Comments on: On Being Cute in Japan

By: Archana

Archana — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 06:56:26 +0000

good articles – I lived in Japan for a while with my husband (but I didnt work so my knowledge of why things were the way they were came from my husbands knowledge and any friends i made, books i read etc) and it was always strange to go to those tightly packed stores that sold everything and see faces on things. it’s not something we do so much in england but now i live in new york and i sometimes see faces or strange slogans on food packaging. i miss japan and found it to be a bizarre alternative universe, with several different worlds combined into one – like a computer game. i think we both miss the food, the high quality of things and the sheer variety of things. Thank you for writing about such a wondrous place :)

By: Carmen Ho – Post 4 | ARTS2213 – 10am Class – Group 1

Carmen Ho – Post 4 | ARTS2213 – 10am Class – Group 1 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:47:52 +0000

[...] here you can find a pretty good summary “On Being Cute in Japan”; and a few quotes that resounds my [...]

By: ePorter

ePorter — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 00:34:35 +0000

It isn’t too hard for me to fathom how or why “pitiable” ended up translated into “lovable” – think about it. In Western culture you see a plethora of movies or books and such where the most pitiful character is the most lovable. We can’t help but want to right the plight of the downtrodden sop who is being picked on by person or just life in general.

By: On Answering Stupid Questions in Japan | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 15:05:24 +0000

[...] a kitten unexpectedly arrives in a top hat and monocle, sneezing rainbows, everyone will shout “kawaii!” and then they will ask each other if it is kawaii, and then declare, afterward, that it was [...]

By: source

source — Sun, 27 May 2012 17:11:54 +0000

Good Stuff, do you currently have a facebook account?

By: Six Months In: The Gaijin’s Best of Japan | enterthegaijin

Six Months In: The Gaijin’s Best of Japan | enterthegaijin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:29:32 +0000

[...] in reading a (brief) piece on how this phenomenon came to be, let me direct your attention elsewhere for the [...]

By: Jim Haku／拍人 (@jimhaku)

Jim Haku／拍人 (@jimhaku) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:36:00 +0000

That’s interesting, I thought it was more poetic license to link the two words.

By: superhappyawesome

superhappyawesome — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:19:17 +0000

I’ve just been learning about ateji recently, so this comment totally BLEW MY MIND.

By: owwls

owwls — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:23:35 +0000

Thanks Emily! It’s quite a day when I end up teaching YOU something :)

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:12:19 +0000

I took a look at かわいい on the 語源由来辞典 (gogen yurai jiten, “Word Origin/Derivation Dictionary”) online and it definitely derives from かわいそう. The kanji are different because the characters used in 可愛い are ateji that happen to match both phonetically AND semantically (rare for ateji). I always wondered why the two words are so similar- and thanks to you I learned something new! The dictionary says that the meaning began to shift from “pitiable” to “lovable” or “invokes the desire to protect” sometime in the Middle Ages, though the reason is unknown.