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cute + (6)
japanese + (4)
japan + (4)

Kyaraben (or charaben) is a style of elaborately arranged bento which features food decorated to look like people, characters from popular media, animals, and plants. Mari Miyazowa (previously) creates stop-action animated shorts featuring her bento box creations. Waking Up is the latest from the lunchbox auteur. [more inside]
posted by Room 641-A on May 1, 2013 - 10 comments

According to a study done at the university of Hiroshima, watching pictures of cute animals makes you more productive. Considering the state many Americans might be in on Monday following a long weekend of turkey and pumkin pie, perhaps watching a few cute videos might be a good idea to get America's productivity up to par. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse on Nov 25, 2012 - 26 comments

The Power of Kawaii: Viewing Cute Images Promotes a Careful Behavior and Narrows Attentional Focus This is interpreted as the result of a narrowed attentional focus induced by the cuteness-triggered positive emotion that is associated with approach motivation and the tendency toward systematic processing.
posted by EvaDestruction on Oct 1, 2012 - 19 comments

The New York Times reports that anime-style "Circle" (or "Big Eye") lenses are currently gaining in popularity, thanks to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jul 3, 2010 - 59 comments

OH! DANGO! JAM Incredible little Japanese game, Tamagotchi + Pokemon + awesome music = great happy fun time. Z is attack, X is magic, C is defend, and spacebar is special move. Don't forget to save often using end -> data regist. [via]
posted by knowles on Jul 25, 2007 - 13 comments

PARO: Seal Type Mental Commit Robot for Psychological Enrichment.
posted by gottabefunky on Dec 28, 2006 - 18 comments

kawaii not?
posted by me3dia on Jul 7, 2006 - 43 comments

Cupcakes are so damn cute. Almost weirdly so.
(Previously on MeFi (and now with its own Flickr group))
posted by BoringPostcards on Jan 15, 2006 - 22 comments

The billion-dollar juggernaut that is Hello Kitty. Tokyo-based journalists Ken Belson and Brian Bremner have published a history of Japanese character-licensing company Sanrio and their most famous character, Hello Kitty. As Japanese "kawaii" (cute) culture continues to invade the world, this looks to be a great guide to the history and impact of Kitty-chan and her minions.
posted by gen on Oct 15, 2003 - 21 comments

Domo-kun! Domokun is "a small brown open-mouthed monster hatched from an egg who lives with a wise old rabbit underground." In Japan, he's the mascot of the NHK BS2 channel and is the star of a series of stop-motion shorts (100MB .mov), the fun and warmth of which aren't lost in translation. In the western world, Domokun is better known as the monster chasing that cute little kitty.
posted by adrianhon on Oct 11, 2003 - 13 comments

Momo's parts. All about the different parts of one Japanese man's pet hamster plus illustrations. "I have read that hamster's whiskers shows the width that they can pass through. But Momo forgets. One day Momo tried to go into the cleaner hose. As he has the big hip, he could't go into it. And in his effect to go, he could't get his head out. When I ran to him in a hurry, his head gone out of the hose, and he rolled backward."
posted by moz on May 17, 2002 - 17 comments