I was recently telling a friend, more scholarly than I, about Sianne Ngai's new book—"Whoa," my friend interrupted, before I even finished with the title: Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, ...

Kawaii, often associated with fashions and character goods, is a representative aspect of Japan’s pop culture in the spotlight now. But kawaii is a difficult concept to convey, and the author has ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. "Kawaii". In Japanese, it means "cute" or "adorable". The word was adopted by Westerners enamored with Japanese culture. But it's gone mainstream, and ...

Cuteness can be defined in many different ways. Perhaps it’s something quaint and delicate, or maybe it’s something small and fluffy. When it comes to adorable words, some are enough to give us ...