Kawaii - Cute Characters

Cute Characters

Cute elements can be found almost everywhere in Japan, from big business to corner markets and national government, ward, and town offices. Many companies, large and small, use cute mascots to present their wares and services to the public. For example:

• Pikachu, a character from Pokémon, adorns the side of three ANA passenger jets.
• Kirby, the main character from Nintendo's Kirby video game series.
• Asahi Bank used Miffy (Nijntje), a character from a Dutch series of children's picture books, on some of its ATM and credit cards.
• All 47 prefectures have cute mascot characters.
• The Japan Post "Yū-Pack" mascot is a stylized mailbox; they also use other cute mascot characters to promote their various services (among them the Postal Savings Bank) and have used many such on postage stamps.
• Some police forces in Japan have their own moe mascots, which sometimes adorn the front of kōban (police boxes).
• Sanrio, the company behind Hello Kitty and other similarly cute characters, runs the Sanrio Puroland theme park in Tokyo.

Cute can be also used to describe a specific fashion sense of an individual, and generally includes clothing that appears to be made for young children, apart from the size, or clothing that accentuates the cuteness of the individual wearing the clothing. Ruffles and pastel colors are commonly (but not always) featured, and accessories often include toys or bags featuring anime characters.