed recent advances in psychological and neurophysiological research on cuteness and suggested that cuteness is not limited to visual infant features but includes positive sounds and smells. They argued that cuteness plays an important role not only in caregiving but also in increasing pleasure and empathy and facilitating social relationship and well-being. Though researchers such as Kinsella (1995) stated that kawaii behavior includes a certain amount of weakness, May (2019) argues that cute behavior “is not as helpless as it may seem.” One of the reasons for its strength is its “seductive” qualities that entrap a person, bringing them to a state where they are unable to resist the person employing kawaii. Thus, being “cute” toward other members of society might be a useful tactic for obtaining favors, attention, trust, and even control over them.

These studies show that the power of cuteness response, the Aww affect as Buckley (2016) and Dale (2017) present, is an effective and powerful source that can motivate an emotional reaction in humans. In resemblance to Lorenz (1943) theory, Marcus et al. (2017) also argued that the global success of kawaii goods came as a result of a similar emotional mechanism in humans: a universal sensitivity to all things that comprise the visual characteristics of baby schema.

While the appreciation of cuteness is universal and appeals to many, Japan is considered to be one of the first countries who understood the economic potential of cuteness and in the words of Marcus et al. (2017) had “opened” the world to kawaii design from the 1970s (p. 43). As an example, Sanrio is one of the most famous Japanese companies that introduced kawaii aesthetics to the West, with over 450 character brands and more than 3,000 products in 46 different countries since their establishment in 1962. During the 1990s, Sanrio introduced the world of kawaii with their ambassador Hello Kitty [Haro Kitty in Japanese] to English speaking countries (especially North America) with a focus on the youth market. The success of Hello Kitty came not only from her “cute” design but also from her story that every child can relate to, regardless of his or her nationality. To generate a sense of close emotional bonding between the consumer and Hello Kitty, an attempt was made to create a qualitative bridge between the character of Hello Kitty and the potential buyer in the shape of a background story that included a birthplace, hobbies, and more. For example, she was “born” in England, has a family and a boyfriend, her blood type is A, and she loves baking and playing the piano (Yano, 2018).

This “identity of the product” was created to bring Hello Kitty to “life” and to make her a relatable figure (Marcus et al., 2017). According to Pellitteri (2018), these narratives and tactics have made Japanese characters such as Hello Kitty a global success that have successfully penetrated the international market.

The Assimilation and Acceptance of Kawaii in Israel

While in Japan the kawaii mass production took place during the 1970s, young Israelis were encountered to the Japanese cuteness later during the 1990s, with the introduction of the Japanese anime industry. Created in 1995, the Pokémon Company is a media franchise centered on fictional creatures called Pokémon (pocket monsters), which people capture and train to fight each other. The storyline revolves around Ash (Satoshi in the Japanese version) who travels in a virtual world, accompanied by his friends (Misty and Broke) and his trusty Pokémon, Pikachu. Although Pokémon was first introduced through the software Nintendo’s Game Boy (a handheld game), its global popularity aroused from the television show and its related merchandise such as card games and artificial products such as Pokémon dolls. According to Tobin (2004), the Pokémon world dominated children’s consumption world around 1996 and 2001 and is considered to be one of the most successful children’s computer games and television programs ever created. Although by the end of 2001, Pokémon success in Japan and abroad decreased, thanks to new mobile games such as “Pokémon Go” (an augmented reality mobile game, first released in 2016; https://www.pokemongo.com) and movies such as Pokémon Detective Pikachu (produced in 2019; http://www.detectivepikachumovie.net/), a global revive of interest in the Pokémon world arise to the surface.

In Israel, the television show was first broadcast during the 1990s and gained almost instant success, with a high rating of more than 21.4% of viewers (Lemish & Bloch, 2004). The show, with its cute iconic characters, especially Pikachu, appealed to the young Israeli crowed who watched the show and consumed its related products (such as card games, dolls, Nintendo games and more) in large quantities. Even today, Pokémon is still an attraction in Israel, for the young generation and for the mature one.

In today’s world, where many young people are communicating with each other via social media networks rather than in face-to-face encounters, the close relationship that evolved between Ash and Pikachu and the unconditional love and self-sacrifice Pikachu is willing to make for his friend/master are desirable to many of the TV show’s fans, Japanese and non-Japanese alike. Allison (2006) even presented these characters as a “shadow family,” companions who will always love and be there for you in a time of need, sometimes even more than your family.

While the design of the characters remained the same as the Japanese original series (with only their names altered, excluding Pikachu), adjustments and modifications were required in the design of the Pokémon characters and background story of the TV show to customize and localize Pokémon to the Israeli and other countries’ markets. These adjustments included a focus on the hero character of Ash instead of the Pokémon creature Pikachu as well as visual changes, such as more solid colors and a stronger music background (Allison, 2006). According to Gail Tilden (quoted in Allison, 2006, pp. 245-246), these modifications were brought about to acclimatize the show to other countries so that all children, regardless of their nationality, could relate to the story and its hero in a way that would inspire them to “travel” to the fantasy realm of Pokémon and “catch them all.” With sales in over 124 countries (as of March 2018) and over 6.0 trillion Yen in domestic and global sales (as of March 2017), the world of Pokémon creatures became one of the biggest fads among children in the last two decades (The Pokémon Company, 2018).

According to Nissim Otmazgin, the Director of the Institute os Asian and African Studies in the Hebrew University, this exposure to Japan through the visual media influenced many young Israeli to learn about Japan and its culture, and motivated many to form Japanese culture-related gatherings such as cosplay conferences, Japanese culture evenings, movie nights, and more. These gatherings of cosplay and anime that held twice a year are a good platform to meet people who share the same interest and to exchange information on Japanese contemporary as kawaii. With thousands of cosplay lovers’ participants, events such like this encourage young Israelis to learn more about Japan with a desire to travel and engage in Japanese culture-related activities (Otmazgin, 2018).

Another example of Israeli’s exposure to kawaii and Japanese contemporary culture is taken from the Israeli pop culture. On May 2018, “Static” and “Ben-El,” one of the most famous musical duo in Israel, released a video music clip on YouTube entitled “Kawaii” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj0GqUeUstM). In the video clip, various aspects of Japanese culture appear on the screen, including a Sakura tree, mount Fuji, Origami, and of course a kawaii girl who dresses in a Harajuku cute style. With more than 21 million views (as of June 6, 2019), the kawaii term became a well-known word among Israelis (especially among the young generation).

The growing trend and interest also made Japan a favorite destination for independent travelers and families. The statistical information reported by the Japan National Tourism Organization (2016) in “Foreign Visitors and Japanese Departures” showed that in 2016, incoming tourism from Israel totaled 29,436, 34.2% higher than 2015.

This trend also encouraged Israeli and Japanese businesses to invest in the Israeli marketplace. For example, famous Japanese retail chains such as the 100-yen shops DAISO and the Chinese chain MINISO opened their doors to Israeli consumers with their first stores in Israel in the summer of 2018. Although Chinese, the chief designer, Junya Miyake in MINISO is Japanese and was aspired from kawaii and designed various products that were influenced by kawaii aesthetics. These two chains introduced a “Japanese experience” to Israeli consumers, a shopping experience where everyone can purchase various products of Japanese everyday life, from sushi tools to home accessories, some of which feature Hello Kitty and other Japanese characters.

As more people are becoming familiar with various Japanese everyday terms and trends, we can assume that an exposure to and rise of interest in Japan and its culture had established the cornerstones of the impressive growth of knowledge in Japan and its culture. For example, Japanese restaurants in Israel list various dishes on the menu using Japanese words such as shitake (mushroom), tamago (egg), and more. With this exposure to Japanese culture in Israel, we assumed that a high number of Israelis might know the term kawaii and have a positive attitude toward it.

Study Materials, Methods, and Results

To examine how Israelis define, treat, and approach the term kawaii, a quantitative online survey was created on the SurveyMonkey platform (August and September 2018) and were solicited to participate through various social media groups (mainly Facebook). Respondents included personal acquaintances of the first author, general groups: “Wild Guitars Shop” and “Orna Lieber School of Music and Arts” [Mercaz Orna Lieber Lemuzika Vomanuyot], and some groups that had relation to Japan, including “Embassy of Japan in Israel” and “Japan for Israeli Travelers.” All respondents participated voluntarily in the project.

Although the questionnaire consisted of 38 questions regarding the participants’ attitudes toward hamud/cute (not kawaii), here we focus on the last three questions about the Japanese term kawaii: (a) Are you familiar with the Japanese word kawaii [Yes or No]? (2) If yes, what is your impression toward the word [5-point scale, 1 = very negative to 5 = very positive]? and (3) How do you define the word kawaii [Free description]? The numerical data are available at https://osf.io/rpfx4/.

A total of 445 people (168 men and 277 women, between 13 and 68 years old, M = 30.6 years old) responded to these questions. Among them, 85.6% (n = 381) answered that they were familiar with the word kawaii. There was no large gender difference in recognition rate: 82.7% (n = 138) of men and 87.7% (n = 243) of women. When the positive and negative answers were coded as 1 and 0, the point-biserial correlation between age and familiarity was r = –0.42 (p < .001, df = 453). This moderately large negative correlation coefficient suggests that younger generations know the word better than older generations.

Among the 381 respondents who were familiar with the word kawaii, 373 people (136 men and 237 women) provided their impressions about the word. Figure 1 shows the histograms of the responses. The general attitude was positive in both gender groups, although female respondents provided a higher evaluation than male respondents. When men and women were coded as 1 and 2, the correlation between gender and rating was r = 0.20 (p < .001, df = 371), suggesting that gender affected the ratings. On the contrary, the respondents’ age did not affect the ratings significantly. The correlation between age and rating was r = –0.04 (p = .50, df = 371).

Figure 1.

Gender and age differences in the answers to the question “What is your impression toward the word kawaii?”

Because we did not ask about other words, we cannot be sure whether this gender difference was specific to the word kawaii. Nevertheless, the gender difference may be related to the fact that women generally have a stronger interest toward kawaii (Nittono, 2016).

Following the first question, the results of the open-ended question “How do you define the word kawaii?” showed that the majority of respondents described kawaii similarly, as something small, soft, and warm that conveys innocence, honesty, and purity like small animals and infants. According to the respondents, these physical characteristics tend to trigger a sympathetic and positive response with a desire to bring the item closer and to protect it. The term kawaii is presented in a positive light as an important aspect of Japanese aesthetics that brings forth a good feeling. Respondents also acknowledged the widespread interpretations of the term in which kawaii combines with the aesthetic qualities of cool and beautiful and infantile and pure, thus extending the orthodox translation of cute and hamud.

The descriptions below are only a few examples of the extensive explanations and interpretations of the survey respondents (translated by the first author):

One of the terms most identified with Japan. Mostly related to cute wear, cute speech, and cute animals in Japanese style, sometimes unique. (Israeli woman, 27 years old)

Kawaii is less “cute” like in Hebrew, and more a combination of cute, cool, and beautiful. Everything can be kawaii, a little puppy or even a grown-up, beautiful strong woman. (Israeli woman, 25 years old)

When I see someone or something cute/childish and innocent, big eyes etc. . . . it makes me feel good, it makes me want to care. (Israeli woman, 37 years old)

A better way to use the word “cute.” I feel the word “kawaii” is more than just cute, it’s an expression of cute, stylish, and beautiful. (Israeli man, 19 years old)

The qualitative analysis also showed that, regardless of age or gender, respondents associated kawaii with young women’s culture. It seems to be an international trend that kawaii aesthetics have gained more success and acceptance among young women who are willing to spend large amounts of money for its artifacts and related merchandise.

Similar to Lieber-Milo’s (2017) survey results that focused on Japanese female attitudes toward kawaii, Israelis also acknowledge the thin line between the proper and the improper practice of kawaii, in which “too much” kawaii could be considered absurd, bizarre, and scary, and thus may provoke a negative reaction and lack of appreciation from others. Though some respondents presented kawaii in a more negative light, such as childishness or a lack of dealing with reality, the majority of survey participants acknowledged the positive virtues of kawaii, where the mere sight of kawaii objects evokes affirmative responses, such as warmth, smiling, compassion, and thoughtfulness from the observer.

It was also found that respondents often related kawaii to a fashion statement, especially to the unique fashion style of the Harajuku area in Tokyo.

It is often used in slang to represent a certain cultural fashion in places like “Harajuku” known in many genres and lifestyles, a significant part of which is the outward appearance. The fashion and cultural style have recently become international. (Israeli woman, 17 years old)

Many Israeli survey respondents whom the first author asked about kawaii (through Facebook’s messenger system) almost immediately connected this style to Lolita fashion, a fashion subculture that developed during the 1970s and was based on Victorian and Edwardian clothing that was mainly popularized in the city of Tokyo, as well as to Harajuku street fashion, a style developed in the early 1990s that introduced a new type of cute fashion that overshadowed the standardized kawaii fashion and can be described as punk, kitsch, and even weird at the same time (Iseri, 2015). Harajuku was first recognized by Kinsella (1995) as a rebellion against the traditional feminine gender roles in an attempt to resist social pressure and obligations and withdraw to a cute world that is frozen in time.

In sum, Japan has become a favorite destination for Israelis and its culture to be explored and studied by many. The continuous exposure in the last two decades to Japanese culture has increased Israelis’ awareness of Japan’s popular trends and words and as such, the survey results showed that the majority of the respondents were aware of the word kawaii and had a positive attitude toward the word and trend.

From these positive attitudes, we can assume that some aspects of Japanese trends and design will be welcome in Israel.

Conclusion

Kawaii has a special appreciation in Japan and as such, the world of kawaii aesthetics that include the physical characteristics of being small, bright colors, and a childlike appearance plays a significant part in Japanese everyday life routines from art, fashion, and digital media to the cute representatives of companies and governments.

For more than two decades, there has been a widespread increase of interest from Western countries as Israel, where increasing numbers of youngsters are embracing the Japanese culture, hence establishing the cornerstones of the impressive growth in consumption of Japanese culture and its related products. Thanks to globalization and the raise of interest in Japan, the world of kawaii design had set foot outside of Japan and in many ways “colored the world” with pink and cute style (Yano, 2013). As it was found that the usage of kawaii aesthetics generate a sense of close emotional bonding, attract and inspire fondness, more and more non-Japanese companies, as the Israel embassy in Japan, turned the popularity of the kawaii aesthetics to their advantage and started to produce designs, icons, and yuru kyara mascots that feature the characteristics of kawaii.

The aim of this article was to express how non-Japanese people define and treat one of Japan’s most popular and beloved terms and trends. The many interpretations and positive opinions of kawaii demonstrate knowledge and an acceptance of Japanese culture and popular words among Israelis. Thus, we can assume from these results that contemporary trends and terms from Japan can be successfully assimilated in other countries with completely different historical and cultural backgrounds, like Israel.

The current study has several limitations. For example, it examined only one country and the respondents may be skewed due to the inclusion of Japan-related groups who may have had previous knowledge of kawaii. Nevertheless, the survey results portrayed a rising interest in Japanese culture in Israel and provided some empirical evidence of how the word kawaii and its trends are perceived and appreciated in other countries outside of Japan.