More about the Art of loving Kawaii

Frankfurter Buchmesse (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This blog has had a total of 115 posts. It was started in 2010, and has steadily picked up views. Which is kind of nice and lucky for me because I don’t write about things that others want to read. I write what I want to write. But then I wrote this post about Kawaii. It was just my thoughts about Japanese cuteness- Kawaii.

But I started to get really interested in learning why there were views everyday, all indicating someone had visited my blog to read about Kawaii- my views on Kawaii.

Its been about three months, and everyday people are reading about Kawaii on my blog. Its clear people love Kawaii. Or at the very least are interested in learning more about it. I decided to write more about it, so that people would have more to read.

It is a subculture, distinctly cute, pink and innocent.

To me it is obvious that people are looking for something other than an oversexified version of humanity. Maybe now we all are just looking for innocence.

Interest in Kawaii doesn’t mean people want to go all the way dressing up in styles associated with little girls. But at the very least it means that people like the idea of seeing those styles around. They are interested in cuteness.

Importantly, its not just the clothing. It is the attitude that is innocent. But what exactly does it mean- innocent? Lets start by understanding what exactly Kawaii constitutes of.

Segments of Kawaii-ism:

1. Fashion, dress, makeup (or lack of)

Dressing in dresses that little girls would wear, just in larger sizes. Little girl jewelry pieces, bows, cute cartoons on clothing. In my opinion: Makeup doesn’t have to be worn to be a Kawaii lover. After all the emphasis is on innocence. Why does it need to be achieved being all dolled up, deep circular strokes of blush on the cheeks and all . Kawaii cutenesss comes from knowing the essentials of innocence and Kawaii dressing. A lot of Kawaii culture gatherings will feature girls in bright pink wigs. But again, that is not necessary. Achieving Kawaii cuteness comes from the attitude.

B. And neither does Kawaii fashioon need to be overkill.
Some Kawaii aspirants will grab every piece of Kawaii fashion accessory in their reach and wear them at the same time. Which is so not Kawaii. Kawaii is a lifestyle. It is not like dressing up for Halloween once a year. You arent trying to get people to identify you as a freak. Kawaii cuteness can be practical. That is what it is, functional, practical innocence.

Yes, cartoons are heavily featured in Kawaii images. But that does not mean one needs to turn in to a cartoon to honor the Kawaii fashion. Lets talk now about cartoons and Kawaii.

2. Cartoonized Reality.
Apart from dressing and behaving innocently, Kawaii means cartoons are made out of any everyday item. Food items, animals and people are drawn out to be in the form of cartoons. These are usually seen in Kawaii art and posters.

For men and women both?
Now, is Kawaii for just women? Or can men be Kawaii fans too? Kawaii is usually adopted as a fashion form by women. But men in Japan are interested in the concept as well.

Japanese men will open their hearts, minds and homes to Kawaii more than any other world culture will, because they are themselves drawn to cuteness. Not being stereotypical here, just stating a fact. The reason for this is just that Kawaii is so rampant, well known and accepted in Japan as a fashion, and a lifestyle that the men are champs at embracing the innocence that the Kawaii culture exhibits. Innocence is liked in Japan, by both sexes.

~ Bibi

 

 

 

 

 

The Appeal of Minimalism and Zen

EmineC natural soap (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve seen a pattern in a lot of my interests: I gravitate toward the minimal. Minimal design and styles and organic ways and means of expressing my likes.

When it comes to conveying messages, things are always organized in an honest, clean and raw fashion. No frills, no pre-thought out dramatic verbiage. The focus is mostly on how natural the message sounds and if it may substitute as a signature of the individual. It is never, how could I make this message more sensational? 

Organic and natural beauty and bath sections in stores are severely attractive to me because all items on the shelves are different, they have something to offer that is natural, non toxic and clean. All these attributes, coupled with the fact that the packaging is usually so minimalist and unique make me want to know more about them. I want to obtain the product, use it- yes, but I also want to keep the product in its original packaging because removing the original covering is akin  to deflowering the product, stripping it of its original personality.

The beauty of organic bath products exemplify why I appreciate minimalist and zen like beauty that can be found in even the most un-zen like places- like retail stores. To me, the lack of design and excessive coloring and a lot of times the lack of extra fragrance in the product and its packaging represent minimalist beauty. The marketing and packaging of a pristine product in the most non deliberate way possible is what makes it appealing, unique and perfectly rustic.

This appeal extends out towards other areas as additional permanent fixture and products at home, such as simple foot of bed chests in addition to a bed in the bedroom and bare walls- which expresses ones feelings about living with less around, decluttering and appreciating the value of a simple, organic and natural life.

I do wonder while saying all this: why do individuals not express in fewer words?  What is it in using more words, that makes a message or a point more plausible. Why not just say it in a few words. Why does a resume, an essay, a cover letter or a report have to be so long drawn?? Why cant the world just take a brief message to heart and use actual statistics to validate any claims made in a message instead of asking the writer to substantiate any claims made in any of the above with a detailed written analysis, followed by a verbal explanation and also statistics and  diagrams? Are we really that stupid? Or is redundancy and fanciful verbosity  the unfortunate norm and expected business conduct- that we can not say anything in a few words anymore lest we appear unintelligent and lacking acumen and credibility? What about being organic and natural, transparent and soft, available to be seen by all and analysed by those who may seek to understand the natural and unadulterated?

~ Bibi

Glass Wind Chime

Daisies or Sunflowers

Noticing a pattern in the choice of flowers in my doodles, I started looking in to what made me want to pencil out the same type of flower again and again and again. I always enjoy drawing a central circle- neat, clean, small and ready to burst in to a flame of precisely five, and often times a few more petals around its little round face. Like the sun! Yes, this would perhaps clue me in on why I like drawing sunflowers a lot. But then, when I color the flower petals, I don’t always go for yellow. I sometimes pick other colors- like pink, red, peach, orange or just leave them white- in which case they look surprisingly similar to daisies.

Image via Wikipedia

 

It  turns out, the two belong to a large flower family that includes both daisies and sunflowers as its members, as well as any other flowers I doodle, that may not necessarily be sunflowers or daisies- but look like them- are not accidentally similar. They after all are cousins.

I perhaps like the simplicity that comes with the flowers’ construction as well as the pretty, minimalist, clean beauty with no scent of their own- an additional reason I may be attracted to the flowers. The flowers have no means overwhelming me with their powerful odor and thus can not sway my affinity towards them in any way. They are simple for the hand to draw, remind me of innocent, happy things, and prove to me that those that impress upon the imagination are not necessarily the loudest or the most fragrant. They are those with personal, simple, minimalist appeal- all reflecting the nature of that who loves them most.

~ Bibi

Good morning world! Let’s start something new today! ~ Sehr

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
–G.K. Chesterton

Blog Reading Galore

I recently began reading blogs. Now, I’ve been sharing much of myself and little bits and pieces of everyday life on this blog I write, titled ‘living chocolate’ for about a year. Its only just recently that I began reading other peoples blogs. I am actually enjoying it. It is exciting to me because if gives me a good idea of how people think, what they enjoy doing and what they don’t like at all etc Also I get to read about things, events, entertainment from writers who have no jobs to hold down as press writers. They simply state what they feel without fear of a job description that tells them what they must report and how. They do not have to worry about offending anyone. So they win, because they get to tell the world what they think and feel about something, as eloquently as a press writer, should they choose to write with eloquence, without the restraints that news writers have to put up with.

Often I spend hours googling and reading articles on the internet that are related to news sites, then I’ll come across the topic under search in a blog. And there is a marked difference. The blog’s raw: The writing and the presentation is usually not refined or presented in a biased way. It is clean, if you are an experienced reader, the message will be clear, and you will be able to tell apart opinion from fact. I like the way writers will add personal comments and their opinion (characteristic to personal blogs that are not associated with press) that usually will give more information about the topic than a mere news article would. Since news articles are committed to present news in an objective fashion not necessarily advocating the use or application of the topic at hand.

News writers will apply statistics of percentages to build a case, as opposed to blogs that directly come at you with plain, soft English phrases. To me this is important, since I am more intuitive with my information. I will rely on words more than numbers. Numbers are good, but they will serve only to bolster what I shall garner via intuitive reading of an article. Let’s say for instance the topic is a book or a movie. The blog writer will tell you how awesome the book is, or how badly it sucks, and they ideally will tell you why they think so. Good blog writers will present specific examples that constitute the suckiness of the book. And you can cross check this of course. You don’t have to rely on a single blog writer’s opinion. You can check out other blogs, or you can do a combination of a blog article, with a news item on the same topic. I would recommend that no matter where you get your information, checking out two or more different sources of information on the same topic is necessary.

News articles are written by people who have opinions and often their opinions reflect their political and religious affiliations that mirror the kind of news station they write for. Readers usually just take the news piece as the ultimate word on the topic. Blogs present a good alternative source of news, that will be opinionated, yes, but very rarely will it be running on a high powered political agenda.

~Bibi

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