The Girl Who Ate Everything

Blogging about food and whatever since 2004.

Why do I love cute Japanese food?

Friday was a complete night of dessert gluttony. I hope to actually write an entry about it because it�s not every day that I go to seven bakeries in one night (yes, my life is not full of continuous fooding, believe it or not) without a "Crap, did I really eat that much?" hangover the next day. You really ought to check out Melody�s blog entry since she was my partner-in-crime for the night. How nice it is to find someone to food with who�s as enthusiastic about going to bakeries as I am and who won�t mind being dragged around in the dry cold to sample all the carb-laden possibilities. It�s not just that Melody likes baked goods so much, but being new to the bakery world of NYC made me feel more helpful, like a tour guide�who gets to eat a lot of sweets and stuff.

Until I decide to un-suck, you can view my photos from the day (all 50 of them) on flickr. I also made a post at picturing food, for those of you who are all about the food porn. ;)

Unfortunately, the post I�m meaning to write now isn�t food-porn specific. But if you really want one, here you go.

pastel cupcakes
Magnolia Bakery cupcake army

Moving on, I�m writing an essay about cute food in Japan, or something having to do with that. (note: When I say "cute", I'm referring to Japanese cuteness. There are many kinds of cuteness, but the Japanese one is particularly...unique? Read Cuties in Japan.) Surely many of you like Japanese snacks (and food), or maybe you are Japanese, in which case you�d probably know more about this stuff than I do. I didn�t even know that the whole kawaii culture started in the 1970s. I suppose since I was born after that, I was under the impression that things in Japan were ALWAYS MEGA CUTE.

So to give a brief overview of the history of kawaii (feel free to jump in and correct me), it started with the cute handwriting craze, or the type of handwriting we�re all familiar with today: even-lined, rounded characters, usually written horizontally. This handwriting is known as kitten writing, or fake-child writing. Although this type of handwriting was adapted by popular media, it was initially banned in some schools. (On a semi-related note, when I was in 4th grade, writing in impossibly tiny script was popular. I actually did it, although not as well as some other people. I have no idea what the point of that was, but it seems to correlate to a largely female-adapted style of �small, round, pretty letters. Except not, because itty bitty script was probably almost unreadable by anyone with slight vision problems.) Once source I read said that the kawaii movement was an act of rebellion by teenagers (not that they were the only ones who got into the culture, but allow me to generalize). While it may not be like the western notion of rebellion, usually something more extreme, maybe with a sense of danger thrown in, writing in a cute style was an opposition to the vertical, variable-width writing of before. The idea of kawaii insinuates, besides the cuteness, being helpless, passive, childlike, and pathetic, among other things. Adding cuteness and personality to goods caused people to spend craploads of money on things they may not otherwise buy, like THIS TOASTER THAT BRANDS THE TOAST WITH HELLO KITTY�S FACE (my own example), or any kind of doo-hickey that you don�t really need but you buy because it�s cute as hell. (For me, Sanrio played a heavy hand in me buying craploads of pointless cute things when I was in middle school. Of course, it�s not just a Japanese thing, but I bought like�I dunno. Really random stuff! Don�t get me started on how many Tamagotchi paraphernalia I once owned, although I feel like that�s kind of different from your general spread of Sanrio characters.)

So what�s up with the spread of kawaii? One source told me kawaii had the appeal of childhood, which makes sense to me. The difference between the longing for childhood in Japan and America (which is my only point of reference), is that while America is an adolescent country (the teenage years seem to be what people want to capture the most), Japan has the desire to go back�further. Middle school? Elementary school? Screw high school and college; what I�d really want is to go back to my pre-teens or before that. I�m sure I read this somewhere but obviously, there�s some difference between the teenage and beyond years of Japanese and Americans. It seems more stressful in Japanese society (at least the high school to college transition, from what I�ve read), where there�s much more pressure to�fit in? I�m not sure if that�s the right word, but maybe you know what I mean. I don�t plan on going into the whole life of the salary man or the role of the Japanese housewife because that would probably take a gazillion pages (besides that I don�t know much about them) and I�M WRITING ABOUT FOOD, AREN�T I?

Uh�so what does this have to do with food? I dunno. I�m having trouble coming up with a thesis (and as you can see, I�m spending my Sunday update my blog instead of actually writing my essay). This is also a way for me to get out my ideas in a semi-comprehensible manner, instead of the scribbles I wrote down and hopefully it�s not considered cheating to have a food minded audience take a look at this.

Looking at the spread of Japanese snacks, there are themes of �pastels. Chocolate. Animals. Cookies. Miniatures. While Japanese snacks are such a product of �Japanese-ness� today, they don�t really correlate with historic Japanese food culture (in my opinion; maybe I don�t know what I�m talking about!). (On another note, a lot of Japanese food is adapted from other cultures but have been so integrated that they�re Japanese, like ramen, tempura, and curry, but it seems like many snack companies started around 60 years ago.) So�wait, I don�t know what I�m talking about.

I totally ignored wagashi, traditional Japanese confectionery, until today (and I�ve been working on this essay, however slowly, since last month). I noticed similarities, such as pastel colors, small individual snacks, snacks shaped like other things, seasonal flavors. I don�t know where that fits in, but it probably does. Traditional Japanese snacks aren�t usually packaged in a particularly cute way, unlike the newer, western-influenced snacks. I guess that�s one way that they retain their �maturity? Not that all modern Japanese snacks are packaged with cute characters and bright colors, but the majority of wagashi or traditional Japanese snacks seem to have plainer packaging without bright colors. One of my most prominent memories of a snack mascot when I was little was the Calbee potato man. I could easily eat a bag of sodium-laden potato sticks. To compare, I don�t think Doritos, Tostitos, or Lays had mascots (Cheetos has a mascot, but that seems to be the exception).

What�s my point? I don�t know. I wanted to investigate the popularity of Japanese snacks. I don�t know if there�s anything very deep to them, but some people (well, Americans) will go insane at the sight of Pocky. We don�t have a domestic snack quite like Pocky; it�s a tasty, simple, sweet snack that you can easily share with other people. A lot of Japanese snacks are conducive to sharing, or giving away (like tiny, individually wrapped gummies and chocolates, which I find cute). There are American snacks like that but from what I can remember, there aren�t as many, or they�re meant for certain situations. We have those fun packs and variety chocolates but those come in bulk packages for Halloween. And there are other examples but I can�t think of them. Er. Maybe that�s not much of a point.

Oh, besides the kawaii-ness of snack food, I also wanted to talk about the cute portrayal of food characters. San-X is the ultimate treasure trove, with way too many cute personified foodstuffs, such as oranges, natto, beer, onigiri, cheese, vegetables, bread, and those freaky Nyanko kitties wrapped in food. Kamio is another stationery company with cute food related things, but I can�t find their website.

I don�t know what I�d do with that �inedible food as cute� idea. It�s just�there.

And now I�m done rambling. If you read this far, I�m really amazed and feel like I ought owe you something for having spent your time reading this. If you care to give any insight into cuteness of Japanese food, feel free to indulge me. If you�re heavily into this subject, maybe you would provide a good interview subject for me. :)

On that note, I�m also doing an essay about blogs, which is much less fleshed out than this Japanese food essay, but in a way might be easier. Or not. Actually, I�m screwed. I could probably interview some people for that one, but I should actually come up with an idea of what I�m writing about first.

Comments

M / November 20, 2005 10:53 PM

Friends of mine went to Japan and found stuffed-toy vegetables in a department store. They bought their daughter a stuffed daikon radish which they thought was adorable, and got one for their friend's daughter too. Their friends didn't understand at all what could be cute about a daikon! :)

JohnniJohnnioo / November 21, 2005 1:26 AM

Uh, I've never heard the handwriting thing before-- that's interesting! But I'd simply try and figure how FOOD ITSELF tracks along in the history of kawaii. And, perhaps the kawaii movement as a CONSCIOUS thing started in the 70s, but cuteness in Japan does go back a lot further than that. Miyazaki and a few others sorta created the manga style comic out of the 40s/50s Disney style comics. And Godzilla! Godzilla and Son of Godzilla and Mothra and all that! Cuteness! O-O That's an important part of the whole thing. And anyway, Japan has always had this sorta diminutive interpretation of Western culture at LEAST since WWII. The modern definition of kawaii does seem dependent on this weird relationship with the 'States post-Hiroshima. And a few other coincidences (mono-syllabic feminized language, pictographic handwriting, flatness, strict etiquette and customs, etc.) that made Japan the place to develop their particular brand of cute.

And there is the observation of cuteness vs. the cuteness observed. "Cuteness" is a subjective interpretation, yet seems to require formal aspects appeasing the expectations of the observer. I think cuteness has also been developing (less strongly) in Northern Europe, as well. Actually cute may have been intensified by Japan's particular aesthetic, but obviously cute is an international thing! Even more so as "the global age" now is a reality.

There certainly is an underlying message of conformity and consumerism inherent in cute culture. I would look into the Superflat movement of Takashi Murakami, and Momus of course talks a lot about Japanese cuteness, even though his interpretations rub me the wrong way sometimes (he sometimes sounds really scary nationalistic!). But he doesn't talk much about food! Hehe.

Yeah, food. Umm. *runs away*

Melody / November 21, 2005 7:53 AM

(Something is wonky about the way you formatted the HTML for your links--they all start with your site's address. I think you might need to put quotes around the URIs? I always use quotes in my HTML out of habit, so it's never been an issue for me before... Also, you'll need to update the link to my entry since I corrected the title. :x)

I'm so glad you really enjoyed my company for the night. :D I'm always afraid of being boring to people I just meet, so it's good to know you were happy to have me along. It really was fantastic to be able to go to SO MANY GOOD BAKERIES. Jesus. We need more bakeries out here. I can only think of a few near (near being "within a five-or-so-minute drive of") my home and absolutely NONE (besides supermarket bakeries--ugh) near here at school. Lo, the disappointment, it engulfs me...

I am so looking forward to our next fooding adventure! :)

Wei / November 21, 2005 11:17 AM

I think something being "cute" is subjective as well. Same as beauty (reminds me of that one Outer Limits show..).

BTW, I don't think the way Japanese snacks are packaged are out of being "cute" more than the necessity of freshness/society of moderation. If you've noticed on the shelves of most grocery stores, the packages of cookies/etc.. are usually in what i'd term "bulk". There's no individualization of any foodstuffs (except for "kid" snacks). I think 1) to preserve the freshness, their snacks are individually packaged (btw, am I the only one to notice that they use a different polymer to package their foods so that its so damn tough to open??) 2) their society is a society of moderation ( if you've ever decided to consume a whole package of say those jelly shots, you'd end up w/ a whole coffee table full of trash and you'd realize reallly quickly how much you ate, vs if you consume a package of Lays and end up with just one empty bag)

For me, a lot of time, the "cute" is usually a warning sign that the food has way too much artifical flavors/sweetners/colors, and I tend to not buy them nearly as much (food is just not suppose to be pastel colored.. >_I think something being "cute" is subjective as well. Same as beauty (reminds me of that one Outer Limits show..).

BTW, I don't think the way Japanese snacks are packaged are out of being "cute" more than the necessity of freshness/society of moderation. If you've noticed on the shelves of most grocery stores, the packages of cookies/etc.. are usually in what i'd term "bulk". There's no individualization of any foodstuffs (except for "kid" snacks). I think 1) to preserve the freshness, their snacks are individually packaged (btw, am I the only one to notice that they use a different polymer to package their foods so that its so damn tough to open??) 2) their society is a society of moderation ( if you've ever decided to consume a whole package of say those jelly shots, you'd end up w/ a whole coffee table full of trash and you'd realize reallly quickly how much you ate, vs if you consume a package of Lays and end up with just one empty bag)

For me, a lot of time, the "cute" is usually a warning sign that the food has way too much artifical flavors/sweetners/colors, and I tend to not buy them nearly as much (food is just not suppose to be pastel colored.. >_

Carmen / November 22, 2005 8:12 AM

Dear Robyn,

I didn't read your whole blog entry because I've been up all night long comparing Japanese office ladies to Thai migrant workers and I'm supertired. But! Coincidentally I also read Cuties in Japan in support of my argument and another article I used that might be of use to you is this one by Peggy Orenstein

http://www.farfilm.com/peggy/articles/parasites.htm

good luck developing a thesis!

carmen

tiffany / November 23, 2005 1:51 AM

Did you go see Animal Collective? I ask because, upon moving here a few months ago, I've gone to both Sigur Ros and Broadcast, as did you... which is awesome in my opinion. ( I nearly cried when I couldn't get cocorosie tickets...) Anyway... uuuh yeah. Oh, also, I was reading (ok this is going to show my super-dork-dom) ok I was reading erowid drug reviews and thought to myself "that food girl (you) writes reviews so much better than these assholes." ok compliment, yes.
xo.

Bobb / October 19, 2008 10:49 AM


私によってがほしいすべては私が私の点から離れている私が適切な銅のコーヒー鍋I'の適切なコーヒーを食べることができなければによって私へ使用ではない錫のコーヒー鍋および私は適切な銅の鍋の鉄のコーヒー鍋の適切なコーヒーがほしいと思う適切な銅のコーヒー鍋で作られる適切なコーヒーである; LLはお茶を食べる。

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