@@@@@@kawaii~ kawaii~ kawaiiiii~

   You will hear the word Kawaii~ many times everywhere in Japan.  Kawaii literally means cute in English, but it does not only mean cute in Japan nowadays.

I read an article that was written by a Brit.  He wondered what Kawaii meant.  He met some Japanese girls in Japan. They looked at his car and said " Kawaii~~~".  When they saw an Italian dish in a restaurant, they said " Kawaii~~".  His pants, his shirt and  his smile were all Kawaii for them!   Everything was kawaii~~~~

Kawaii has become a very useful word for clothing, food, toys, person's appearance, even manners and behaviors. Even if you are  big and muscular, you could be Kawaii (maybe cute ) easily in Japan.   Some people even think Sumo wrestlers are Kawaii.

Kawaii used to refer to things that are smaller than bigger, rounder than squarer. It became accepted to use for one's behavior that was childish or innocent.  If you are called Kawaii, it means that Japanese people found that kind of character inside you.  The newest way to use Kawaii for girls implies " It's nice ", " I like it" , " I adore it".

Hello Kitty is the perfect example of kawaii.  Japanese love Hello Kitty so much because the doll symbolizes cuteness.  I think the company that makes Hello Kitty find that the millions in profits they earn " kawaii " too.  Each prefecture in Japan has a cute mascot doll. Saitama-ken has this. ( He got an award in this video).  Kanagawa-ken,  Tokushima-ken and Kagoshima-ken.

 Today though, a new phrase"Busu-Kawaii" has become popular in Japan...    Busu means ugly....   Busu-kawaii is ugly-cute.   Doesn't sound so nice, does it?

Aiko, Ai Otsuka, Chara and Yuki are called  busu-kawaii.   

Do you think they are flattered by this?