State-sponsored Cute: Kawaii Ambassadors

Posted on 14. Jan, 2010 @ 3:43 am by in Culture, Society Views: 4,276

There’s no doubt that there are some quirky aspects to Japan and Japanese culture, but how about state-sponsored quirkiness?

Meet Misako Aoki (青木美沙子), one of Japan’s three Cute Ambassadors who were appointed by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs February 2009.

Cute Ambassador: Misako Aoki

Misako Aoki, in all her ultra-cute Lolita garb, performs an official function for the Japanese government.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes that sending Aoki-san and the other two cute ambassadors around the world will increase international understanding of Japan and its people. These activities will then benefit Japan in the future by cultivating goodwill towards Japan as a nation. This is sort of cultural diplomacy is practiced by other countries around the world in a variety of forms… None quite as cute as this though.

There are two other official cute ambassadors, Shizuka Fujioka who is a stylish school girl, and Yu Kimura who apparently is a master of layering clothes to create cool fashions.

Cute Ambassadors (Image from MOFA)

The official Japanese term for “Cute Ambassador” is Kawaii Taishi (カワイイ大使), and the cute initiative is no joke, the ambassadors have been busy. Shizuka Fujioka was in Thailand in March, and Misako Aoki and Yu Kimura in Paris in July being cute and creating new friends of Japan. Misako Aoki was also in Spain separately in October.

If you’re heavy into Gothic Lolita fashion you may have already known Misako. She has modeled for BABY, The Stars Shine Bright, Putumayo, Algonquins and other well-known Japanese gothic and lolita fashion brands.

Here is a clip from the Brazilian media introducing lolita fashion and Misako Aoki. I believe this was recorded November 2009 in the build up to Misako Aoki’s visit to Brazil.

I wonder whether this type of cultural diplomacy will have any real impact on Japan’s standing in the world. For those people whose first interaction with Japan or Japanese people are the Cute Ambassadors, I would imagine that their view of Japan would become strangely skewed as a result. On the other hand, maybe that initial contact will be enough to spark a long-term interest in Japan that will eventually result in a well-rounded view of Japan… maybe even followed by a visit to Japan or serious study of the Japanese language. I guess this is the same effect that anime and manga have been having for the past few decades.

There you have it. Misako Aoki and the Kawaii Ambassadors. This was my post for the January 2010 blog matrsui. If you enjoyed this article please head over to JapanSoc and ‘soc’ it! While you’re there check out the other JapanSoc posts, it’s a great source for Japan-related topics.

One last thing. Misako Aoki was appointed as a Kawaii Ambassador for 2009, but there is no word yet on what will happen to the program in 2010. It will be interesting to see if MOFA decides to continue with the initiative!

I’ll leave you with one last clip of a message from Cute Ambassador Misako Aoki.

- Harvey

The Official Cute Ambassadors of Japan

Other Misako Aoki and Cute Ambassador Related Links around the Web:

Misako Aoki’s official blog, the lovely pink diary.

Many more pictures of Misako Aoki.

Carousel of Crowns introduces Misako Aoki.

Misako Aoki on Facebook.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Cute Ambassadors description.

‘Cute ambassadors’ roam globe to promote Japan’s pop culture – Japan Times

- Harvey

  • http://goinglocoinyokohama.wordpress.com/ locohama

    In that dress i can imagine what kind of “good” will she’ll be cultivating. I don’t know why Japan can’t see this “cute” lolita/ Schoolgirl/ French maid Cosplay pop culture for what it is: Sexual enticement. Or maybe they do and just want to cultivate it regardless of its “perv” factor. Whatever pays the bills i guess. Syouganai
    Maybe it will be well-rounded out someday but from it isn’t happening yet. But, sex sells so if you’re trying to “sell” Japanese “pop culture” to the world, she is an adequate salesgirl. She is cute even- in that cut and paste girl next door, girl you see everywhere you go anytime of day in Japan kind of way.

    • Lilly

      You are sick and have NO IDEA about the clothes she is wearing. I am a part of that fashion, and we do not do it for men. We could care less what men think!! We dress that way because we LIKE it, and for no other reason. Because we like dressing cutely, and just because a girl dresses childishly, how dare you assume she is doing it for sexual reason?! You are just plain sick to think like that. Don’t assume random crap about someone just by the way they are dressed.

    • Kaikai

      I agree with Lilly! I am also a part of this fashion, and I have no desire to ‘entice’ men. *In FACT* There was a Japanese TV show I watched in which men on the street were asked if they felt attracted to a girl wearing lolita fashion and EVERYONE SAID NO!

      This is conceptually about being FREE from the judgement of men, I do not want to be ogled as an object of desire,
      but merely become an object that is detached from social norms and values. As an insigator of wonder, To make people feel as if I was not of this world, Like I was a princess or royalty!

      Men do not approach me while wearing this fashion, as I don’t wear low cut tops and short skirts like girls in Western media, so thus they are NOT remotely atracted to me.
      If you want to see a real form of sexual enticement in pop culture, Look at your own damn TV and Magazines! Those women are the real harlots.

      You seem to have dual standards syndrome to be calling out a modest form of dress style with the biggest load of hypocritical tosh EVER.

      Seriously, go think about how sexually enticing 90% of western fashionista’s are. Oh you won’t? Why? Because That’s acceptable? And it’s acceptable because you’re happy to ogle the women you feel are FAIR GAME. YOU disgust me!!
      Screw your skewed perception.

      You’re analysing things that were never there.

      I think, rather than saying something about us, for wearing lolita fashion, it says something SERIOUSLY wrong about your psyhche for interpreting it as so. Freudian much?
      Maybe you should stop projecting the sick inner workings of your mind onto other people, and STOP interpreting our modest and pretty fashion as sexually motivated.

      It’s people like you who make me rage,
      People who just can’t believe a girl would wear a style of dress purely because she enjoys feeling happy in the clothes.
      Without there being some deeper motivation with some underlying sexual connotations.

      However hard it might be for you to comprehend, not everything has to be about Sex you know… Just saying.

  • Mac

    locohama, I just can’t see it that way. There is nothing objectively provocative about that outfit at all. The style it’s taken from does not have its roots in any direct sexuality. Certainly there are those who fetishize it, but they are not the mainstream. Rather, it is the mainstream affecting them.

    “Cute” is an aesthetic that permeates Japanese culture. If you’re in Japan, you KNOW this. I’d suggest that if you believe this simply to be “sexual enticement”, as you call it, it says more about your individual perspective than it says anything about Japanese culture.

  • http://goinglocoinyokohama.wordpress.com locohama

    if you say so…everyone is entitled. But grown women dressing up like little girls is a sexual idea that appeals to…lets just say many men, and not only japanese men but the world over. It dominates the porn which is the biggest industry here so it aint just me that sees it that way…(but I admit i do like J-porn too) its any man or woman that watches J-porn the world over and the people who make these movies. Now maybe this good will mission is about snatching the cute image from the pornographers and making it into something else, and I wish them well…But that battle is at best only underway from what I see. Seems to me cute and porn cute have decided that they can pretend that there is a distinction and otaku and afficianodos like yourself can join in on the pretense for whatever reason.

  • http://www.jamaipanese.com Jamaipanese

    say them a few months ago and I still think that only 1 of the 3 are even remotely cute, well at least to me…

  • http://awaffle.isgreat.org jenn

    I think this is a pretty interesting tourism/diplomacy initiative. Can’t really say I really like any of the three pictured (though Misako Aoki does look cute. =)), but it’s hard to say without looking at actual videos of them in action.

    locohama seems a bit too critical, though. ._. She’s hardly dressing up like a little girl — if little girls where you live dress up in elaborate gothloli dresses, I’d like to see. :P I say it’s more fashion than sex, and if you thought otherwise..well..that’s you. XD

  • http://www.loneleeplanet.com reesan

    thanks for your contribution to the january 2010 japan blog matsuri. but mate, with 3 ‘cute’ ambassadors to choose from how do you choose just one?

    my mantra in life is ‘beggars can’t be choosers’, so i don’t complain for any of the 3. ^_^

    good choice (and post) harvey. i had no idea that this was a government funded initiative.

  • http://www.thesoulofjapan.blogspot.com McAlpine

    I hate what these three girls represent, but if I were to look at what these girls represent from a purely subjective angle then I’d say “shame on Japan” for glorifying these air headed, gothlolita, confused, and half humans. They clearly distort the beauty of Japanese women.

    • Kaikai

      WOW, I just cannot believe that!!
      You think someone is a lesser human than you because they wear a different style of fashion, purely based on the fact that you don’t like what they represent?

      I personally think you’re the airheaded one for not realising that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. And not only that, but the world doesn’t revolve around your vision of beauty, and while you’re entitled to your opinion. Who gave you the right to judge others so harshly?

      Also, who said there is a universal standard to beauty to distort in the first place?
      I clearly envision you as someone who has never delved into the world of high fashion, where distortions of beauty are that which give fashion it’s ability to envoke emotions and portray concepts.

    • Me

      So, you hate it when women dress elegantly and cutely instead of sexy?

      I hope you realize how completely stupid that is.

  • miichan

    i really like Japanese culture and i think that this is the cutest side of them
    they are emotional weak and that’s what make them cuter

    i really like the dresses and it’s nothing compered with sex
    they just are emotional weak and that makes them younger
    wanting to dress like that
    Go Japan!

  • jd_luv

    I think this is a great way to represent the subcultures of Japan and a way to express that Japan isn’t just a bunch of squinty eyed business men with apples up their asses. They work hard, but when they let loose, they really let loose and express their inner child in wild and intricate manners. I can definitely understand why the Japanese would do this and can see other countries following its trend.

  • Shake

    I love how infantile Japan became after they lost WWII and were completely disarmed.

    This is actually pretty damn pathetic. It’s different perspectives though, and I agree with locohama. In the west, they’ll be viewed as innocent and docile, and we all know how much men like ‘conquering’ virgins and spreading their seed. It’s only natural to be sexually attracted, I mean, I haven’t seen such complacent women since the whole ‘burn our bras we want equality’ stuff of the 70′s. Guess Japanese women never went through it.

    I really don’t know how the Japanese view ‘kawaii’, but my completely un-scientific view of it is that it’s somewhat related to the high suicide rate and overall tough and over-bearing life over there, and wishing to return back to the care-free days of being a child.

    Like I said, completely un-scientific.

  • http://tokyo.japantimes.co.jp/ Jonny

    It is a smart move. Japan has a very strong and vibrant sub culture image that the international scene is very fond of. It might be more effective and more interesting than say having Taiko drum or Geisha ambassadors.

  • gabbanurse

    The three girls are Misako Aoki who wears lolita clothes, Yu Kimura a singer/actress “well known in Harajuku” who wears funky Fruits style street fashion and has bleached-blonde hair and Shizuka Fujioka who only ever dresses as a schoolgirl or in a variation on school uniform and has written books on how to achive this “look”.
    I don’t agree the the lolita clothes are “Sexual enticement” but I’d have a hard time arguing that for the school uniform, even though I like the style.

  • http://onlinedatingthailand.com/thailovelinks-review Jack

    Too much of a good thing! I think the Japanese should study that phrase and take it to heart!:D

  • kaikai

    People can say what they want about lolita fashion. Those interested in the style understand that girls don’t neccessarily dress this way to appease men like you assume.

    Our fashion, although named lolita, has nothing to do with the novel of the same title by V.Nabokov. So to assume it is even remotely sexual without knowing the reason first hand is absurd. Some girls indeed do fetishise the fashion, but it is only a fashion afterall, what one chooses to do in their clothes depends on the individual.

    I have been wearing this style for four years and I love how elegant and cute it makes me feel.

    Within a world of constant partial nudity in the media, I feel kind of disgusted seeing girls flaunt their ‘assets’ on TV. and opt for a more modest dress style.
    I don’t like low cut tops and hotpants, I don’t like short skirts. I like looking pretty and cute rather than sexy.

    Is that so hard to understand?
    If anything I’d say wearing ‘normal’ girls clothes is more like sexual enticement, Lolita fashion is a revolt against that kind of behaviour. We just want to be beautiful.

    • Rebecca C.

      But how can you (and other lolita aficionados) say that the word lolita has nothing to do with the book? Nabokov invented the word. Since then it has been used in a variety of ways, all associated with sex or pedophilias (the first hentai was called Lolita, iirc, along with lolicon, lolita complex, etc). Even the word lolita means a sexual girl-child.

      Isn’t it possible that lolita fashion started off using the name in a way involved with sex, but that current followers of the trend aren’t interested in that aspect? I could buy that. It just makes zero sense that lolita fashion has NOTHING to do with the book, pedophilia, or sex. Can’t just pick a word and say it no longer has anything to do with it’s past or present meanings.

      For the record, I think that lolita fashion (actually, most “high fashion” in general) looks ridiculous), but if you want to dress that way, have fun. I hope it works out well for you! I actually admire that y’all don’t feel the needs to ‘show off the goods’. That gets nasty quick.

      • Anon

        Do you even realize that Lolita is a nickname for a girl? And do you realize that this fashion was invented in JAPAN? I highly doubt most of them have even HEARD of the fashion.

        Is it really so hard for people like you to accept that a cute fashion is just that, a cute fashion, without anything sick about it? Why can’t you just accept the fact that a woman can dress how she wants and there is nothing sexual about it? You need to learn about the fashion. Badly. Do your research.

        • Lilly

          *I highly doubt most of them have even heard of the BOOK

          That’s what I meant to say. lol Seriously, the fashion is far more popular than the book there, I doubt most people have even heard of the book there.

      • Frilly_Guest

        Umm…Lolita is a nickname for Dolores, and I’m quite sure that it’s been used long before the book and fashion ever came about. Also, the book and the fashion (and the genre of animation) developed during different times and places, long before the internet was widely used. If you care anything about Japanese culture, you’ve to understand that the Japanese don’t view things the same way as most Westerners do. For one, cuteness is a bigger factor in culture than it is in the West. While no one really knows how the name for the fashion came about (this is due to the fashion beginning as a street based culture, not a music or club based one like most Western subcultures are, such as punk and goth…it’s hard to document things like that), there are some people who believe that it’s just a made up English word only used in Japan (wasei-eigo). Coming up with names because they may “sound cute” or for other reasons, without actually putting too much meaning or research in them in fairly common in Japan (heck, even their own language is like that). 

  • miko

    I am japanese and no of this is about sex! Even lolita fashion is not about sex!

  • charlie

    what is the name of that pink baby the stars shine bright dress misako is wearing in the ambasador pics???i have it in black :)

  • Jaim2

    Perhaps more honest would be an old angry Japanese male salaryman who talks about hating foreigners. That would be the real experience of a non-Japanese in Japan

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