About
Kawaii (カワイイ) is a Japanese term meant to denote cuteness upon a person or object. Typically the phrase is used by anime fans and japanophiles on western websites.
History
As a word kawaii stemmed from the phrase “kawahayushi” (顔映し) which literally means “radiant faced” and is ore commonly used to refer to someone who is blushing. Over time the pronunciation changed, and the meaning came to mean someone who has a cute or adorable appearance.[1]
Online Presence
The earliest Urban Dictionary entry for the phrase was posted on June 4, 2003.[2] On January 24, 2006, YouTuber Alcaka uploaded a chibi style video entitled The Omega Kawaii Cloud Song dedicated to Final Fantasy character Cloud (shown below left). On October 26, 2006, YouTuber InuKenYu uploaded a compilation of several different yaoi relationships from several different anime series, entitled “Kawaii Yaoi” (shown below right).
On February 24, 2007, YouTuber Himmel Meere uploaded an AMV entitled “Kawaii Anime AMV (Best Friend)” in which several anime, which the uploader deemed worthy, were compiled with the song Best Friend by musical group Toybox playing in the background (shown below left). On November 5, 2008, YouTuber daijoubucall uploaded an compilation of clips from the anime series Ichigo Mashimaro with a song described by the uploader as, “Kawaii hip-hop” (shown below right).
On February 22, 2014, YouTuber Alexa Poletti uploaded a video tutorial on how to make oneself appear “kawaii” (shown below). On Tumblr there are various posts tagged under the word.[3] On Reddit there is an entire subreddit dedicated to the word and the culture surrounding it.[4]
Emoticons
Various Eastern emoiticons are used to denote the same cuteness that “kawaii” entails, such as (◕‿◕✿), ◕3◕ , and (`･ω･´). The website Kawaiiface.net was created in order to catalog and categorize these various emoticons.[5]
Related Memes
Nigga That’s Kawaii
Nigga That’s Kawaii is a phrase used to denote cuteness in the same way that “kawaii” is used by itself. However, the phrase is typically used along with an image of black men who are holding merchandise or partaking in activities typically associated with otaku culture.