5 July 2008
Cute in Japan
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T-shirts featuring cartoon characters with huge sparkling eyes, pastel coloured plush animals adorning mobile phones and even cars with a Hello Kitty motif—'cute' is no longer confined to products for children; it's an aesthetic popular with all ages.
The home of this cute style is Japan, although design that is 'kawaii', as it is called in Japanese, is increasingly embraced in the west as cool.
What's behind this growing fascination with 'cute'? And why is cute design considered quintessentially Japanese?
Masako Fukui attempts to solve the puzzle for By Design.
Guests
Rebecca Suter
Lecturer in Japanese Studies, The University of Sydney
Roland Kelts
Author of Japanamerica, How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US
Sonja Barry
Department manager, English Books, at Kinokuniya Bookstore, Sydney
Masako Fukui
Freelance radio documentary maker
Further Information
The Murakami Exhibition at Brooklyn Museum
Publications
Title: Japanamerica, How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US
Author: Roland Kelts
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan, NY, USA, 2006
Story Researcher and Producer
Masako Fukui
Reporter
Masako Fukui
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