Exploring Kawaii 1

Exploring Kawaii 1
Running head: EXPLORING KAWAII IN JAPANESE COLLEGE WOMEN
Exploring Kawaii in a Sample of Japanese College Women: A Mixed-Methods Study
Stephanie Klapper
Paul H. Nitze Scholars Program
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Exploring Kawaii 2
Abstract
Kawaii is a Japanese concept that roughly translates to “cuteness” in English. Though
many essays about kawaii have been written over the years, few empirical studies have been
conducted. This exploratory study used mixed methods to examine the meaning of kawaii to
Japanese college women at Akita International University. A measure of kawaii was developed
and administered with the Bem Sex Role Inventory to 64 students. Individual interviews were
conducted with 18 students from the surveyed sample. Results indicated that although all
interviewed participants thought that most young women want to be kawaii, over 70% also
believed that it was not strange to not want to be kawaii. The participants also discussed socially
acceptable alternatives to being kawaii such as kireii (beautiful) and kakkoii (cool). Additionally,
there was much variation in the interviewed participants’ perceptions of kawaii style. The
surveyed participants rated the importance of the characteristics on the kawaii characteristics
scale in relation to their importance to the definition of kawaii. The interviewed participants then
refined the kawaii characteristics scale and gave examples. The hypotheses, that there would be a
significant positive correlation between self-rated kawaii and masculinity, and a significant
negative correlation between self-rated kawaii and femininity, were not supported. There was no
relationship between self-rated kawaii and masculinity or femininity. Because masculinity in
Japan has been correlated with career self-efficacy, vocational maturity, and career commitment,
the data suggests that self-rated kawaii women are not at a disadvantage in these areas as
compared with other women. This is important in light of the finding that there was also no
positive or negative relationship between self-rated kawaii and the priorities of having a career or
having children. The results imply that kawaii may be more related to appearance than to
personality. Implications for future research are discussed.
Exploring Kawaii 3
I would like to thank the following people for their help with this St. Mary’s Project:
My mentor Dr. Renée Peltz Dennison for all of her assistance
The administration at Akita International University for their support
The students at Akita International University for their participation
The Office of International Education for all of their hard work on study abroad programs
Dr. Elizabeth Nutt Williams and Christina Torres for introducing me to qualitative research
Dr. Debbie O’Donnell for discussing kawaii in her cross-cultural psychology class
Zenaida, Larry, James, and Marilyn Klapper for their great support and understanding
Maxwell Bloch for always providing me with help when I asked and needed it the most
Exploring Kawaii 4
Exploring Kawaii in Japanese College Women: A Mixed-Methods Study
In the past four decades, a pop culture phenomenon known as “kawaii” has permeated
through Japanese society. “Kawaii” translates into English as “cute,” though that is not a perfect
translation. More completely, it means “childlike, sweet, adorable, innocent, pure, simple,
genuine, gentle, vulnerable, weak, and inexperienced social behavior and physical appearance”
(Kinsella, 1995, p. 220). Centuries ago, kawaii referred only to small children, animals, or
objects. Today, anything cute in Japanese society- from company logos to pornography- can be
described as kawaii (McVeigh, 2000b). Kawaii is so much a part of the national consciousness
that even the police use a cute cheerful mouse-like mascot in their public safety campaigns
(McVeigh, 2000b). With kawaii becoming such a part of mainstream culture, scholars have
found it increasingly difficult to define the word concisely (Akita, 2005).
Though kawaii is a pervasive concept in Japanese culture, it has special importance to
young Japanese women. In the 1970s teenage girls and young women started to use the word to
describe themselves. They proceeded to dress, speak, act, eat, and even write cutely (Akita,
2005). Based on the literature, being a kawaii as a young woman is defined by specific
characteristics which are not applicable to other kawaii beings, such as animals. These include
characteristics of appearance (clothing, makeup, hair, accessories) and behavior (language,
writing style, actions).
The importance of the kawaii phenomenon among young women rests in both material
and social implications. Japan’s total population is approaching 128 million people (Ministry of
Internal Affairs and Communications [MIAC], 2009), with 6.65 million1 young women between
the ages of 15 and 24. Though these women comprise only about 5% of the total population, they
1
This number was calculated by using the ratio of Japanese men to women between the ages of 15-64 (Central
Intelligence Agency, 2009) and applying it to the number of Japanese men and women between the ages of 15-24
(MIAC, 2009)
Exploring Kawaii 5
have an enormous amount of economic power (Kinsella, 1995). Japanese teenagers make up the
fourth highest teen spending market in the world (Krauss, 2001). High school girls alone spend
approximately $2.5 billion every year (Drake, 2001). Young women in their 20s retain large
disposable incomes by continuing to receive free room and board from their parents while they
work (Chandler & Kano, 2003). In fact, more than half of women in their 20s own a Louis
Vuitton handbag, a luxury item that can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars (Chandler &
Kano, 2003). The amount of wealth that young Japanese women possess, combined with a strong
desire to be kawaii, make kawaii a powerful force in the Japanese economy.
More importantly, the desire to describe oneself as kawaii may have profound social
impacts on young Japanese women. In western cultures, as well as in Japan, instrumental traits
such as leadership abilities, ambitiousness, and strength have been linked to positive
characteristics such as mental health, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. By socializing women to act
young, innocent, and weak, kawaii may be putting young women at risk. This idea will be
discussed in more detail in the gender roles section of this literature review. Although there are
many uses for the word “kawaii” in Japanese society, this literature review will specifically
explore the meaning and implications of the word to young women who consider themselves
kawaii.
A Review of the Literature
Kawaii
The Beginning
In 1974, large numbers of teenage women invented a new style of writing Japanese
characters which resembled the script of a child just learning how to write. These characters
differed from normal characters in that they were rounded, written left to right rather than
Exploring Kawaii 6
vertically, used thin lines rather than varied thickness, had little cartoon pictures inserted
randomly throughout the text, and included some English. The style was dubbed “kawaii.” By
1985 approximately 5 million people were using the new form of writing (Kinsella, 1995).
In the late 1970s, companies started to capitalize on the teenage desire to be kawaii.
Though the kawaii writing style was banned in many schools, several magazines, comics, word
processors, and other writing-based media adopted the new style to appeal to teenage tastes.
Sanrio, a Japanese company that specializes in merchandise with cute characters, started
producing cute stationary, toys, toiletries, lunch boxes, bags, towels, and other novelties. These
fashionable “fancy goods” were small, pastel, round, soft, frilly, and distinctly styled in a
European or American way rather than in a traditional Japanese way. Soft, small, infantile,
mammalian, and round stuffed animals with no body appendages were very popular. These
stuffed animals often seemed confused, vulnerable, or lacking confidence. Shops specializing in
cute objects became very popular, especially in large cities (Kinsella, 1995).
Characteristics of Kawaii
After the 1970s, women adopted many different methods to convey kawaii. These
included changing their voices, content of speech, mannerisms, food, makeup, clothing, hair,
accessories, belongings, and toiletries. By 1992, the word “kawaii” was estimated to be “the
most widely used, widely loved, habitual word in modern living Japanese” (CREA, November
1992, p. 58; as cited in Kinsella, 1995, p. 220).
Communication. Young Japanese women often engaged in altered modes of speaking to
appear kawaii. The most basic of these is to speak in a highly pitched voice to appear more childlike (Bremner, 2002). A native professor at a women’s junior college from 1989 to 1998,
observed that her students would often smile or giggle to avoid completing their sentences
Exploring Kawaii 7
(Akita, 2005). They would also use onomatopoeias, abbreviated expression, and slang such as “I
like English xx2” instead of “I like English very much.” At times, they would refer to themselves
in the third person rather than in the first. For example, one might say “Yukari did it,” rather than
“I did it.” In Japan this behavior is normally only accepted for children aged 2-7.
Actions. Kawaii women during the 1980s also acted more infantile than other women.
For example, kawaii women stood pigeon-toed, smiled much of the time (Akita, 2005, p. 45),
stomped their feet (Bremner, 2002), took faltering steps, blushed, cried, and giggled more than
non-kawaii women (Kinsella, 1995). They also ate very sweet food, such as ice cream, cake, and
puddings. These foods are strongly associated with children in Japan (Kinsella, 1995, p. 231).
These sweets became so popular in the 1980s that fancy ice cream shops started opening all
throughout Japan (Kinsella, 1995). At times, males reinforced the cute food trend. In one essay a
woman describes her boyfriend switching her order to ice cream when she asked for black coffee
(Akita, 2005). Kawaii women also changed their manners. For example, some kawaii women sat
with their friends on the floor of a train or platform and talked loudly, which is considered very
rude for adults but acceptable among children (Akita, 2005).
Clothing. In the 1980s a company based in Tokyo called Pink House LTD became so
well known for its cute outfits that the people who bought its clothing were said to have been
part of the “Pink House Movement.” Cute clothing included white, pink, and pastel colors with
frilled puffy sleeves and ribbons. Extra small shirts were decorated with cartoon characters and
slogans. White tights, frilly ankle socks, and knee length school girl socks completed the outfit.
Even underwear was built to be small with large amounts of elastic so that they would shrink to
look like little girls’ panties when not in use (Kinsella, 1995).
Exploring Kawaii 8
Since then, several kawaii styles have come and gone. In the late 1980s, a fashion
magazine called “Cute for Independent Girls” pushed a “cheeky tomboy” sort of cuteness.
Popular clothing included tight white t-shirts, nursery colors, cartoon characters, and tight little
sweaters. The magazine showed pictures of teens trying to look “bad and cute” at the same time
(Kinsella, 1995, p. 229). In 2003, young girls started buying fake school uniforms to wear
outside of school. In rare cases, girls wore real school uniforms, such as the coveted traditional
sailor suit uniform. But for the most part, most had embellishments—such as shorter skirts and
many colorful bows-- which would usually not have been allowed at school. The trend was so
popular that some schools started hiring famous Japanese fashion designers to make their
uniforms in order to attract students (Zaun, 2003).
In 2006, several kawaii fashions developed in three Tokyo neighborhoods. One was
simply called “kawaii,” a preppy but cute fashion that used ruffles, lace, bows, and embroidery.
Another was called “glamorous girls,” in which many of the girls identified themselves as “erokawaii” or “cute sexy.” This fashion style mimicked famous movie stars, and included short
skirts, skinny denim, big movie star sunglasses, tinted hair, and colorful high heels. Meanwhile
“eighties and natural” girls used natural colors for their clothing, which contrasted with their
colorful hair and makeup ("The tribes of Tokyo," 2006).
Kawaii fashion has obtained a reputation for its fickleness. Japanese fashion is
determined by consumer teenagers more so than in most other nations. Tokyo high school
students in particular have the most influence. These girls spend approximately $275 per month
on clothing, three times the amount spent by high school students in other parts of the country.
These girl consumers decide amongst themselves what new fashion is kawaii, and clothing stores
rush to develop the right clothing before the girls change their minds. Kawaii fashion can range
Exploring Kawaii 9
from frilly pink shirts to vinyl miniskirts, and each fashion lasts only a few months at a time.
After something is deemed kawaii in Tokyo, fashion magazines quickly advertise the clothing to
the rest of the country. However, the industry moves so quickly that by the time the rest of Japan
is scrambling to get the coveted clothing, Tokyo has already moved on to the next fashion.
Tokyo consumers are so powerful that clothing companies typically hire teenage Tokyo girls
with no training as clothing designers in order to gain an edge in the kawaii market (Drake,
2001).
Hair, makeup, and hygiene. Hair and makeup styles change depending on what is
currently kawaii. Few elements are common among different styles of kawaii hair, but two
staples are butterfly clips and young girl barrettes (Bremner, 2002). For example, the previously
mentioned kawaii girls wore mascara, blush, paled foundation, and colored hair ("The tribes of
Tokyo," 2006). The “glamorous girls” wore iridescent makeup and tinted hair. The “eighties
girls” wore colorful makeup and colorful accessories in their hair. But whatever the fashion, hair
and makeup can take a lot of time to perfect. This is not surprising, considering that the
cosmetics market in Japan is the second largest in the world (Miller, 2006). Perfume, hair
products, skin products, and makeup sales accounted for approximately $15 billion in 2002
(Japan External Trade Organization, 2003 as cited in Miller, 2006). Some of these sales included
soap, shampoo, cream, toothbrushes, and perfumes meant for babies and young children, but
instead sold to young women in their early 20s ("From the cradle," 1995).
Belongings. Nearly any object can be turned into a kawaii accessory if a company is
willing to make it. Even something as routine and functional as a cell phone can be deemed
fashionable or unfashionable (Katz & Sugiyama, 2006), kawaii or not kawaii (Nelson, 2006).
According to Kinsella (1995), this makes perfect sense. The fantasy world of kawaii is not
Exploring Kawaii 10
always easily applicable to real life situations. For example, acting childish does not necessarily
help with school or work performance. However, using kawaii every-day items can allow
women to enjoy feeling kawaii at any time of the day (Kinsella, 1995). The high demand for
these items is apparent from the diversity of available products. Hello Kitty, a popular kawaii
character in Japan, is available on hundreds of objects. According to McVeigh (2000a), Sanrio
has invented the following Hello Kitty merchandise:
stickers, coffee mugs, glasses, calculators, watches, towels, pillows, toothbrushes, lunch
boxes, pens, pencils, garbage pails, golf bags, boxer shorts, safes, luggage,
scooters…bank-books, and cash cards…toys, handbags….telephones and
televisions…spatulas, sets of dishes, pans, pots, bowls and cups, a tea kettle, coffee
maker, shaved ice machine, hair dryer, cookie mold, toaster, toaster oven…waffle
maker…car…wallets, sunglasses, pens [and] pocketbooks (p. 229-230).
These are only some of the Hello Kitty items available. Because young women can never look or
feel perfectly like a child, there is no upper limit to how much money it is possible to spend on
products to achieve the ideal kawaii persona. By 2005, Hello Kitty products alone had drawn in
$400 million for Sanrio (Bland, 2007). Even after women in their late 20s and 30s stop trying to
embody the kawaii ideal, they still continue to buy cute objects which are useful at home, such as
aprons and vacuum cleaners. This makes the market for kawaii products so large that it has been
called “consumutopia” (McVeigh, 2000a).
Symbolism and Uses of Kawaii
Kawaii and adulthood. Kinsella (1995) conducted a survey among 18-30 year old men
and women in Tokyo in 1992 to better understand what kawaii meant to this age group. Her
results showed a strong dichotomy between childhood and adulthood. Adulthood was perceived
Exploring Kawaii 11
as very negative, with descriptions such as “harshness of having to support a family,”
“responsibility,” “a dirty world of power,” “dreams disappear,” “strictness,” “can’t stop
working,” “free time is lacking,” and “lonely” (Kinsella, 1995, p. 42). In a society where almost
all men and a few women work for one company their entire lives and are expected to stay
extremely late virtually every night, it is understandable that they do not look forward to growing
up. Many women who marry are resigned to focusing nearly all of their concentration on their
family without the prospect of a career or the emotional support from an absent husband. Often
women delay marriage, live with their parents, and work part-time to escape these dismal
scenarios (Zielenziger, 2006).
Meanwhile, kawaii was associated with words such as “childlike,” “innocent,” “naïve,”
“unconscious,” “natural,” and “inability to deal with every day life” (Kinsella, 1995, p. 238-239).
Above all, kawaii was described as a time when warm emotional contact was possible and
sincere emotions could come out from hiding. While adulthood was perceived as artificial and
isolating, kawaii was associated with happiness, naivety, and unconscious harmony with others
(Kinsella, 1995, p. 238-239). Kinsella (1995) concluded that the Japanese see adulthood as a
time of imprisonment and responsibility. Kawaii could be useful to young adults by providing an
escape from a bleak view of adulthood. (Kinsella, 1995). If young women truly view kawaii as
sincere, naïve, and unconscious, then the most ironic part is that so many young women are
“burikkos,” literally “fake children.” Many young women intentionally invest money in kawaii
clothing, makeup, accessories, and hair products, and intentionally engage in kawaii behaviors so
that they can achieve the ideal of being kawaii. But the idea of kawaii seems to hinge on the idea
that it is natural; it is not something that one can try to embody through effort or consumerism.
Exploring Kawaii 12
Thus, the very ideal that many “kawaii” women try to embrace always eludes them (Kinsella,
1995). If kawaii does provide an escape from reality, it is artificial.
Authority. Another more cynical approach to kawaii is its potential usefulness in power
relationships. In Japan, vertical relationships with clear authority figures are a very important
part of society (Nakane, 1970 as cited in McVeigh, 2000b). From the time Japanese children can
talk, they must learn to show proper respect to their elders. When school starts, they learn that
they are to sit quietly and learn from their teacher without making suggestions or asking
questions. The hierarchal system is so strong that high-ranking businessmen consistently
discourage young Japanese workers from suggesting creative ideas or trying to quickly work
their way to the top. Salary men slowly rise up through the business world in due time,
regardless of individual ability (Zielenziger, 2006). Female workers have the lowest position in
this system, working mostly as stagnant clerical assistants for male bosses. Although women
make up nearly half of Japan’s work force, in 2005 women held only 10.1% of all corporate and
government managerial jobs. In contrast, women held 42.5 percent of managerial jobs in the
United States (Fackler, 2007).
McVeigh (2000b) argues that kawaii helps young women create “amaeru” and
“amayakasu” relationships with their male bosses at work. Amaeru literally means “to solicit the
indulgence of another,” while amayakasu means “to indulge, spoil, or pamper” (McVeigh,
2000b, p. 144). Though typically used to describe the relationship between a mother and her
children, these two words also capture the “sugary emotional bonding between superiors and
inferiors” (McVeigh, 2000b, p. 144). One person argues that kawaii allows women to be
indulged by their superiors “simply by nature of [its] silliness. How angry can you be at plastic
barrettes and ankle socks? How seriously can you take a subculture that is, by definition,
Exploring Kawaii 13
profoundly inane?” (Schoemer & Chang, 1995). Thus, by acting cute, women can create sugary
emotional bonding with their superiors and be looked upon more favorably. This theory is
supported by research finding that cuteness in babies is correlated with adults’ desire to take care
of them (Glocker, et al., 2009). Kawaii’s usefulness to women in the workforce sometimes leads
to the abuse of kawaii as reflected in this young woman’s statement: “I pretend to be cute at the
office where I work part-time. This is because I do not want to be bothered with complicated
human relationships” (McVeigh, 2000b, p. 144).
However, kawaii’s usefulness for women is strongly tied to its usefulness for men. Men
do not like to be called kawaii, as this denotes weakness. It may be that when women act kawaii,
they mimic a person who is submissive, meek, and compliant. Because obedience reinforces
one’s position in the hierarchy, women effectively accept their low spot in the Japanese
hierarchy and take their “proper” place as a Japanese woman. One study conducted by
Hildebrandt and Fitzgerald (1979) shows how deeply gender stereotypes about cuteness
penetrate. Cute babies are more likely to be perceived as female regardless of actual gender,
which indicates that cuteness is associated with females from the beginning of life.
Outside of the workforce, corporations or people in authority positions may also find
kawaii to be useful, which would explain military recruitment posters which depict cute Japanese
women saying “Peace People Japan—Come On!” (Frühstück, 2007). If state agencies, educators,
large companies, the police, and the military can convince others that they are not intimidating,
then they may have an easier time with persuasion and control (McVeigh, 2000b). It makes them
more likeable. However, kawaii can also take authority away from those in power, such as
teachers with students. For example, when a professor was scolding her classroom of students,
one young girl exclaimed “Teacher, your earrings are so kawaii!”(Akita, 2005). The class
Exploring Kawaii 14
laughed and stopped listening to what the teacher had to say. Being called kawaii had effectively
robbed her of her power (Akita, 2005).
Conformity and individuality. Another explanation for the persistence of kawaii is that it
allows young people to conform to a group while still showing some amount of individuality. In
Japan, conformity and belonging to a group is highly valued among young people.
Advertisements for clothing will often have a “fit in with the group” theme as opposed to the
“dare to be different” themes more popular in the west (Zielenziger, 2006). Nonetheless, after
adhering to a certain dress code, young people often find small ways to assert their individuality
(Mcveigh, 2000a). For example, a young clique that wears and buys everything with Hello Kitty
can still show individuality through which products they buy. Hello Kitty’s mood and size can
make a difference (McVeigh, 2000a). Kawaii provides a common dress code, but also provides
options for alteration. Another explanation is that acting kawaii allows young women to express
independent thoughts while still appearing to conform to the majority. Unfortunately, because
they act vulnerable and immature, they have trouble having their ideas taken seriously (Akita,
2005).
Sexuality. Japanese men admit that they prefer cute women over beautiful women
because they do not feel as comfortable with beautiful women. Beautiful women appear to have
sexual experience, while cute women appear to be naïve and innocent. Thus, beautiful women
intimidate them, while cute women help them feel in control. This overall preference for cute
women is immediately obvious in Japanese commercials, animation, pornography, and the attire
of Japanese prostitutes (McVeigh, 2000b; Sinclair, 2006). Some women who want to be sexually
attractive try to make themselves “ero-kawaii,” or “cute sexy.” They wear cute clothing but
combine them with more sophisticated styles by following tips distributed by talk shows,
Exploring Kawaii 15
women’s journals, magazines, and books. However, males are alert to burikko (“fake child”)
who attempt to act innocent when in reality they are mature. Males perceive these women as
manipulative, while naturally cute women are seen as very desirable (McVeigh, 2000b).
Gender Roles
The kawaii phenomenon has strong implications for young women’s gender roles in
Japan. Masculinity and femininity are considered the two components of gender role.
Masculinity is comprised of traits which are considered desired in males, while femininity is
comprised of traits desired in females. Masculinity and femininity are not considered to be
mutually exclusive, but rather two-dimensional (Marsh & Byrne, 1991). It is possible for a
person to be high in both masculine and feminine traits. Masculinity has also been called
instrumentality, traits which reflect a desire and ability to get things done quickly such as
independence, assertiveness, and dominance. Femininity has been called expressiveness, traits
which reflect caring and empathy for others.
In 1974 Bem created the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) to assess the levels of
masculine and feminine traits in individuals (Bem, 1974). In the U.S., males tend to score higher
on masculinity than females, while females score higher on femininity (Bem, 1974). However,
the results are very different in Japan. Sugihara and Katsurada (1999) administered a Japanese
translation of the BSRI to 265 college students. They found that males and females did not differ
from one another in levels of masculinity and femininity, but that both were higher in femininity
and masculinity. In a later study, Sugihara and Katsurada (2000) used a modified version of the
BSRI and found that Japanese males and females scored equally on femininity while males
scored higher on masculinity. Again, males and females both scored higher on femininity than on
masculinity.
Exploring Kawaii 16
The high levels of femininity among Japanese males may be attributable to cultural
differences. The BSRI was created in the United States, an individualistic culture where
instrumental traits are highly regarded. In contrast, Japan is a collectivist culture. Feminine
expressive traits which lead to group harmony are often more desirable than masculine
instrumental traits. This explains why expressiveness might be high among both males and
females. Sugihara and Katsurada (2000) used a modified version of the BSRI in which traits
from the masculinity scale which were not highly regarded in Japanese culture, such as
“dominant” and “self-reliant,” were removed. This may explain why males in this study scored
higher on masculinity than the males in Sugihara’s and Katsurada’s 1999 study. With these traits
removed, males scored higher on a scale of masculinity more consistent with their collectivist
culture (Sugihara & Katsurada, 2000).
Since the invention of the BSRI, there has been much controversy over which traits are
more beneficial to members of each gender. Over the years several different theories about sex
roles and self-concepts have risen and fallen in popularity (Marsh & Byrne, 1991). These are:
1. Sex-typed mode. Masculine males and feminine females have the best outcomes.
2. Additive androgyny model. Masculinity and femininity both contribute in different but
positive ways. The main effects of masculinity and femininity will be statistically
significant.
3. Masculinity model. Masculinity is related to positive outcomes while femininity either has a
negative main effect or no main effect.
4. Androgyny model. There is a significant interaction between masculinity and femininity.
This means that being high in both types of traits leads to better outcomes than masculinity or
femininity alone. There may or may not be main effects of masculinity and femininity.
Exploring Kawaii 17
Much of the research supports the masculinity model. In Western nations, masculinity
has been correlated to mental health (Bassoff & Glass, 1982), self-esteem (Antill &
Cunningham, 1979, 1980; Feather, 1985; Whitley, 1983), low levels of depression (Elpern &
Karp, 1984), problem-solving skills (Nezu & Nezu, 1987), and creative accomplishment (Hittner
& Daniels, 2002). In Japan, masculinity has been correlated with career self-efficacy (Matsui,
Kakuyama, Konishi, Tsuzuki, & Onglatco, 1999; Matsui & Onglatco, 1991), vocational maturity
(Ono & Sakayanagi, 1986), and career commitment (Matsui, Ohsawa, & Onglatco, 1991).
The androgyny model also has some support. Androgyny refers to individuals high in
both masculinity and femininity, and it has been correlated with successfully being accepted for
jobs one has applied for (Francesco & Hakel, 1981), attractiveness (Green & Kenrick, 1994), and
emotional intelligence (Guastello & Guastello, 2003). Specifically in Japan, androgyny has been
linked with communication skills (Hirokawa, Yamada, Dohi, & Miyata, 2001), successful
adaptation across the lifespan (Shimonaka, Nakazato, Kawaai, & Sato, 1997), and vocational
maturity (Ono & Sakayanagi, 1986). However, criticism about inappropriate statistical practices
has cast doubt on androgyny research (Taylor & Hall, 1982). Furthermore, some studies have
found that androgynous individuals and masculine individuals reap nearly identical benefits,
implying that masculinity is the only factor of importance (Nezu & Nezu, 1987; Whitley, 1983).
Overall, the masculinity model has received the most support. From these results, it is
reasonable to assume that Japanese individuals with high masculinity will benefit more,
especially if they want to pursue a career.
Statement of the Problem
This literature review explores kawaii’s characteristics and uses among young Japanese
women. However, most of this literature comes from essays and newspaper articles. There have
Exploring Kawaii 18
been few methodical studies on kawaii, and even fewer from a psychological standpoint.
Additionally, there are still many unanswered questions about the meaning and implications of
kawaii.
The present study focuses on two hypotheses and several research questions. The first
hypothesis is that there will be a significant negative correlation between masculinity and selfrated kawaii. The definition of kawaii from the literature generally excludes many masculine
traits such as independence, assertiveness, and self-sufficiency. This supports the idea that there
may be a significant negative correlation between masculinity and self-rated kawaii. Because
masculine traits are generally associated with success, this implies that self-rated kawaii women
may be at a disadvantage in life.
The second hypothesis is that there will be a significant positive correlation between
femininity and self-rated kawaii. The definition of kawaii generally includes feminine traits such
as yielding, childlike, and affectionate. It would make sense for self-rated kawaii women to
embody all of these traits.
The research questions are as follows (a) Is wanting to be kawaii the norm among young
women?; (b) Is there more than one style of kawaii?; (c) What are the most important
characteristics of being kawaii, and how are they defined?; (d) How important is it look kawaii
versus act kawaii?; and (e) Is there a relationship between self-rated kawaii and priorities for the
future?
This is an exploratory mixed-methods study which uses a triangulation design (Creswell,
2003). The exploratory study broadly examines the concept of kawaii to young women in order
to better understand the concept, rather than narrowly focusing on any given meaning of kawaii.
As a mixed-methods study, it will combine quantitative data and qualitative data. The
Exploring Kawaii 19
quantitative data are participant results from the Kawaii Survey I designed and the Bem Sex Role
Inventory. This data will be analyzed through Pearson’s correlations and a Friedman test. The
qualitative data are codes from semi-structured interviews. This data will be analyzed through
constant comparison analysis. In accordance with its triangulation design, the two types of data
will be analyzed separately, but then compared in the results and discussion session, each with
equal weight. The hope is that combining these two methods will provide a more complete
understanding of kawaii than qualitative or quantitative methods could alone.
Method
Study 1
This quantitative study tested the hypotheses and explored all four research questions.
Participants were given a survey which tested for the importance of looking and acting kawaii,
the importance of different characteristics of kawaii, how appropriate kawaii is in different
situations, and the importance of having a full-time career and having children. Participants were
also given a survey which tested for masculine and feminine personality traits.
Participants
Japanese female students living at Akita International University, a small liberal arts
school that conducts its classes in English, received flyers in their mailboxes inviting them to
participate in a voluntary confidential online survey. Posters advertising the survey were hung in
the cafeteria, a dorm hallway, the library, and the student hall. All advertisements indicated that
students had two weeks to participate before the survey closed. In exchange for participation,
students were entered into a raffle for a 3000 yen ($33) VISA gift card.
Due to low participation rates (54 students) after two weeks, flyers were again
distributed to mailboxes and posters were put up to advertise that the deadline had been extended
Exploring Kawaii 20
by three weeks. When participation rates were still low one week later (67 students), I also
utilized snowball sampling methods by approaching students in computer lab courses, the
Japanese Language Friends Club, and the Tea Ceremony Club. Four days before the final
deadline, female students again received flyers in their mailboxes, this time to remind them that
the deadline was soon. The final number of participants was 86. However, 22 of these were not
included in the final analysis because they did not answer at least 5.5% of the questions.
Students who lived off campus did not receive flyers, but may have seen the posters on
campus. Additionally, the 25% of the student population that was studying abroad were not
included because I was not able to obtain permission from the campus administration to send
them electronic mail to advertise the survey.
The final sample included 64 female Japanese students at Akita International University
in Japan between the ages of 18 and 24. All students knew and spoke English frequently. For
their majors, 27% studied global business, 42% studied global studies, 27% were undecided, 3%
studied English for Academic Purposes, and 2% studied Japanese teaching. Forty-one percent
were first years, 23% were second years, 13% were third years, 20% were fourth years, and 3%
were fifth years. 48% came from rural areas, 36% came from suburban areas, and 14% came
from urban areas. Two percent stated that their family income per year was less than 300,000 yen
($33,000), 23% said 300,001-600,000 yen ($33,001-$66,000), 20% said 600,001-900,000 yen
($66,001-$99,000), 47% said more than 900,000 yen ($99,001), and 8% did not answer.
Materials
Kawaii Scale. I created the Kawaii Scale, as currently there are no other available scales
in English which assess opinions on different aspects of kawaii. It is based on the extensive
literature review, as well as measurement theory written by Leary (2004). It consists of 50
Exploring Kawaii 21
questions. Topics cover self-rated kawaii, the importance of looking and acting kawaii, kawaii
characteristics, and priorities for the future.
Self-rated kawaii is based on the answer to the statement “Overall I am kawaii.”
Importance of looking kawaii is based on the statement “It is very important to me to look
kawaii.” Importance of acting kawaii is based on the statement “It is very important to me to act
kawaii.” Reponses were formatted on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (not true at all)
to 7 (always true).
Kawaii characteristics refer to how important certain items-- voice, mannerisms and
behaviors, makeup, saying kawaii things, clothing, hair, accessories, shoes, and belongings—are
in order for a person to be kawaii. No examples for the characteristics were provided so that
participants could be asked about their own definitions of these characteristics during the
interviews. Responses were again formatted on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (not important at
all) to 7 (very important).
During the follow-up interviews, participants were asked what they would change about
the survey if they wanted to use it to conduct their own study of kawaii. Out of 18 interviewed
students, 44% wanted to remove food, 33% students wanted to remove thoughts, and 33%
wanted to remove smell. These items were not used in the final analysis. Additionally, 56% of
the interviewed participants indicated that they were confused about how mannerisms and
behaviors were different from one another. Thus, the mannerisms and behaviors scores were
combined and averaged for the final analysis.
Importance of having children is indicated by “My highest priority for the future is to
have children,” and importance of career is indicated by “My highest priority for the future is to
Exploring Kawaii 22
work full-time in a career.” Responses are again formatted on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (not
true at all) to 7 (always true).
The Kawaii Scale has face validity, as demonstrated by the extensive literature review.
Additionally, the changes to the kawaii characteristics sub-scale after conducting the interviews
reflects an effort to increase the face validity of the measure based on participant responses. With
these changes, Crononbach’s alpha (an estimate of inter-item reliability) for the kawaii
characteristics sub-scale was .89. The reliability for the other sub-scales was not measured
because they were either only 1-item, or were designed so that the responses could be compared
with one another rather than summed to measure a certain construct.
Modified Bem Sex Role Inventory. The Bem Sex Role Inventory measures masculinity
and femininity based on self-reports of traits which are stereotyped as either masculine or
feminine in society. It consists of 60 questions with responses formatted on a 10-point scale
ranging from 1 (never or almost never true) to 10 (always or almost always true). It is divided
into three subscales: masculine characteristics, feminine characteristics, and neutral
characteristics. Masculine traits include athletic, analytical, and ambitious. Feminine traits
include childlike, compassionate, and shy. Neutral traits include adaptable, conceited, and
conscientious. Neutral traits are not calculated into either the masculinity or femininity score,
and are used as filler.
For this study, the coding of the BSRI was modified slightly to be more valid in a
Japanese sample. These changes were based on the suggestions made by Katsurada and Sugihara
(1999) in their study on the validity of the BSRI in Japanese samples. Using a sample of 256
Japanese college students, they found that some traits which had been considered neutral were
scored as significantly more desirable for Japanese men or women than traits which had been
Exploring Kawaii 23
considered feminine or masculine. Thus, the neutral traits “warm,” “happy,” and “tactful,” were
changed to be coded as feminine traits. The feminine traits “sensitive to the needs of others,”
“understanding,” and “loyal,” were changed to be coded as neutral. The neutral trait
“individualistic” was changed to be coded as masculine, and the masculine trait “reliable” was
changed to be coded as neutral. On the measure itself, the traits switched actual positions within
the question order.
Crononbach’s alpha was .87 for masculinity, and .82 for femininity. There were no
studies which used the suggested changes to the BSRI to which these scores could be compared.
However these reliabilities were higher than the .79 reliability for masculinity and .76 for
femininity in Kutsarada and Sugihara’s 1999 study which used the unaltered BSRI.
Procedure
Prior to participation, participants were given an online consent form which presented the
nature and purpose of the study to the students. Participants were then asked whether they gave
informed consent. This indicated that they understood the purpose of the study, that they could
stop filling out the survey at any time, and that they would receive contact information for any
questions or concerns. The participating students were then asked two questions to make sure
that they were Japanese females. Next, they answered several demographic questions including
age, religion, family income, class status, and major. Students then completed the Kawaii Scale
and the Bem Sex Role Inventory. After they finished the surveys, participants were provided
with a debriefing statement that thanked them for their participation and gave them my contact
information. Students were asked to provide their student ID number so that they could be
entered into a raffle for a 3000 yen VISA gift card in exchange for their participation. Students
were further asked if they would be willing to be interviewed in exchange for a chance to win
Exploring Kawaii 24
another 3000 yen prepaid gift card. After they indicated yes or no, they were again thanked for
their participation.
Study 2
This was a qualitative study which used semi-structured interviews to explore what
kawaii meant to the participants. Items included follow-up questions to the participants’ answers
on the survey. This study also explored whether kawaii was useful to the participants in ways
predicted by previous research.
Participants
Students who indicated on the survey that they would be willing to be interviewed were
contacted via email and asked what time would be best for them to meet. Twenty-one (33%) of
the participants from Study 1 responded and were interviewed. However, one recorded interview
was lost due to data corruption, one student answered only half of the questions, and one chose
not to be recorded. These interviews were excluded from the final analysis, making the final
sample size number 18 (28% of the sample from Study 1).
Only 28% of participants from this sample were first years, as compared with 41% in
Study 1. This may be because upperclassmen at this school have more experience speaking in
English than first years and felt more comfortable being interviewed. Additionally, 61% came
from rural areas, compared to 48% from Study 1. Aside from these differences, this sub-sample
closely resembled the overall sample from Study 1.
Materials
The interview questions were developed as a complement to the survey questions (See
Appendix B). Some questions were made independent of the survey, such as “Do you think there
are different styles of kawaii?” Others were direct follow-ups to survey questions. For example
Exploring Kawaii 25
“On the survey, you were given the statement ‘It is very important for me to act kawaii.’ You
chose (number between 1-7). Can you please elaborate on why you chose that answer?” For the
kawaii characteristics sub-scale, participants were asked what they might change or keep the
same about the sub-scale, as well as for examples of the different characteristics.
Procedure
Most interviews took place in a private library meeting room, but one took place in the
participant’s dormitory room. Each student was interviewed individually. Prior to participation,
participants were given a consent form which presented the nature and purpose of the study to
the students. I then summarized the consent form for the participant, emphasizing that there were
no right or wrong answers and that they could choose not to answer any question that they did
not feel comfortable answering. Participants were then given time to look over the form. They
were given two places to sign: one if they consented to be interviewed, and one if they consented
to be recorded. After signing, participants were interviewed for thirty minutes to three hours,
with most interviews ending after one hour. The participants who were interviewed for longer
than an hour were asked whether they wanted to continue the interview, schedule another time to
finish the interview, or end the interview. After the interview was over, participants were
debriefed and asked whether they had any remaining questions. In exchange for participation,
students received a chance to win a second 3000 yen ($33) VISA gift card.
Design and Analysis
To analyze the interviews, I used constant comparison analysis (Leech & Onwuegbuzie,
2007). Constant comparison analysis refers to categorizing the data into meaningful sections, and
labeling each section with a label called a “code.” The codes are then compared with one another
so that they can be grouped together or combined. These codes can either be predetermined
Exploring Kawaii 26
(deductive) or emerge from the data (inductive). Finally, the codes are organized under broader
themes. The interviews are then examined to see whether or not each code applies to them, and
then tallied up to see how many interviews are matched with each code.
The codes for this study were both deductively and inductively determined. For example,
many of the characteristics codes were obtained deductively directly from the survey, such as
voice, mannerisms and behavior, hair, clothing, makeup, accessories, shoes, belongings, and
saying kawaii things. However, the sub-codes were determined inductively from the data. For
example, I coded sections from each interview related to voice and then compiled them. After
several careful readings new codes, such as “natural,” were developed when an idea was
expressed in at least 2 of the 18 interviews. Additionally, some kawaii characteristics, such as
body traits, did not belong in any of the categories from the survey, and so became completely
new codes. Another inductive method was writing notes at the end of each interview about the
overall themes presented by the participant. Some of these were later transformed into parts of
the coding scheme if they seemed common across the different interviews. Finally, some codes
were deductively obtained from the interview questions. For example the codes “It is possible to
be feminine without being kawaii,” and “It is not possible to be feminine without being kawaii”
were taken directly from the interview question “Do you think that it is possible to be feminine
without being kawaii?” However, these were also supplemented by an inductive code-- “All
women are kawaii in some way.”
I then coded each interview by checking whether or not each code applied to the
interview (see tables 1 and 2). For each code, the interview could be coded as “yes” meaning that
the code applies to the interview, or “no” meaning that the code does not apply to the interview.
Exploring Kawaii 27
For example, if a high-pitched voice was mentioned in the interview, then that interview could
be coded “yes” for “high-pitched voice.”
To test for inter-coder reliability, I hired a secondary-coder. First, I trained the secondarycoder by giving her the literature review, discussing Japanese culture, defining Japanese words
commonly used in the interviews, and explaining how to use the coding scheme. The secondarycoder and I then independently coded two practice interviews. When we came back together, we
looked for differences between how we had coded the interviews. We then discussed each
difference, determined why we had disagreed, and modified the coding scheme for clarity.
Afterwards, we independently coded two more practice interviews, discussed their differences,
and revised the coding scheme. These practice interviews served to improve the definitions of
the codes and increase inter-coder reliability. Finally, we coded 5 interviews (28% of the total
number of interviews) to calculate inter-coder reliability. Coding a percentage of interviews
greater than 10% is an acceptable way to calculate reliability (Lombard, Snyder-Duch, &
Bracken, 2002). The Cohen’s kappa for these five interviews was .868 and the percent
agreement was 93%.
Results
The hypothesis that there would be a negative correlation between masculinity and selfrated kawaii was not supported. A Pearson’s correlation for the data revealed that the
relationship between self-rated kawaii (M = 3.68, SD = .82) and masculinity (M = 4.34, SD =
.68) was not significant, r = .119, n = 64, p = .357 (two-tailed).
The hypothesis that there would be a positive correlation between femininity and selfrated kawaii was also not supported. A Pearson’s correlation also found that the relationship
between self-rated kawaii and femininity (M = 2.75, SD = 1.57) was not significant, r = .186, n
Exploring Kawaii 28
= 64, p = .147 (two-tailed). This indicates that kawaii and feminine personality traits are not
related. The qualitative data partially supports this finding. When asked “Is it possible to be
feminine without being kawaii?” 55.6% of women said yes, while only 11.1% said no (see table
1). Participants who thought that women could be feminine without being kawaii stated that
women could have feminine non-kawaii traits, such as being able to sit in “seiza,” which is
method of sitting on one’s knees that requires practice to be able to do for long periods of time.
Others said that women could be feminine by being “kireii (beautiful),” “kakkoii (cool),” or
“sexy.” The concepts of “kireii” and “kakoii” are explored more in the next section.
However, 22.2% of interviewed participants were not able to decide whether it was
possible to be feminine without being kawaii because they could not imagine a woman who was
not kawaii. They believed that all women are kawaii in at least some aspect, including in
personality.
Kawaii as a Norm
When explicitly asked, 100% of interviewed participants stated that most young women
want to be kawaii (see table 1). Additionally, even though there was no corresponding interview
question, 77.9% of participants stated that kawaii meant being attractive or liked by others, and
61.6% thought that being called kawaii by someone else was a compliment. These results
indicate that kawaii is positive and highly desired.
However, at the same time, when explicitly asked, 72.2% of interviewed participants
stated that it is not strange to not want to be kawaii, while only 11.1% stated that it is strange to
not want to be kawaii. These results indicate that even though most women thought that being
kawaii is desirable, they did not show any malice towards those who chose not to be kawaii. The
percentage of women who believed that not wanting to be kawaii is not strange probably might
Exploring Kawaii 29
have been even higher if I had explicitly asked every participant. However, several participants
indicated that they did not want to be kawaii, and I avoided the question about strangeness so
that these participants would not feel awkward.
Two thirds of interviewed participants discussed socially acceptable alternatives to being
kawaii, such as “kakkoii” (cool) and “kireii” (beautiful). Participants described kakkoii as
looking more “boyish” and “cool” with “short hair.” They were also described as being “like a
man,” “opinionated,” and “smart.” Participants described kireii as being more like “a woman”
whereas kawaii was “like a girl.” Examples for kireii extended to appearance “not so much
makeup,” “tall,” “matured,” “straight hair,” “gorgeous,” longer skirts than kawaii skirts, and
neutral colors like “black,” “white,” and “brown.” Examples outside of appearance included
“independent,” “smart,” “sexy,” “reliable,” “good at everything,” “skillful,” “grown-up,” and
“respectable.” At times, kawaii, kireii, and kakkoii were described as mutually exclusive, but at
other times they were described being able to coincide. One participant stated “I think that it’s
easier to be looked as a kakkoii and kireii at the same time more than [it is to be] kawaii and
kakkoii [at the same time].” Additionally, distinctions were sometimes made between
appearance and personality. For example, one person said that it was possible to act kakkoii, but
not possible to act kireii.
Interestingly, 66.7% expressed that being kawaii is less common, important, or
appropriate in middle aged women than in younger women. Some stated that kawaii is only
appropriate up to a certain age, and then women should be kakkoii or kireii. “Until 23 kawaii is
an advantage but maybe after 24 maybe females should be kireii.” “Kawaii sounds like they are
not very reliable or independent, but [women in their] 30s, 40s, 50s are adult…so being kawaii in
Exploring Kawaii 30
those ages…sounds like they are not adult yet…it’s more kireii.” This indicates that the
normality of kawaii is related to age.
Styles of Kawaii
Most interviewed participants (72.2%) believed that there was more than one “kawaii
style” (see table 2). Fifty percent stated that each person has her own style, 38.8% named kawaii
styles with labels, and 27.8% stated that what is considered kawaii changes with the trend.
Labeled kawaii styles included “boyish,” “girly,” “natural,” “garu,” “Lolita,” “morigiyaru,”
“tsukematsuge,” and “office lady” (see table 2). None of these were coded because no style was
described by more than one participant. It was unclear whether morigiyaru was the same or
different from giyaru. Some stated that clothing from different styles could be mixed in an outfit,
while others said that they could not. Likewise, some said that girls who wear different styles
spend time together, while others said that girls who wear certain styles spend more time with
each other.
For “trend,” some participants asserted that the meaning of kawaii changes often. For
example “this year short skirts or short pants were in trend, were in fashion…the [trend] goes
away when the season ends.”
Only 16.7% thought that there was only one kawaii style.
Friedman’s test ranked the important of each characteristic for each surveyed participant,
then averaged all of the ranks (see table 3). Because there were nine characteristics, the highest
rank attainable would have been a nine and lowest would have been a one. Clothing, hair,
accessories, and shoes all ranked above a 5, which made them most important. Makeup,
belongings, voice, and saying kawaii things were ranked below a 5, which made them the least
important. Mannerisms and behaviors were ranked 5.02, which made them more neutral.
Exploring Kawaii 31
Table 4 indicates that most examples of characteristics could be categorized using the
nine characteristics on the survey, but two more categories (“body” and “other”) were created for
those that could not be easily categorized.
Saying Kawaii Things
Saying kawaii things received the lowest rank of those tested on Friedman’s test. Only
22.2% of interviewed participants gave an example. There was no overlap between their
examples. Examples included “positive words,” saying “I want to be with you” to a male,
making surprised noises like “kya,” using certain slang, and saying “neh” at the end of the
sentence. In Japanese, saying “neh” and the end of a sentence is comparable to saying “right?” in
English. It is a way to question one’s own statement and ask for agreement. This participant
stated that it makes the statement “not strong.”
Voice
Kawaii voice received the second lowest rank on Friedman’s test. Voice was qualified as
high-pitched during the analysis of the interviews because 100% of participants mentioned voice
and described it as high pitched. Of these, 55.6% described intentionally high pitched voices,
44.4% described naturally high-pitched voices, and 16.7% compared the sound of the voice to a
character on TV such as on anime. Most participants who discussed intentional voices cast them
in a negative light, often providing them as an example of “acting” kawaii.
Belongings
Kawaii belongings received the third lowest rank on Friedman’s test. Though 44.4% of
interviewed participants gave examples of belongings, the only common example was having
characters, such as Minnie Mouse or Hello Kitty, on the belongings (16.7%). For example,
“There are certain characters that they are selling and one of them is for example um the one
Exploring Kawaii 32
from that movie, Marie, the cat (from the Aristocats). And then another one is Kitty-chan (Hello
Kitty). And uh there are a little more for example Stitch (Lilo and Stitch). People think it’s
kawaii and then people who like Stitch want to collect only Stitch memos and notes or pants and
stuff or the stickers for example.” Other examples were “purse or wallet,” “pink,” “color and
pictures, a pattern or flower.”
Makeup
Kawaii makeup received the fourth lowest rank on Friedman’s test. Of interviewed
participants, 66.7% gave examples of kawaii makeup. Only pink (44.4%) and eyelashes (27.8%)
were common descriptions. Pink (44.4%) sometimes referred to makeup in general “pink
makeup,” and sometimes specific parts of the face, “Pink cheeks,” “pink lips,” “Eyelashes
(27.8%) refer to a variety of descriptions, such as “curling eyelash,” “fake eyelash,” “expensive
mascara,” “long eyelash,” “pink eye shadow.”
Mannerisms and Behaviors
Kawaii mannerisms and behaviors received the fifth lowest and highest rank on
Friedman’s test, and 83.3% of interviewed participants gave examples. The first example was
weak or dependent. Descriptions included “act a bit spoiled,” “if the cute girls are having heavy
bags, they…pretend that ‘oh it is too heavy’ so that boys can help,” will not “kill the bug” by
themselves, “they pretend like they can’t…open their cans and drinks…when they are in front of
men,” and they “pretend to look a little stupid.” One participant gave the very poignant example
“One of my friends, she’s really good at math…but with a guy if he knows a difficult answer,
she can say “‘Segoi (awesome)! I didn’t know that! I didn’t know the answer, it’s really segoi!’”
These responses indicated that being weak or dependent was a behavior rather than a personality
trait.
Exploring Kawaii 33
The second example was mistakes or “gap” between appearance and actions (22.2%).
Some examples were simply mistakes: “For example, if you make a mistake with your Japanese,
kawaii.” Others specifically mentioned that a mistake had to be unusual for the individual: “if
there is someone who like usually works hard and does everything perfectly, sometimes like
forgets a little something or makes some like mistakes we might call that kawaii.”
The third example was “tenen” (22.2%). Tenen was described by several girls as a “word
for the person who makes sometimes silly or stupid mistakes.” When asked for an example, one
participant said “Maybe in like the extreme example, when we’re talking about studying…and
the next girl says…‘What should we eat for dinner?’ or something. It’s completely off the topic.
And we’ll say it’s tenen” Another person clarified that though tenen could be kawaii, it could
also not be kawaii. A kawaii example would be “We were just talking about how final would be
so hard and then one of my friends said ‘I want to eat cake.’” A not kawaii example would be
“One of my friends wants to use bathroom during class and she suddenly stood up and asked the
teacher in Japanese even though she was American “May I go to the bathroom?” I thought it was
tenen but not kawaii.”
The fourth example was walking toes pointed in or small steps (16.7%). For this one, all
participants who mentioned this example physically demonstrated it for me. The fourth example
was leaning on hands, with both elbows planted into the desk, arms bent towards the ceiling,
both hands folded together, and the head resting on the hands (11.1%). The fifth example was
bending the head down and looking up (11.1%): “It’s kind of hard if the girls is taller, but if the
girls is shorter, instead of facing the guy straight, kind of look down and then only move your
eyes.” The sixth example was cooking. “I think girls who can cook are kawaii.”
Exploring Kawaii 34
Other examples included “some people cover their mouth with…one hand,” “the way a
normal person would run is…they bend their elbows…but kawaii girls don’t bend them,”
“touch[ing] the boy,” and putting the hair behind the ear with the opposite hand.
Shoes
Kawaii shoes received the fourth to highest rank on Friedman’s test. Though 61.1% of
women gave an example of shoes, heels (33.3%) were the only commonality. Others included
“pain[ful],” “bright color,” “furry,” and “round” toe area.
Accessories
Kawaii accessories received the third to highest rank on Friedman’s test. Though 44.4%
of women gave an example of accessories, “small” was the only commonality and it was shared
by only 11.1% of participants. Other descriptions included “color,” “these days the accessories
look like sweets,” “hats,” and “no hats.”
Hair
Kawaii hair received the second to highest rank on Friedman’s test. Though 55.6% of
participants gave examples of hair, long (22.2%) and curly (22.2%) were not agreed upon by
everybody. For example, one person said “women always straight or curl,” implying that either
straight or curly could be kawaii. Other examples included “bangs,” “dye,” the latest hairstyle
worn by “Kimura Kaira,” and “perm.” One person said that it depended on the place in Japan:
“people from Nagoya…there is a hair style called Nagoya roll.”
Clothing
Kawaii clothing received the highest rank on Friedman’s test. All but one person did not
give an example of kawaii clothing. There were many common examples listed for kawaii
clothing (skirt, pink, frill, lace, ribbon, one-piece, layers), but there were also many examples
Exploring Kawaii 35
unique to each interview. These included the styles and trends described earlier. Descriptions
which did not fall under socially accepted styles or trends included containing “small details”
rather than “simple,” “childish elements,” “colorful,” “jacket,” “fluffy skirts.”
Body
Body was not a characteristic included in the survey, as the literature did not indicate that
aspects about the body would be related to kawaii. However, throughout the coding process it
became apparent that many participants (55.6%) were giving examples of natural aspects about
the body excluding voice. These included big eyes (22.2%) and short height (27.8%). Other
examples included “small hands, small feet,” “long nose,” “small face,” long legs,” “slender
body,” “long eye-lashes,” and a “round-shaped” face.
Other
Three characteristics could not be categorized under any of the other headings. For
example, smiling (50%) was often characterized as an important aspect of kawaii, but it was
unclear whether this was a behavior or body characteristic. Some stated that it was important for
the person to smile “a lot” or “always be smiling.” This characterizes it as a behavior. However,
others said the person should have a “cute smile.” It was unclear whether the person naturally
has a cute smile, or is intentionally trying to smile in a cute way. This ambiguity led to smile not
being categorized as either a behavior or a body characteristic.
Nails also were not part of the original characteristics survey, but 22.2% of participants
mentioned them when asked what else they would add to the list. Examples included “pink,”
“long,” “jewelry,” “paint.”
Finally, Westerners were mentioned by two participants (11.1%). One stated that she
associated Western girls with kawaii and then expanded “We Asians tend to think that white
Exploring Kawaii 36
people are attractive. I don’t know why but we do.” The other stated that kawaii “has a little bit
harmful aspects because many Japanese people want to be…not Asian…’cause Japanese people
want white skin and light colored hair and bigger eyes so some women or girls took artificial
plastic surgery.”
Looking Versus Acting Kawaii
As for whether looking or acting kawaii is more important, the Friedman’s test indicated
that looking kawaii may be more important. Appearance characteristics such as clothing, hair,
accessories, and shoes, were ranked as being more important than action characteristics such as
saying kawaii things and mannerisms and behaviors. However, this was not consistent
throughout the rankings; kawaii belongings and makeup were both ranked lower than
mannerisms and behaviors.
The interviews made it clear that “acting” kawaii can have a negative connotation. All
but one thought that acting kawaii could be strange, fake, or negative (see table 1) as expressed
by the statement “to act kawaii seems like pretend to be kawaii and it’s so annoying.” Some used
the word “burikko,” meaning fake child. Additionally, when participants discussed kawaii
behavior, they expressed the most annoyance with voice and weakness or dependence. Other
kawaii behaviors, such as cooking, did not seem to evoke negative feelings.
Self-Rated Kawaii and Priorities for the Future
A Pearson’s correlation found that the relationship between self-rated kawaii and
importance of having children (M = 3.41, SD= 1.97) was not significant, r = .059, n = 64, p =
.645 (two-tailed). A second Pearson’s correlation also found that the relationship between selfrated kawaii and importance of having a career (M = 3.97, SD = 1.69) was not significant, r =
Exploring Kawaii 37
.039, n = 64, p = .761 (two-tailed). These results indicate that self-rated kawaii has no significant
relationship with these specific goals for the future.
Discussion
The most interesting finding from this study was that the hypotheses were not supported.
There was no significant relationship between self-rated kawaii and masculinity or femininity.
These results are puzzling because the definition of kawaii appears to exclude masculine
personality traits. For example, the masculine traits “aggressive,” “athletic,” and “independent”
were specifically mentioned as not being kawaii traits by interviewed participants. Additionally,
some participants stated that they did not want to be kawaii because kawaii women could not be
“reliable,” and “independent,” which are masculine traits. If it is truly the case that self-rated
kawaii and masculine traits are not related, then this indicates that women who rate themselves
as more kawaii are not at a disadvantage to women who rate themselves as less kawaii even
though masculine traits are associated with success, especially in careers e.g., Matsui and
Onglatco (1991) and Nezu and Nezu (1987).
Additionally, there was no relationship between self-rated kawaii and femininity. Again,
this is surprising because the definition of kawaii appears to include many feminine traits,
including cheerful, childlike, gullible, yielding, and happy. Indeed, several of these traits were
mentioned in the kawaii characteristics, such as “weak or dependent” and “smiles often or
cutely.” However, interview results also indicated that more than half of women believed that it
was possible to be feminine without being kawaii. Kireii, in particular, was described as being a
more mature but still feminine alternative to being kawaii. Perhaps self-rated kawaii was not
significantly correlated with feminine traits because kawaii alternatives also included feminine
traits.
Exploring Kawaii 38
Another possible reason for the discrepancies between the quantitative and qualitative
results is that kawaii may be related more to appearance than to personality. By wearing kawaii
fashion and by using kawaii mannerisms and behaviors, perhaps a woman can appear kawaii
even though she is just as masculine or feminine as less kawaii women. For example, one
participant mentioned that her friend, who is quite good at math, would pretend that she did not
know answers to math questions when she was with males. Thus, she would appear to be
yielding and dependent. If appearance is the most important determinant of self-rated kawaii,
then self-rated kawaii may not indicate much about personality.
An alternative explanation for the discrepancies is that the sample size for the survey was
only 64 students, which is relatively small and makes it difficult to find relationships between
variables. The effect size for the relationship between self-rated kawaii and gender was .119 for
masculinity and .147 for femininity according to Pearson’s r, both of which are considered below
the recommended minimum effect size of .2 (Ferguson, 2009). However, Spearman’s r revealed
an effect size of .226 for femininity, which is above the recommended minimum effect size.
These results indicate that additional research with a larger sample size may find a significant
nonlinear relationship between self-rated kawaii and femininity as was hypothesized. However,
the Spearman’s r effect size for masculinity was only a .052, indicating that even with a larger
sample size it is unlikely that there would be a relationship between self-rated kawaii and
masculinity.
Kawaii and Priorities for the Future
The fact that there was no relationship between self-rated kawaii and importance of
having children or a career is consistent with the lack of relationship between self-rated kawaii
and gender roles. Having children is considered a duty for females in Japan, while having a
Exploring Kawaii 39
career is more unusual (Zielenziger, 2006). Even though kawaii is often characterized as being
“girly” or “feminine,” it is not positively correlated with the more feminine goal of having
children, or negatively with the more masculine goal of having a career. Thus, it is to the
women’s benefit that masculinity, which is associated with variables related to career success, is
not related to kawaii.
Despite the lack of a relationship, perhaps kawaii women have an easier time pursuing
the goal of having children than less kawaii women considering that kawaii makes women more
attractive to males (McVeigh, 2000a). This is especially true in Japanese culture because couples
rarely form unless both partners are very committed to the relationship (Rothbaum, Pott, Azuma,
Miyake, & Weisz, 2000), and society preaches that women’s main goal in life should be to raise
children (Zielenziger, 2006). This is an idea which future research should explore.
Mannerisms and Behaviors
The most interesting finding related to characteristics was that, aside from voice and
clothing, mannerisms and behaviors were the characteristics most often described by interviewed
participants (see table 4). Weakness or dependence was by far the most common example, and
was always described as a behavior rather than a personality trait. Many of the examples seemed
to be dependent on whether or not there were males present. This makes intuitive sense, because
Japanese males have expressed a preference for kawaii women over kireii women (McVeigh,
2000b; Sinclair, 2006). Kireii women intimidate them, whereas kawaii women help them feel in
control. By acting weak or dependent, kawaii women can help men feel more in control, which
makes the men more likely to like the kawaii women. The concept of weakness or dependence
matches with the idea of kawaii in the literature as “inability to deal with every day life”
(Kinsella, 1995, p. 238-239). Some participants described weakness and dependence as positive,
Exploring Kawaii 40
while others described it as negative. It is possible to argue either way. It can be positive because
women get men’s attention. It can be negative because it perpetuates stereotypes of women being
weak and dependent, which could result in women receiving less responsibility.
Examples of mistakes were more complex. Some participants discussed that simply
making mistakes was kawaii, which ties in with being weak or dependent. However, others
stated that it had to be unusual for the individual to make a mistake in order for the mistake to be
kawaii. This is more complicated because it requires a high amount of ability (which is not a
common kawaii characteristic) in combination with an individual mistake (which seems
consistent with kawaii). This shows that even women who are normally capable and independent
may be described as kawaii at certain moments.
From these results, it was unclear from this study how to answer the research question
“How important is it look kawaii versus act kawaii?” Clearly, Japanese women believe that
acting kawaii can be negative, which adds a new dimension to previous research. Though the
literature stated that males dislike women who are intentionally kawaii (McVeigh, 2000b), it did
not say anything about women’s attitudes towards these women.
Despite these negative views, engaging in kawaii behaviors and mannerisms may still be
an important aspect of kawaii if done without intent. This is reflected by the fact that, even
though many participants interpreted the question “How important is it to you to act kawaii?”
negatively, mannerisms and behaviors were still ranked 5 out of 9 by the Friedman’s test. It is
unclear how many women naturally engage in kawaii behaviors, and what the attitudes are
towards these women. It is also unclear whether other men and women can always perceive
when another woman is pretending to be kawaii.
Exploring Kawaii 41
Body Characteristic and Western Features
Another interesting finding was that even though aspects of the body were not described
in the literature about kawaii, over half the interviewed participants gave examples of body
characteristics (see table 4). Big eyes and short height were the most common. Both of these are
consistent with the idea that kawaii is child-like because very young children are short and have
eyes which are large in proportion to the rest of their face. These examples are interesting in that
nobody can control their height or how large their eyes are naturally, and so having a kawaii
body is predetermined by genetics. However, one participant specifically mentioned that some
Japanese people get plastic surgery to be more kawaii. This was surprising because she also
explicitly stated that kawaii could be harmful in that “Japanese people want to be…not Asian,”
and that they want white skin and large eyes. Another participant word-associated Westerners
with kawaii and stated that “Asians tend to think that white people are attractive.” The fact that
some Western characteristics and kawaii features overlap, and that some Japanese get plastic
surgery to attain those features, is disturbing. Though western perceptions of beauty have
negatively impacted Japanese perceptions of beauty in the past, the literature has never directly
connected kawaii with Western beauty.
The first double eyelid surgery to make a Japanese woman look more western was
documented in 1896 (Shirakabe, Kinugasa, Kawata, Kishimoto, & Shirakabe, 1985). It then
thrived in popularity through much of the 20th century, but has been linked to negative effects
such as the appearance of aging quickly and cultural backlash. It is possible, though unclear, that
this is the type of surgery that the interviewed participant was referring to.
As for other links to kawaii, extreme thinness has also become a defining characteristic of
female beauty as a result of western influence (Kiriike, Nagata, Sirata, & Yamamoto, 1998). This
Exploring Kawaii 42
has had the negative effect of a spike of eating disorders (Suematsu, Ishikawa, Kuboki, & Ito,
1985) and girls thinking of themselves as “fat” or “too fat” (Kaneko, et al., 1999). Also,
traditionally kimonos had been designed specifically to flatten breasts and bring special attention
to the nape of the neck (Miller, 2006). However, after World War II large breasts were
considered beautiful. As a result of these changes, small almost prepubescent bodies with large
breasts were celebrated in mainstream media rather than medium bodies with straight figures
(Miller, 2006). Though this body-type was not explicitly mentioned during the interviews,
kawaii relates to being child-like, which is illustrated by the small thin bodies, and attractive to
others, which is embodied by the large breasts. Thus, this represents one possible way that
western influence may be related to kawaii.
Clothing and Styles
Clothing was ranked the most important characteristic of kawaii. Most interviewed
participants believed that are many different styles of kawaii. However, the most common
descriptors of kawaii clothing were skirt, pink, frill, lace, ribbon, one-piece (like a dress), and
layers. Additionally, only 27.8% of participants mentioned that what is considered kawaii
changes with the trend. Literature about kawaii fashion focuses heavily on how quickly trends
change, and how different these trends are from one another (Drake, 2001; Kinsella, 1995; “The
tribes of Tokyo,” 2006; Zaun, 2003). Perhaps pink, frill, lace, etc. are simply the latest kawaii
trend. However, these same characteristics have appeared in kawaii fashion at other points in
time (Kinsella, 1995; “The tribes of Tokyo,” 2006). Alternatively, perhaps there are certain
characteristics of kawaii fashion that never stop being considered kawaii or that most people
consider kawaii, even while other types of fashion change or receive mixed reviews. This would
explain why some participants thought that there was only one kawaii style, while others named
Exploring Kawaii 43
kawaii styles with specific labels, such as garu and Lolita, and why. Another 50% of participants
stated that each person has his or her own style, which indicates that kawaii has something to do
with personal taste. All of these results indicate that different people have different conceptions
about kawaii style.
One person wrapped several of these ideas together, stating “When I think about the
‘cute’ fashion, if I don’t have to think about like if I’m going to wear it or not, my image of cute
fashion would be like pink, kind of girlish clothes…so there’s this image [but] the clothes that I
would like to wear…[are] simple clothes.” When asked if she thought the simple clothes were
kawaii, she said yes. Her image of kawaii and her own style of kawaii were different, indicating
that perceptions of kawaii fashion can be complex even within each individual.
Other Characteristics
Almost 75% of the interviewed participants mentioned or consulted magazines during the
interviews, indicating that many ideas about kawaii characteristics may come from magazines.
This is supported by the literature, which claims that high school girls consult at least five
fashion magazines every month (Drake, 2001). The current results indicate that even when girls
reach college, they continue to read fashion magazines.
Saying kawaii things received a relatively low ranking compared with the other
characteristics. Speaking with onomatopoeias, abbreviated expression, and slang such as “I like
English xx2” instead of “I like English very much,” was observed by one professor from 1989 to
1998 (Akita, 2005). None of these descriptions mentioned during the interviews, and only 22.2%
of interviewed participants could think of any example at all. Perhaps these examples of kawaii
things were limited to the region where this professor taught, or became out of style after 1998.
Exploring Kawaii 44
Voice received the next lowest ranking, but all participants gave the example of the highpitched voice as being part of kawaii. This is consistent with the literature (Bremner, 2002).
However, many of these participants discussed high-pitched voice as a way of “acting” kawaii
and cast it in a negative light. It is surprising that even though it was deemed less important than
almost every other characteristic, all 18 participants thought of the same example and mentioned
it. Perhaps the high pitched voice is a symbol of the burikko, fake child.
Only 16.7% of participants mentioned cartoon characters in relation to belongings, which
is surprising considering the amount of attention characters such as Hello Kitty have received in
the literature (Katz & Sugiyama, 2006; Kinsella, 1995; B. McVeigh, 2000a). There are several
possible reasons. First, perhaps these characters have received so much attention in Western
magazines and essays because they are not as popular in Western culture. Second, perhaps
people like to own kawaii belongings with characters on them, but these items are not essential
in order for a person to be kawaii. However, characters were the only common description of
belongings given by participants, which shows that characters still matter even if the importance
of characters on belongings has been exaggerated in the literature.
Descriptions of makeup and hair were more consistent in the interviews than they were in
the literature. For example, one article describes girls with completely different types of makeup
depending on what kawaii fashion the girl embraces ("The tribes of Tokyo," 2006). In contrast,
some common elements in the interviews for makeup were pink and paying attention to the
eyelashes. Common elements for the hair included long and curly. Thus kawaii hair and kawaii
makeup did show some more codes in common than was expected, but the butterfly clips and
barrettes mentioned in the literature were never mentioned by the participants. Perhaps they were
part of a passing fad.
Exploring Kawaii 45
Shoes and accessories were ranked relatively highly, but there were not many common
descriptions for either. Additionally, some participants said that they would have combined
shoes, accessories, and clothing into one category on the survey. In future surveys, perhaps shoes
and accessories should be considered in conjunction with clothing.
Smiles and nails were both mentioned as other kawaii characteristics, which was
surprising because they were not mentioned in the literature. In the future, the difference between
intentionally smiling and naturally having a kawaii smile should be explored. Nails should be
considered a new kawaii characteristic.
Kawaii as a Norm
The interviews indicate that being kawaii is generally a positive and desired attribute, but
that young women who do not want to be kawaii are not generally perceived as abnormal.
Furthermore, young women can choose between alternatives to kawaii such as kireii and kakkoii.
Thus, kawaii symbolizes childhood while kireii and kakkoii symbolize adulthood. Many
participants stated that as the female enters adulthood kawaii may become less appropriate. This
is supported by the literature (McVeigh, 2000a). However, unlike the literature the participants
mentioned kireii and kakkoii as traits that older women should embody. However, the literature
indicates that Japanese men prefer kawaii women over kireii women because they find kawaii
women less intimidating (Sinclair, 2006). This may put kireii women at a disadvantage when
trying to find romantic partners. Further research should be conducted on how to define kireii
and kakkoii, and how broadly women who describe themselves with these words are accepted by
differently aged men and women.
Limitations and Confounds
Exploring Kawaii 46
One limitation for this study was the small sample size and the methods used to recruit
participants. Only 64 students completed the surveys. Additionally, due to initial low response
rates, I used snowball sampling methods to recruit participants from classes in computer labs and
certain clubs. These methods represent another potential confound because the sample was not
completely random. However, it should be noted that at least 18% of the approximately 450
female Japanese degree-seeking students at AIU at the time completed the survey, and up to 25%
attempted it. Unfortunately, approximately 110 of the upperclassmen were studying abroad and
could not be contacted. Considering the fact that several participants stated that kawaii is less
appropriate after a certain age, the large number of absent upper classmen may have impacted
the ratings of the importance of kawaii and the opinions of kawaii expressed during the
interviews.
Another limitation was the language barrier. All of the literature reviewed was written in
English. Even though some of these articles were written by Japanese citizens, many Japanese
articles were likely excluded from review, which hindered the understanding of kawaii from a
Japanese perspective. During the actual study, 22 students who started the survey did not fully
complete it, possibly due to the difficulty of filling out a survey in English. Additionally, during
the interviews some participants expressed that they did not understand certain words in English,
but this was resolved through the use of Japanese-English dictionaries. Each participant had a
different level of fluency in English, and the material that they were able to cover in an hour
varied greatly by individual.
As mentioned earlier, I did not ask all of the participants the questions “Is it strange not to
want to be kawaii?” and “Is it possible to be feminine without being kawaii?” because some
Exploring Kawaii 47
participants had indicated that they did not want to be kawaii and I did not want to make them
feel awkward. However, this later made coding the interviews more difficult.
Cultural bias may also have been a confound. Interpretivist qualitative researchers accept
that reality is subjective (Ulin, Robinson, & Tolley, 2005). This is what motivates them to use
qualitative methods to get a better understanding of other people’s realities and circumstances for
their behaviors. Thus, they accept that researchers are not immune from having their own
subjective realities. As such, I took extra care to be objective with the knowledge that I was
doing research in a culture different from my own. However, my own experiences as an
American woman may have shaped my views of kawaii to some extent. For example, conveying
weakness was described as valuable by some participants, while strength is more admired in the
United States. It was especially important throughout the course of this study not to assign
positive or negative value to what the participants shared so that I could be open to a richer
understanding of their perspectives.
Strengths, Implications, and Future Research
This was a mixed-methods study. The combination of quantitative and qualitative
methods created a more cohesive understanding of kawaii as a whole. As an exploratory study, it
also uncovered many potential directions for future research.
The lack of a relationship of self-rated kawaii with gender roles and priorities for the
future is the strongest argument against assuming that kawaii women are truly weak or less
ambitious than other women. This finding was supported by the participants’ belief that many
women pretend to be weak or dependent. This is the first study to search for a statistical
relationship between self-rated kawaii and other variables. It adds important information to
incorporate into theories about kawaii’s social implications for women. Future research could
Exploring Kawaii 48
compare self-rated kawaii to variables such as school-performance or happiness. It would also be
interesting to find out whether other women can always perceive when another woman is
“pretending” to be kawaii, and whether there are women who naturally engage in kawaii
behaviors.
To my knowledge, this was also the first scientific attempt to create a scale about the
characteristics of kawaii. As such, it had a relatively high reliability of .89 according to
Crononbach’s alpha. Following up with interviews showed that some kawaii characteristics
mentioned in the literature, such as food and thoughts, were not immediately understandable to
college women. Others, such as short height and nails, were not in the literature but were
mentioned often by participants. The interviews also helped define kawaii characteristics
according to college women rather than according to the professors and reporters represented in
the literature. Additionally, it was helpful to obtain current data on kawaii because the definition
of kawaii changes quickly and much of the literature was dated. Future studies could improve
this scale by adding new characteristics related to such as body, nails, and smile. They could also
divide the scale into subscales such as appearance versus behavior, translating it into Japanese,
and considering the impact of time on the scale’s validity.
This study also added the concepts of kireii and kakkoii to research about kawaii.
Although there have been many articles written about kawaii, few of these articles compare
kawaii to kireii and kakkoii even though participants often mentioned these words during the
interviews. A study which specifically compares the three different concepts could explore
appearance and personality. Some participants differentiated between the two by stating that a
person could have one type of appearance, such as a kawaii appearance, but another type of
personality, such as a kireii personality. The study could also compare how gender roles relate to
Exploring Kawaii 49
these concepts. For example, it would make sense that kakkoii women would embody more
masculine traits than kawaii traits based on the descriptions of kakkoii as being more
independent.
Finally, research should be conducted into the various possible uses of kawaii which were
described in the literature review. These were to escape adulthood (Kinsella, 1995), to
manipulate relationships with authority figures (McVeigh, 2000b), to conform while expressing
individuality (McVeigh, 2000a), and to attract men (McVeigh, 2000b). The implications of these
uses for self-rated kawaii women, for women who do not want to be kawaii, and for women as a
whole should be considered.
Exploring Kawaii 50
Table 1
Themes and Codes for the Interviewed Sample (N = 18)
Themes and codes
Percent
Kawaii and femininity
Possible to be feminine without being kawaii
All women are kawaii in some way
Not possible to be feminine without being kawaii
Kawaii as a norm
Most young women want to be kawaii
Not strange to not want to be kawaii
Socially accepted kawaii alternatives
Many things are called kawaii
Strange to not want to be kawaii
Being kawaii
Acting kawaii can be strange, fake, or negative
Being attractive or liked by others
Mentions or consults magazines
Less common, important, or appropriate in middle age women
Compliment
Kawaii styles
More than one
Each person has her own style
Different kawaii styles with names attached
Trends
Only one
55.6
22.2
11.1
100
72.2
66.7
27.8
11.1
94.4
77.8
72.2
66.7
61.1
72.2
50
38.9
27.8
16.7
Table 2
Socially accepted styles and examples
Style
Boyish
Girly
Natural
Garu
Lolita
Morgiyaru
Giyaru
Tsukematsuge
Office Lady
Example
“jeans and jerseys or…backpacks...t-shirts…baseball cap”
“pastel color or bright color and skirts or one-piece dress”
“brown or white”
“bright colors,” and “short bottoms”
“showy clothing,” “frill,” and “bright colors,” avoid “pants”
“laces,” “layers,” “long skirts”
“sexy,” “similar to “Gothic Lolita”
“fake eyelashes”
“working lady”
Exploring Kawaii 51
Table 3
Friedman ranked importance of kawaii characteristics (N = 64)
Characteristic
Mean
SD
Saying things
Voice
Belongings
Makeup
Mannerisms and behaviors
Shoes
Accessories
Hair
Clothing
3.80
3.98
4.60
4.55
4.75
4.92
5.00
5.27
5.44
1.83
1.70
1.58
1.89
1.46
1.63
1.61
1.58
1.44
Friedman Rank
3.37
3.42
4.65
4.77
5.02
5.42
5.72
6.15
6.48
Exploring Kawaii 52
Table 4
Characteristics of Kawaii Described by Interviewed Sample (N = 18)
Themes and codes
Percent
Saying kawaii things
High pitched voice
Intentional
Natural
Like character on TV
Belongings
Characters
Makeup
Pink
Eyelash
Mannerisms and behaviors
Weakness or dependence
Mistakes or “gap” between appearance and action
Tenen
Walking with toes pointed in or small steps
Leaning on hands
Bend head down and look up with eyes
Cooking
Shoes
Heels
Accessories
Small
Hair
Long
Curl
Clothing
Skirt
Pink
Frill
Lace
Ribbon
One-piece
Layers
Body (natural)
Big eyes
Short height
Other
Smile
Nails
Westerners
22.2
100
55.6
44.4
16.7
44.4
22.2
66.7
44.4
27.8
83.3
66.7
22.2
22.2
16.7
11.1
11.1
11.1
61.1
33.3
44.4
11.1
55.6
22.2
22.2
94.4
72.2
55.6
38.9
27.8
22.2
16.7
11.1
55.6
22.2
27.8
50
22.2
11.1
Exploring Kawaii 53
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Exploring Kawaii 59
Appendix A
Statement of Informed Consent
You are invited to participate in the study entitled “Kawaii and Gender Roles.”
We are performing research to get a better understanding of kawaii and personality traits. You
will be asked to fill out two short surveys related to kawaii and personality traits. Your total
participation time will be approximately 30 minutes. We do not foresee any risks to participating,
although you may be uncomfortable answering some of the questions. You may refuse to answer
any question that you do not wish to answer.
You will receive the chance to win a ¥3000 VISA prepaid card for your participation in this
research and your data will help me understand how kawaii and personality traits are related.
Please make sure to give your student ID number at the end so that you can win the prize.
Because only the investigator will have access to these surveys and your ID number, your
answers to the survey questions will be confidential. No other person will ever connect your
name or ID number with your answers.
If you are interested in discussing the research further please contact Stephanie Klapper at
saklapper@smcm.edu. If you have any questions regarding your rights as a participant in this
study please contact the chair of the institutional review board at St. Mary’s College of
Maryland, Roger Stanton at irb@smcm.edu, or Department of Psychology, 18952 E. Fisher Rd.,
St. Mary’s City, MD 20686, United States of America. This project has been approved by the
institutional review board.
Your participation in this research is voluntary and you may choose not to participate at any
time.
Do you give your informed consent to participate in this study? Yes
No
Exploring Kawaii 60
Kawaii Scale
Only complete this survey if you are female.
There are no right or wrong answers.
Are you Japanese?
☐ Yes ☐ No
Are you a female?
☐ Yes ☐ No
What is your age in years? _________
What is your religious affiliation? __________
How much income does your family earn every year?
☐ Less than ¥300,000 ☐ ¥300,001- ¥600,000 ☐ ¥600,001- ¥900,000
☐ More than ¥ 900,000
What type of area are you from originally?
☐ Rural ☐ Suburban ☐ Urban
What is your year in college?
☐ First-year ☐ Second-year ☐ Third-year
☐ Fourth-year
College Major:
☐ Global business ☐ Global Studies- North America
☐ Global Studies- Mixed concentration
☐ Other
☐ Global Studies- East Asia
☐ Undecided
☐ Other
Exploring Kawaii 61
On a scale of 1 to 7, rate how true the following statements are.
1
2
Not true at all
3
4
5
6
7
Always true
It is very important to me to look kawaii.
It is very important to be to act kawaii.
Overall, I am kawaii.
My friends are kawaii.
Most college women want to be kawaii.
I choose some times to be kawaii and other times not to be kawaii.
I believe that males find me attractive.
I believe that females find me attractive.
My highest priority for the future is to have children.
My highest priority for the future is work full-time in a career.
After college, I would rather have a full-time job than a part-time job.
I am feminine.
I am masculine.
I am excited to take on adult roles.
On a scale of 1 to 7, rate the following characteristics on how important you think they are in
order to be kawaii. Please answer according to your own definition of kawaii. It does not matter
whether you actually want to be kawaii or not.
1
2
Not important
at all
Kawaii voice
Kawaii mannerisms
Kawaii makeup
Eating kawaii food
Saying kawaii things
Kawaii clothing
Kawaii hair
Kawaii accessories
Kawaii shoes
Kawaii behaviors
Kawaii belongings
Kawaii smell
Kawaii thoughts
3
4
5
6
7
Very
important
Exploring Kawaii 62
On a scale of 1 to 7, rate how well the following aspects of being kawaii describe you.
1
Not well
at all
2
3
4
5
6
7
Very
well
Kawaii voice
Kawaii mannerisms
Kawaii makeup
Eating kawaii food
Saying kawaii things
Kawaii clothing
Kawaii hair
Kawaii accessories
Kawaii shoes
Kawaii behaviors
Kawaii belongings
Kawaii smell
Kawaii thoughts
On a scale of 1 to 7, how appropriate is it to be kawaii in the following situations?
1
2
Never appropriate
3
4
5
6
7
Always appropriate
Class
Work
Home with family
With female friends
With male friends
In a group of male and female friends mixed together
How much money do you spend on kawaii clothing every month?
☐ ¥0-3000
☐ ¥9001-12000
☐ Greater than ¥18000
☐ ¥3001-6000
☐ ¥12001-15000
☐ ¥6001-9000
☐ ¥15001-18000
How much do you spend on kawaii items that are not clothing every month (stationary,
decorations, etc)?
☐ ¥0-3000
☐ ¥9001-12000
☐ Greater than ¥18000
☐ ¥3001-6000
☐ ¥12001-15000
☐ ¥6001-9000
☐ ¥15001-18000
Exploring Kawaii 63
How much money do you spend in total every month? _________
Are there other important aspects of being kawaii that are not mentioned here? _____
How comfortable do you feel reading and answering questions in English?
1
2
Not comfortable
3
4
5
6
7
Very
comfortable
Exploring Kawaii 64
Bem Sex Role Inventory
On the next 6 pages, you will find listed a number of personality characteristics. On a scale from
1 to 7, please rate how well these characteristics describe yourself.
Please indicate, on a scale from 1 to 7, how true of you each of these characteristics is. Please do
not leave any characteristic unmarked.
1
Never or
almost
never true
2
Usually not
true
3
4
Sometimes Occasionally
but
true
infrequently
true
1. Defend my own beliefs
2. Affectionate
3. Conscientious
4. Independent
5. Sympathetic
6. Moody
7. Assertive
8. Warm
9. Individualistic
10. Strong personality
11. Happy
12. Jealous
13. Forceful
14. Compassionate
15. Truthful
16. Have leadership abilities
17. Eager to soother hurt feelings
18. Secretive
19. Willing to take risks
20. Sensitive to the needs of others
21. Adaptable
22. Dominant
23. Tender
24. Conceited
25. Willing to take a stand
26. Love children
27. Loyal
28. Aggressive
29. Gentle
30. Conventional
31. Self-reliant
32. Yielding
5
Often true
6
Usually
true
7
Always or
almost
always true
33. Helpful
34. Athletic
35. Cheerful
36. Unsystematic
37. Analytical
38. Shy
39. Inefficient
40. Make decisions easily
41. Flatterable
42. Theatrical
43. Self-sufficient
44. Tactful
45. Understanding
46. Reliable
47. Soft-spoken
48. Unpredictable
49. Masculine
50. Gullible
51. Solemn
52. Competitive
53. Childlike
54. Likable
55. Ambitious
56. Do not use harsh language
57. Sincere
58. Act as a leader
59. Feminine
60. Friendly
Exploring Kawaii 65
DEBRIEF FORM
You will receive the chance to win a ¥3000 yen prepaid VISA gift card for your participation in
this survey. If you would like to enter the raffle, plase enter your student ID here.
Thank you for participating in the study entitled “Kawaii and Gender Roles.” This study was
created to get a better understanding of what “kawaii” means to women at Akita International
University. This research will help determine what the most important components of kawaii are,
in what situations it is appropriate to be kawaii, and how much money college women spend on
being kawaii. It will also contribute to the research about the relationship between self-rated
kawaii and gender roles.
The next step of this project is a personal interview. If you choose to participate, you will receive
the chance to win a second ¥3000 gift card to Aeon, with a higher probability of winning. You
will be asked about kawaii in general and how kawaii relates to you. Your total participation
time will be approximately 30 to 60 minutes. Because only the investigator will be with you at
the interview, your answers to the interview questions will be confidential. No other person will
ever connect your name with your answers. You may refuse to answer any question that you do
not wish to answer. Participation in this study is voluntary.
Are you willing to participate in a personal interview?
☐ Yes ☐ No
Exploring Kawaii 66
Thank you
If you have any questions about this research, contact Stephanie Klapper
(saklapper@smcm.edu). If you have any questions regarding your rights as a participant in this
study please contact the chair of the Institutional Review Board, Roger Stanton at
irb@smcm.edu.
Exploring Kawaii 67
Appendix B
Interview Protocol
Before the interview:
Hello. Thank you for meeting me tonight/this afternoon/this morning. I’m really interested in the
topic of kawaii and really appreciate that you are taking time out of your day to talk to me about
it.
This is a form which basically outlines how this interview will go. I will ask you about your
opinions on kawaii and how kawaii relates to you. There are no right or wrong answers. I don’t
have an opinion on kawaii so I will appreciate anything that you have to say on the topic. You
can decide not to answer any question that you do not feel comfortable asking. You can stop
participating at any time. The interview should last about 30 to 60 minutes. If you participate in
the interview, you will receive the chance to win a second 3000 yen prepaid VISA gift card.
With your permission, I will record this interview so that I can use your responses in the most
effective way possible. Your identity will remain completely confidential and nobody but me
will have access to the recording. Your name and the recording will never be connected. You can
opt not to be recorded if you choose. I will also take some notes, but only to help me remember
the interview better.
I’ll give you time now to read the consent form and sign it if you agree to these conditions.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
*sign, sign*
Here is your copy of this consent form.
After the interview:
Thank you for your participation in this study.
*hand over debrief sheet*
Do you have any questions about this research?
If you have any additional questions, you can email me at my email address listed on the consent
form.
Exploring Kawaii 68
Consent Form
You are invited to participate in the study entitled “Kawaii and Gender Roles.”
We are performing research to get a better understanding of kawaii and personality traits. You
will be asked about kawaii in general and how kawaii relates to you. Your total participation
time will be approximately 30 to 60 minutes. We do not foresee any risks to participating,
although you may be uncomfortable answering some of the questions. You may refuse to answer
any question that you do not wish to answer.
You will receive a chance to win a second ¥3000 Prepaid VISA gift card for your participation in
this research and your data will help me have a better understanding of kawaii.
With your permission, the interview will be digitally recorded. This is so that the interviewer will
be able to use your responses in the most effective way possible. Your identity will remain
completely confidential and nobody but the investigator will have access to the recording. You
may opt not to have the interview recorded.
If you are interested in discussing the research further please contact Stephanie Klapper at
saklapper@smcm.edu. If you have any questions regarding your rights as a participant in this
study please contact the chair of the institutional review board at St. Mary’s College of
Maryland, Roger Stanton at irb@smcm.edu, or Department of Psychology, 18952 E. Fisher Rd.,
St. Mary’s City, MD 20686, United States of America
Participation in this study is voluntary. If you do not feel comfortable with the interview, you
have the right to refuse participation or discontinue participation at any time without penalty.
I agree to be interviewed:
________________________________
Participant’s Signature
______________
Date
I agree to have this interview recorded:
________________________________
Participant’s Signature
________________________________
Investigator’s Signature
______________
Date
_____________
Date
Exploring Kawaii 69
Interview Questions

What does “kawaii” mean to you?” How would you define it?

What are five or ten words that you associate with the word “kawaii?”

On the survey, you were given the statement “It is very important for me to look kawaii.”
On a scale of 1-7 with 1 meaning not true at all and 7 meaning mostly true, you chose 6.
Can you please elaborate on why you chose that answer?
o What does it mean to you to “look” kawaii?

On the survey, you were given the statement “It is very important for me to act kawaii.”
You chose 4. Can you please elaborate on why you chose that answer?
o What does it mean to you to “act” kawaii?

Do you think that most young women want to be kawaii? Why/why not?
o Is it strange to not want to be kawaii?
o If a woman is not kawaii, can she still be feminine? Why/why not?

What was your overall impression of this section [point at characteristics section] of the
survey? What would you change or keep the same? Can you give examples for each of
these components?

” I choose some times to be kawaii, and other times not to be kawaii.” You put a 7. Can
you please elaborate on that?
o Do you think that kawaii is a personality trait or a state of being?
o On the survey, you rated how appropriate is it to be kawaii in certain situations.
Can you elaborate on why you picked these answers?
Are there different types of kawaii styles?
o Are there strict guidelines for each style of kawaii, or is it possible to express
some individuality in kawaii style?
o Tell me about ero-kawaii or sexy kawaii. How is it different/similar to regular
kawaii?


What role does kawaii play in forming relationships with people in positions of authority,
such as professors or bosses?
o Overall, do you think that the idea of kawaii is more beneficial or more hurtful
you as an individual?
 Why?
 How is it beneficial?
 How is it hurtful?
o Is it more beneficial or more hurtful for all Japanese women as a group?
 How is it beneficial?
 How is it hurtful?
Exploring Kawaii 70


What are your plans for life after college?
o Do you want a temporary job or to start a life-long career?
o Do you want to get married?
How do you feel about adulthood/life after college?
o Do you think of adulthood as a positive or a negative thing?
o What role, if any, does kawaii play in adulthood?
Extra questions if there is time:

Do you think that kawaii style is different in different places?
 Urban versus Rural areas
 Akita versus other colleges

Can males be kawaii?
Exploring Kawaii 71
Debrief
Thank you for participating in the study entitled “Kawaii and Gender Roles.” This study was
created to get a better understanding of what “kawaii” means to women at Akita International
University. This research will help define the most important components of kawaii and the
appropriateness of kawaii in different situations. It will also contribute to research about the
relationship between self-rated kawaii and gender roles.