Kimokawaii

I did not know Tokyo Plastic changed their site design. As usual, it's cool. You may check their film here in Zune's. And another old flash is here in my post.

Tokyo Plastic makes cute, pretty but grotesque items. In Japanese slang we say "kimokawaii." "Kimo"(comes from Kimochi warui) means disgusting and "kawaii" means cute, pretty. From my recent post, that Tarako doll and fathead fish are kimokawaii. Checking in Google image search, I can see stuff which people say is kimokawaii: for example a giraffe , or a BABY HEAD Theremin from U.S.A. See? I suppose now you get "kimokawaii." However things are not that simple because Japanese girls and women use "kawaii" for anything which they like it. We say kawaii for THE CAT. I wrote that Tommy Lee Jones appears on Suntry Boss canned coffee TV ads in Japan. Now they've released 6 patterns; New Comer, factory, Delivery, Delivery 2, karaoke, Discount store. We say Tommy Lee is very Kawaii. Well, we say "kawaii" for this, but we may say "kawaii" for a tough-looking politician too. So there is not a rule or definition in "Our kawaii." We say "Kawaii" when we like it. In a sense, I might say it's an arrogance word which takes the power of an object.

Back to "Kimokawaii," we enjoy wearing a little weird stuff like I wrote. This summer, a small Voodoo doll from Thailand got to be popular in Japan, many girls hung them on their cell. Those will be another kimokawaii fashion item.

Comments

i have 2 of those voodoo dolls there perty cool.

[Gregoire]

I didn't know the Tokyo Plastic website. It's really playful and original, I really liked it.
As for "kimokawaii", this is rather a new expression in Japanese slang, and used by the younger generations. Well, actually you live in Shibuya, right?
I've always had the feeling that in Japan, everything could be classified on a horizontal scale from Kawaii to Kakkoii. Both notions would be like the modern yin and yang, relative to a distinction between feminine and masculine, light and heavy, etc...
With kimokawaii now, I would imagin a vertical scale going from kimoi to kimochi ii, and would could play the game of ordering Japanese social items or behaviors on this graph.

Other very common words in Japanese are "Tsumaranai" (boring) and "omoshiroi" (interesting)... sugoi... or different ways to express surprise or insist on things (maji, mecha, hontou, etc...).
I wonder if there is any reference with sociological definitions for those, or a website that would try to define them ?

[Mari]

Hi There
My American friends say everything is kawaii for Japanese girls. Actually they are said "Kawaii gaijin!" very often. They are confused first because they didn't understand they were said "cute". But now they accept Japanese girl's "kawaii" is all might but meaningless words.

[Eddy]

"kawaii" is one of the first words one learns in Japanese classes. It is normally translated as "cute" but obviously in English we would never use the word "cute" for "tough-looking politicians" :-) ;-)

Thanks Mari for the insights on Japanese culture and language!

[sakurako]

i got the doll today from a Thai friend. she has brought them to Germany lol

[Anne]

I live in Indonesia and those voodoo dolls are very popular too here. ^^;

[tim t.]

is there any such thing as a "boss coffee" t-shirt? if there is - i would love to get one.