Kawaii Japan Magazine
For a week or two each spring, Japan turns pale pink. Clouds of cherry blossom burst open along riversides and castle moats, in city parks and mountain temples, and the whole...
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A café where a fluffy owl blinks at you from the next table. One where your latte arrives topped with a 3D cat mad...
A translucent jewel that looks like a drop of summer rain. A soft pink sweet shaped like a cherry blossom, gone by...
Rainbow tutus. Pastel wigs. A crepe the size of your face dripping with strawberries and whipped cream. Platform s...
Matcha, sake, wasabi, purple sweet potato — Japan has released over 400 Kit Kat flavours. Here's the story of how a simple wafer became a national obsession.
How a 1960s gift shop turned a mouthless white cat into a global empire of cuteness. Meet the most iconic Sanrio characters, the annual popularity ranking, and why kawaii has stayed beloved for over sixty years.
Giant eyes, glowing skin, sparkles and sticker sheets — inside purikura, Japan's beloved decorate-your-own photo booths. What they are, how a session works, and tips for your first time.
Four million machines, one per 30 people, hot AND cold drinks, fresh eggs, hot ramen and the gloriously bizarre. Inside Japan's vending machine wonderland — and the trust and care behind it.
A bear that earns billions, a back-flipping pear, a samurai cat that revived a castle town. Meet yuru-chara — Japan's gloriously strange, impossibly cute mascot characters — and the culture behind the craze.