Kawaii

Kawaii is the word for the Japanese culture of cute, adorable and childlike. When you see a sushi roll with a cute smiley face, that's Kawaii at work. You might also find it in an innocent, high voice like a child's.

I love how, by adding a couple of big eyes, maybe with a couple of little highlights, a smiley mouth and perhaps a little shy blushing on the cheek, it's possible to transform a cactus or a pencil case into something adorable. As a family, we've enjoyed the card game Sushi Go, which includes cute wasabi, fried shrimp, and even a chopstick holder. It's a bit like the magic of adding googly eyes to anything to make it fun.

The childlike simplicity, sweetness and cute artwork of Kawaii is also in Sanrio's Hello Kitty.

Also see:

• The rules of cute
• Lego faces

More lovely stuff from Japan:

• Wabi-sabi
• Kintsugi
• Tsundoku
• Ma
• Hara hachi bu
• I liked chindogu, the art of unuseless inventions, so much I accidentally sketched it twice: chindōgu back-scratching t-shirt, the 3 tenets of chindōgu