ねじってるなら、一風変わったなら、ゲロいなら、そりゃきっと可愛いから IF IT’S TWISTED, IF IT’S DEMENTED, IF IT’S DISGUSTING THEN IT’S SURE TO BE KAWAII.
Kawaii is an epidemic. It is everywhere. In my breakfast. On my nails. In my pro-vegetable commercials (see here).
“Kawaii” has always been a part of the Japanese culture, and it sucked me in a long time ago, too (Hello Kitty seduced me with her big eyes when I was 10. Grounds for arrest!). But it seems like it is getting out of control. And it’s not your run of the mill cutesy stuff anymore. Hello Kitty is far too PG-rated for the kawaii of today.
Now it’s all about weird, twisted seriously f&Cked stuff. I don’t know when it exactly started to take over, but it’s really gone mainstream hasn’t it. For every Harajuku girl you see rocking a heart decoration you see a blood-shot eyeball motif as well. It is demented and weird. It’s also very very cool. Is this Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s doing? She of the Pon Pon Pon, Fake Eyelashes and Candy? (WHAT IS THE ONION?!!). Doubt it…it started much earlier than that. See exhibit A: Gloomy.
今や日本語の中でも最頻出ワードとなっている、”可愛い”
私もかつて、ハローキティのつぶらな瞳を見て心から”可愛い！”
そして、今ストリートで”可愛い”とされているものははたから見れば奇妙でしかないものがその代表になっているようだ
Gloomy has been around for a while, even when I was here as a teenager. I remember being both freaked out and bemused by the teddy bear who comes to life to murder his little boy owner (and has a bloody claw to prove it). This… is oddly cute. But even Gloomy is like…totally tame now.
The thing about the twisted Kawaii trend is that it always went up to the line, but never dared cross it. Even Kyary doesn’t go over the line. As weird as her music videos are, she’s singing about eyelashes and dessert and not dismemberment or anything. It’s still got that naivete that is inherent to Japanese “kawaii”.
Hmmm… I thought, until I discovered this new brand called Teddy Monster and their seriously…peculiar necklaces, bows and bracelets. The tamest of the bunch:
普段なら何の問題もなく可愛いはずのテディベアが、
このねじ曲がった可愛いについての議論はいつだって話題に上がる
そんなことを考えている時に偶然発見したのが、”Teddy Monster”という名の新しいブランド。このネックレス、
Would you like some ice cream with your eyeball?
Now picture little teddybears and rabbbits with bloody intestines spilling out, tourniquets hardly stifling slashed arteries, and eyeballs hanging by spindly veins. This is another lever, and it’s STILL “kawaii”. It is utterly fascinating… and this icecream necklace is absolutely unique. So I bought it for a job (at Be be bee in laforet).
この写真を見ていただければ分かるかと思いますがこのブランドのアクセサリーについているテディベアやウサギちゃ
And then I broke down and bought this iPhone case from Spinns. It is squishy plastic sprinkled with googly eyeballs, and a glittery picture in the middle that I think is the weirdest, cutest thing. Maybe it’s a little fucked up…but I dig it hard.
これで免疫ができてしまったのか、
So what is going on?? Even today I was shooting for Kawaii TV International and one of the guests, who looks like a living anime character pink hair and all, giggled while admitting she was dressed like someone with “akushumi” (someone who likes messed-up things). There was nothing wrong with this…everyone laughed with her.
It’s so amazing to see the biggest trend since Gothic-lolita to be such a strange one. And not only that, but it’s SO mainstream. Take Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s instant rise to stardom as proof. Girlfriend is everywhere! It’s fascinating for a country that usually keeps things at a decidedly conservative level. Harajuku trends were just that; they stayed in Harajuku. But now you’ve got Akiba in your Shibuya, Shibuya in your Harajuku and Harajuku on your TV. Everything is going a little CRAZY!
(time to party.)
これってどういうこと？今日もカワイイTVの収録で変わった”
もはやみんなでパーティーするしかないかも。
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu
And then…
I was contacted about from an editor at “an-an” magazine, asking to get my opinion on Tokyo’s “Kawaii Culture” for an upcoming issue. ….an-an!! (an an is like…Cosmopolitan..or People in Japan. As mainstream as you can get!). I was literally jaw open, like…”wha-?” What would an-an want to do with me, and my strange take on personal style? Well, I ended up spilling so much it covered four pages of the magazine (!!!)
Check out the magazine— it’s out TODAY. And what is this…KYARY on the cover!
そうして、
I didn’t hold back..I even dragged the editors to ITAZURA in Shibuya and Spank! in Koenji.
ITAZURA is QUITE a unique place. Doll heads, phallic accessories, and sarcastic motifs dressed up in bows and stars.
もう、
もうAnanとかお構いなしに東京可愛いツアーを敢行したわけ。
もうAnanとかお構いなしに東京可愛いツアーを敢行したわけ。
Itazuraについては、まだあまり書いたことが無いのですがここがまた物凄くユニークなお店で、
The editors asked me tons of questions on why I think “kawaii” fashion is popular, what it is, and why I like it. At the end, I turned the tables on the interviewer: “Can *you* tell me why strange kawaii has gone so mainstream?? Why do you care to put someone strange like Kyary on your cover? Why did you contact me for your magazine??!”
他にも編集部の方に
“何故これほどまでに可愛いが人気なのか、可愛いとは何なのか、
“何故これほどまでに可愛いが人気なのか、可愛いとは何なのか、
The answer was pretty much just a shrug…
But WHY, WHY?? Whatever, no idea. It’s fun. I`m going to sit here and squish my gross kawaii iPhone case and pretend to ponder it.
そりゃそんな質問簡単に答えられるものではないんだけど。取り敢えず今日も答えが出なさそうだから、
Kyary says: who givafuq
Holy potatoes at the stuffed rabbit with scissors in its head. My reaction isn’t so much at the scissors but the shibari ropes. That’s fantastic…
why indeed?!?! this article gave me a lot to think about (er.. about 2 hours worth of googling thinking about lol)