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“Kawaii means “cute” in Japanese, but it’s different from the Western “cute” precisely because it can also mean “cool.” This is not easy to understand, since things kawaii are usually small, round, warm, soft, and fluffy, and radiate something childlike, sweet, innocent, pure, and weak. In Japan, the relationships and interactions between cuteness and coolness are complex. While in the “white” European and American cultures, cool and cute are usually defined as opposites, kawaii unites them. This is possible because kawaii — like cool — is not entirely serious, but ironical. Both cool and kawaii are elastic; they are able to reunite contradictory elements and thus cover a large field of aesthetic expressions. “Kawaii” is the most frequently used word in Japan and “cool” the most popular word of approval in the US.”

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