Kawaii overload

So there's the American version of cute, and then there's the Japanese one.

If the distinction between the two isn't super great, then there's this (USA) and this (日本).

Okay. So I'm not even sure what the criteria for comparing Katy Perry in a cupcake dress with a purikura girl is, but what I'm trying to say is: in Japan there is no such thing as too cute. You can always use more bows, frills, sparkles, everything. I don’t really know what my problem is with this, girls should be able to dress however they like for the most part, but it’s just like, why don’t you know when to stop?

Anyway, emoji I can deal with. I actually like to have at least one or two in every text message, it gives emotion to a text rather than just replying with ‘k.’ It’s kind of adorable and a little hilarious that Japanese guys text with all these emoticons too, and not just with girls they have crushes on (=ﾟωﾟ)ﾉ　d(-_^)  (^_−)☆

Cute culture is everywhere and everything. Japan is also source of cuteness, who else could dream up Hello Kitty and AKB48? Otaku culture is sometimes said to be Japan’s number one export. This may be slightly insulting to some salarymen who work nonstop for car and electronics companies, but Japan’s modern cultural influence is widespread. And what do we like about it? It’s cute. Okay, with the exception of Bleach.

 Now onto me. I like cute things. You could call Hello Kitty my spirit animal. I also like stuffed animals and pretty latte art and matching cell phone charms. But that’s not all there is to my tastes. My top category on Netflix is ‘Witty TV Shows Featuring a Strong Female Lead’ a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars. Cute with a touch of badass is way more interesting to me. But if all female anime characters were suddenly like that or jpop girl groups suddenly had a rap verse in every song it wouldn’t really work out.

So what can you do? Resist cute consumer culture. Be better at fighting the urge than I am. Because when you’re dropping a hundred bucks on a giant Hello Kitty plushie dressed in a cactus suit, we have a problem.

In a time and place when we need to be more careful with our money and how we spend our time, we need to say no to the kawaii. Spend your (or your parents’) hard earned money at the supermarket. Or on sending GRE scores (so freaking expensive). We do not, and will not, need anymore cuteness.

*This whole post may have been an exercise in convincing myself that I do NOT need tokidoki jeweled thermos.