Open access
THE CUTE POWER OF SWEETNESS. KAWAII CULTURE AS SOFT POWER OF JAPAN
Marek Sokołowski1
Culture, technology and man in the age of new media
Publication language: Polish
Journal article
Transformations No. 1 (116) 2023, Publication date: 31 March 2023
Keywords: Japanese popular culture, kawaii, soft power, visual sociology
Abstract The article draws attention to an important element of contemporary Japanese culture, which is the kawaii culture. Over the past thirty years, Japanese popular culture products have been massively exported, sold and consumed throughout East and Southeast Asia. The expansion of the cute Japanese animated characters Hello Kitty and Pokemon allowed this culture to appear in the USA and Europe ( including Poland), sparking international interest in a phenomenon called ‘pink globalization’. The purpose of the article using the paradigm of qualitative research conducted in Japan in 2019 and 2022, the importance of kawaii culture in building the international position of Japan which civil power. The Japanese government uses kawaii culture in its cultural diplomacy as a soft power, defined in the 1990s by Joseph S.Nye, which he considered soft power, unlike about hard power, it is the power of attraction and seduction, which consist in the attractiveness of the culture of the subject controlling the tastes of others.
Katedra Socjologii, Instytucie Nauk Politycznych Uniwersytetu Warmińsko – Mazurskiego w Olsztynie, Polska
ORCID: 0000-0003-2658-9880
E-mail: sokołowski@uwm.edu.pl