“I don’t think it’s to appear to be healthy, it’s purely a style statement,” Tokyo-based French fashion designer Julien David said of activewear’s rise in the country. “The biggest shift in Kawaii is ...

Providing an in-depth overview of all things kawaii (cute), this book traces the cute aesthetic from its inception in the 1970s as a schoolgirl trend to its position as a leading cultural norm, and ...

Kawaii, often associated with fashions and character goods, is a representative aspect of Japan’s pop culture in the spotlight now. But kawaii is a difficult concept to convey, and the author has ...

"Gross" characters are proliferating in a country known for kawaii, and now even local governments' mascots are trying to out-weird one another. Long considered the global capital of cute, Japan is ...

It’s no secret that Japan is seriously into cuteness. Accordingly, in most situations, deeming something kawaii, or cute, is seen as high praise. This is especially true when it comes to women.

Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. In the late 1970s, British inventor James Dyson painstakingly refined his design for a new, improved vacuum cleaner.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

Editor’s Note: Joshua Paul Dale is a professor at Tokyo Gakugei University. He is co-editor of “The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness”, and the editor of “Cute Studies,” a special issue of the East ...

Alongside "photobomb", one of the new words added to the Collins English dictionary this week was "kawaii". Yet unlike photobomb, selfie or onesie, you're unlikely to know what kawaii means unless you ...

Alongside "photobomb", one of the new words added to the Collins English dictionary this week was "kawaii". Yet unlike photobomb, selfie or onesie, you're unlikely to know what kawaii means unless you ...