At the turn of the millennium, international youth culture is dominated by mainly two types of aesthetics: the African American cool, which, propelled by Hip-Hop music, has become the world's favorite youth culture; and the Japanese aesthetics of kawaii or cute, that is distributed internationally by Japan's powerful anime industry. The USA and Japan are cultural superpowers and global trendsetters because they make use of two particular concepts that hide complex structures under their simple surfaces and are difficult to define, but continue to fascinate the world: cool and kawaii. The Cool-Kawaii: Afro-Japanese Aesthetics and New World Modernity, by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, analyzes these attitudes and explains the intrinsic powers that are leading to a fusion of both aesthetics. Cool and kawaii are expressions set against the oppressive homogenizations that occur within official modern cultures, but they are also catalysts of modernity. Cool and kawaii do not refer us back to a pre-modern ethnic past. Just like the cool African American man has almost no relationship with traditional African ideas about masculinity, the kawaii shTjo is not the personification of the traditional Japanese ideal of the feminine, but signifies an ideological institution of women based on Japanese modernity in the Meiji period, that is, a feminine image based on westernization. At the same time, cool and kawaii do not transport us into a futuristic, impersonal world of hypermodernity based on assumptions of constant modernization. Cool and kawaii stand for another type of modernity, which is not technocratic, but rather 'Dandyist' and closely related to the search for human dignity and liberation.

Live a bright, fun, rainbow-filled life with Kawaii! The Japanese word Kawaii means lovable or adorable. Welcoming a little kawaii into your life is like opening the window and letting a sparkling sunbeam in. Whenever you feel a little low turn to this squishy, padded-covered book. Find fun ideas to: make a cosy kawaii home; playful, confidence boosting styling and beauty tips; and recipes that will make your smile. This book includes 10 easy how-to projects to bring kawaii into your life. Here, you'll also find a host of very special kawaii mascots that will always be ready to give you a hug when you need one: The Octonauts, Smiling Bear, Hello Kitty, Gudetama, Molang, Ricemonsters, Miffy the Rabbit, the Moomins, Donutella, Unicorno, Moofia and Pusheen. Escape into the magical world of kawaii...

Showcasing Japan's astonishingly varied culture of cute, this volume takes the reader on a dazzling and adorable visual journey through all things kawaii. Although some trace the phenomenon of kawaii as far back as Japan's Taisho era, it emerged most visibly in the 1970s when schoolgirls began writing in big, bubbly letters complete with tiny hearts and stars. From cute handwriting came manga, Hello Kitty, and Harajuku, and the kawaii aesthetic now affects every aspect of Japanese life. As colorful as its subject matter, this book contains numerous interviews with illustrators, artists, fashion designers, and scholars. It traces the roots of the movement from sociological and anthropological perspectives and looks at kawaii's darker side as it morphs into gothic and gloomy iterations. Best of all, it includes hundreds of colorful photographs that capture kawaii's ubiquity: on the streets and inside homes, on lunchboxes and airplanes, in haute couture and street fashion, in cafés, museums, and hotels.

Kawaii is a Japanese word that translates to "cute," and popular YouTube artist Pic Candle shows you how to doodle your way to adorable in this miniature, portable, and even cuter version of her best-selling Kawaii Doodle Class. This master class in cute features nearly 100 lovable, huggable characters and includes simple step-by-step illustrations and instructions, search-and-find puzzle patterns that you can color, inspiration boards that show you how to give your characters different facial expressions and zany accessories, and drawing pages to get your doodle party started. Your adorable drawing subjects include tacos, sushi, smoothies, clouds, rainbows, cacti, and more. Soon you'll be enhancing your notebooks, stationery, artwork, and more with your own unique kawaii world. Mini Kawaii Doodle Class is now in session!

Prepare for the cutest world tour ever with this miniature, portable, and even cuter version of Kawaii Doodle Cuties! YouTube celebrity artist Pic Candle shows you how to draw kawaii characters from every stop on the map! The Japanese word kawaii translates to “cute,” and this how-to book is chock-full of super-adorable images from your favorite spots around the globe. With doodles of food, nature, animals, architecture, fashion, and more, you will learn to draw cute artwork from countries all over the world! Learn how to draw a darling Eiffel Tower, macaron, and beret from France. Or master how to draw precious natural wonders like Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and enchanting architecture like India’s Taj Mahal. Or sketch fashion fun like a K-pop skirt from South Korea and charming transportation like a tuk tuk from Vietnam. Mini Kawaii Doodle Cutiesfeatures over 100 lovable, huggable characters and includes simple step-by-step illustrations and instructions, search-and-find puzzle patterns that you can color, and inspiration pages. Thanks to this adorable crash course in doodling all things kawaii, you’ll soon be enhancing your notebooks, stationery, artwork, and everything with unbelievably adorable illustrations!

This super-cute sticker book is the perfect gift for fans of all things kawaii! This massively appealing sticker book is filled to the brim with adorable stickers of food with faces to add to a whole host of everyday scenes full of kawaii-style details. Includes surfing pineapples, a sushi fashion show, a disco in the grocery aisle, a fun-filled day at the fair and more! Use your silly, super-cute stickers to bring each scene to life, or use them to decorate all your stuff. A must-buy for all kawaii-loving fans of all things cute!

Capture the essence of Kawaii (cuteness!) with these 22 fun and simple sewing projects. All that is needed is a sewing machine, some inexpensive fabric, and a few basic sewing tools.