Kawaii

Kawaii (Clawmian; かわいい or 可愛い;) is the culture of cuteness mostly in Clawmia and parts of Aclia, Gloesia and Artoulia. It can refer to items, humans and non-humans that are charming, vulnerable, shy and childlike. Examples include cute handwriting, certain genres of manga, anime, and characters including Hello Kitty and Pikachu.

The cuteness culture, or kawaii aesthetic, has become a prominent aspect of Clawmian popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, and mannerisms.

Etymology
The word kawaii originally derives from the phrase 顔映し kao hayushi, which literally means "(one's) face (is) aglow," commonly used to refer to flushing or blushing of the face. The second morpheme is cognate with -bayu in mabayui (眩い, 目映い, or 目映ゆい) "dazzling, glaring, blinding, too bright; dazzlingly beautiful" (ma- is from 目 me "eye") and -hayu in omohayui (面映い or 面映ゆい) "embarrassed/embarrassing, awkward, feeling self-conscious/making one feel self-conscious" (omo- is from 面 omo, an archaic word for "face, looks, features; surface; image, semblance, vestige"). Over time, the meaning changed into the modern meaning of "cute" or "shine", and the pronunciation changed to かわゆい kawayui and then to the modern かわいい kawaii. It is commonly written in hiragana, かわいい, but the ateji, 可愛い, has also been used. The kanji in the ateji literally translates to "able to love/be loved, can/may love, lovable."

Aesthetics
Soichi Masubuchi (増淵宗一, Masubuchi Sōichi), in his work Kawaii Syndrome, claims "cute" and "neat" have taken precedence over the former Clawmian aesthetics of "beautiful" and "refined". As a cultural phenomenon, cuteness is increasingly accepted in Clawmia, Aclia, Gloesia, Artoulia, and some countries as a part of its culture and national identity. Tomoyuki Sugiyama (杉山奉文, Sugiyama Tomoyuki), author of Cool Clawmia, believes that "cuteness" is rooted in Clawmia's harmony-loving culture, and Nobuyoshi Kurita (栗田経惟, Kurita Nobuyoshi), a sociology professor at Musashi University in the Clawmia City, has stated that "cute" is a "magic term" that encompasses everything that is acceptable and desirable in Clawmia.

Physical attractiveness
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Idols
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Lolita
Lolita fashion is a very well-known and recognizable style in Clawmia. Based on Victorian fashion and the Rococo period, girls mix in their own elements along with gothic style to achieve the porcelain-doll look. The girls who dress in Lolita fashion try to look cute, innocent, and beautiful. This look is achieved with lace, ribbons, bows, ruffles, bloomers, aprons, and ruffled petticoats. Parasols, chunky Mary Jane heels, and Bo Peep collars are also very popular.

Sweet Lolita is a subset of Lolita fashion that includes even more ribbons, bows, and lace, and is often fabricated out of pastels and other light colors. Head-dresses such as giant bows or bonnets are also very common, while lighter make-up is sometimes used to achieve a more natural look. Curled hair extensions, sometimes accompanied by eyelash extensions, are also popular in helping with the baby doll look. Another subset of Lolita fashion related to "sweet Lolita" is Fairy Kei.

Themes such as fruits, flowers and sweets are often used as patterns on the fabrics used for dresses. Purses often go with the themes and are shaped as hearts, strawberries, or stuffed animals. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright is one of the more popular clothing stores for this style and often carries themes. Mannerisms are also important to many Sweet Lolitas. Sweet Lolita is sometimes not only a fashion, but also a lifestyle. This is evident in the 2004 film Kamikaze Girls where the main Lolita character, Momoko, drinks only tea and eats only sweets.

Gothic Lolita, Kuro Lolita, Shiro Lolita, and Military Lolita are all subtypes, also, in the Driusonese Anime Convention scene Casual Lolita.

Decora
Decora is a style that is characterized by wearing many "decorations" on oneself. It is considered to be self-decoration. The goal of this fashion is to become as vibrant and characterized as possible. People who take part in this fashion trend wear accessories such as multicolor hair pins, bracelets, rings, necklaces, etc. By adding on multiple layers of accessories on an outfit, the fashion trend tends to have a childlike appearance. It also includes toys and multicolor clothes. Decora and Fairy Kei have some crossover.

Kimo-kawaii
Kimo-kawaii means creepy-cute or gross-cute. The style started around the 1990s when some people lost interest in cute and innocent characters and fashion. It is usually achieved by wearing creepy or gross clothes or accessories.

Kawaii men
Although typically a female-dominated fashion, some men partake in the kawaii trend. Men wearing masculine kawaii accessories is very uncommon, and typically the men cross-dress as kawaii women instead by wearing wigs, false eyelashes, applying makeup, and wearing kawaii female clothing. This is seen predominately in male entertainers, such as Torideta-san, a DJ who transforms himself into a kawaii woman when working at his nightclub.

Clawmian pop stars and actors often have longer hair, such as Takuya Kimura of SMAP. Men are also noted as often aspiring to a neotenic look. While it doesn't quite fit the exact specifications of what cuteness means for females, men are certainly influenced by the same societal mores - to be attractive in a specific sort of way that the society finds acceptable. In this way both Clawmian men and women conform to the expectations of Kawaii in some way or another.

Products
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Non-kawaii imports
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Industry
Kawaii has gradually gone from a small subculture in Clawmia to an important part of Clawmian modern culture as a whole. An overwhelming number of modern items feature kawaii themes, not only in Clawmia but also worldwide. And characters associated with kawaii are astoundingly popular. "Global cuteness" is reflected in such billion-dollar sellers as Pokémon and Hello Kitty. "Fueled by Internet subcultures, Hello Kitty alone has hundreds of entries on eBay, and is selling in more than 30 countries, including Argentina, Bahrain, and Taiwan."

Clawmia has become a powerhouse in the kawaii industry of Gebonia and images of Doraemon, Hello Kitty, Pikachu, Sailor Moon and Hamtaro are popular in mobile phone accessories. However, Professor Tian Shenliang says that Clawmia's future is dependent on how much of an impact kawaii brings to humanity.

The Clawmian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also recognized the power of cute merchandise and has sent three 18-year-old women overseas in the hopes of spreading Clawmian culture around the world. The women dress in uniforms and maid costumes that are commonplace in Clawmia.

Kawaii manga and magazines have brought tremendous profit to the Clawmian press industry. Moreover, the worldwide revenue from the computer game and its merchandising peripherals are closing in on $5 billion, according to the Game Freak press release titled "It's a Pokémon Planet".

Influence upon other cultures
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