Unexpectedly Kawaii
As a designer, I am often inspired by imagery that many people would call ‘cute’ or ‘kawaii’. It influences the design choices that I make and it also inspires the illustration styles that I work with. Motivated to find out more about kawaii culture, I came across discourses about kawaii culture and its manifestations within the political and military realms of Japan.
More often than not, the ‘kawaii’ image is associated with words like ‘fragile’, ‘weak’, ‘reliant’, ‘infantility’ and ’soft’. The kawaii style is often understood to only appeal to young children or young female adults (like myself!) One would think that it is almost blasphemous to incorporate ‘kawaii’ into anything that is understood to be serious, like in politics or in the military.
However, this was exactly what Japan has implemented — the incorporation of ‘kawaii’ into their diplomacy and military. Post-war Japan has created the context for kawaii culture to reside in the political or even a military environment and it is fascinating to observe the ways in which they have used the ’softness’ of kawaii culture in these environments to achieve their goals. Here are some ways kawaii culture can be observed in unconventional contexts:
Kawaii Culture in Politics
In the past, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA) had tried to introduce Japanese culture to people from around the world by promoting traditional Japanese culture. However, as an increasing number of youths from other countries started to become attracted to Japanese manga and anime. As a Singaporean, I also saw for myself how my peers around me were enticed by Japanese pop-cultural exports like cute Hello Kitty Toys and also huge fans of anime and manga. The attraction towards these exports created an opportunity for pop culture to become tools for cultural diplomacy. The Japanese politicians’ goal was to promote and maintain a ‘Cool Japan’ through media culture so that people would perceive Japan to be peaceful.
Olympics Opening
Imagine how pleasantly surprised everyone must have been when the Olympics closing ceremony of Rio saw Abe, the prime minister of Japan dressed as the plumber from Super Mario as he introduced Tokyo as the next host of the Olympics 2020. In a video, Abe had turned into Super Mario, diving into a pipe and drilling his way through the earth to reach the Maracanã stadium, where he made his live entrance through a green pipe dressed like ‘Mario’.
Ambassadors
Like many countries, ambassadors are employed to promote Japan’s culture. Unlike other countries, however, Japan had used fictional characters like Doraemon, Pikachu and Hello Kitty as cultural ambassadors for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and 2025 World Expo to Japan.
Kawaii Culture in the Japanese Self-Defence Forces
I have also discovered ways in which Japan uses anime and manga in their military. This seemed rather unusual and baffling at first because Japan is exhibiting ‘cuteness’ instead of masculinity or machismo. However, it made sense because post-war Japan saw the need to soften the military as they sought to create a non-menacing image by using kawaii mascots to endear their forces to the citizens of Japan.
Military mascots
I stumbled upon images of military mascots like Takuma-kun and Yuu-chan from Japan Self-Defence Force, Oton, Okan, Marita from Maritime Self-Defence Force and Staff Sgt Mamoru and Airman 1st Class Reina from the Air Self-Defence Force. They were depicted with big heads, eyes and small bodies- almost as friendly infant-like characters. How cute is that?
Mobile Game App
In 2015, JSDF released their first mobile game app, J-Collection, to increase public awareness of in the country. The game graphics are designed in a 2D cartoon-like manner with the characters drawn in with cute, big-head-small-body proportions.
It was fascinating to have learnt about the unconventional ways in which Japanese’s kawaii culture is applied to political and military environments and it makes me wonder- Is Japan the only country who could bring about such a phenomenon?
