2016-10-12 22:36 Kawaii Addict
Y (Kuma's owner)
Everybody has a favorite phrase. My habitual word is "Why?" I thought it's not a good idea to use the same word again and again. Instead of using the same words, it's better to use other words that have the same meaning. Trying to use different expressions makes me remember lots of words.
After I had been paying attention to my talking and writing, I noticed other Japanese people's habits. As it is commonly known, Japanese, especially women (of course, it's not every woman) love to say kawaii. It means pretty or cute.
I have no objection to people saying kawaii when they see something cute like a puppy or a kitten. What I want to say is some people use kawaii too often. They use the word kawaii for everything.
As I think of that, I have paid attention to a wide range of firms, fashion, TV programs, books and so on in Japan. Then I noticed that Japanese like pretty things. There are lots of kawaii in Japan. Even on city council's leaflets, there are pretty illustrations printed. I haven't seen cute illustrations on the leaflets of city councils or the government in Australia. I'm Japanese but even I feel some illustrations or design that I saw in Japan are too pretty, I mean they are childish. Is that because we have a different culture?
One day, I met a Japanese lady in Australia. She said she went shopping and couldn't find kawaii clothes. Aha, here came the word kawaii again. I was counting how many times she had used kawaii in my mind secretly. I was not going to make fun of her, I'm just tired of hearing the same word frequently and I was bored. In addition, I would like to know why some of them love to say kawaii so many times.
I wonder what the concept of kawaii is in Japan? Kawaii culture is common in Japan and it may be hard to understand why it was created.