Ambivalence of kawaii as a phenomenon of modern aesthetics in Japan

Belova Dar'ya Nikolaevna PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor at Moscow State Institute (University) of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation 119454, Russia, Moskovskaya oblast', g. Moscow, ul. Vernadskogo, 76, kab. 4105 darinda2006@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

The more people explore the world, the more they realize that every country has its own aesthetics.

Helena Christensen

When something fascinates, it also deceives.

From the TV series "Roots" (2016)

Kawaii is a Japanese aesthetic concept that includes mildness as the main element and extends to all spheres of society – politics, religion, economics, art, entering everyday life. Kawaii as a special culture of sweetness and a modern phenomenon includes the touching, charming, innocently childish, defenseless, evoking positive emotions and empathy ^{[25, p. 128]}.

Ishihara Soichiro, Obata Kazuyuki and Kanno Kayoko pointed to the expansion of kawaii and its transition into popular culture. Masabuchi Soichi, Hirosho Nittono, Inuhiko Emota, Yano Kristin, Simon May, Katasonova E.L., Yazovskaya O.V., Meshcheryakov A.N. and others studied the aesthetics of kawaii in Japanese popular culture. However, works dealing with issues of philosophy and aesthetics of kawaii are not enough to reveal this cultural phenomenon. The presented article attempts to clarify the connection between sweetness and the terrible in kawaii aesthetics.

Kawaii's roots go deep into Japanese culture. Japanese aesthetics arises from the fusion of two religions – Shinto, which is closely related to the mythology of the Kami world and Buddhism (transience, illusory world) ^{[4, 10, 15]}. The recognition of the dual nature of all things was the beginning of Japanese art and aesthetics. Both religions had a great influence on the formation of the principles and criteria underlying all life and art, which is part of the daily life of the Japanese.

"The formation of aesthetic science in Japan was necessarily accompanied by the development of a philosophical and aesthetic categorical apparatus, which is in organic accordance with the national thought tradition ... Japanese aesthetics was inseparable from direct artistic creation" ^{[16, p. 63]}.

The Japanese artistic tradition has developed original aesthetic categories: mono-no-aware, wabi-sabi, shibui, yugen, which help to understand the hidden beauty of things, the transience of life and influence the mentality of the Japanese^[1]. A new culture was formed as a result of the penetration of Western and American cultures after World War II, however, the originality and originality of kawaii as the quintessence of Japanese popular culture became a response to modernization in the context of globalization. The background for the development of culture was the attitude of the Japanese towards a powerful economic recovery. Great maturity was expected from the population, however, the ideal aimed at youth and constant stimulation of consumption contributed to the development of infantilism and the entrenchment of the positions of the kawaii culture.

The original definition of "kawaii" is taken from the novel "Lady Murasaki" "The Tale of Genji" of the XI century. Japanese admiration for small things was observed back in the Heian period (794-1185), which is reflected in the "Notes at the head of the Bed" in 1002, written by Sei-Senagon, a Japanese court lady, indicating the close connection of kawaii culture with Japanese kami spirits and aesthetics.

Attention is drawn to a detail that animates an object, binds people to it, causes emotion – giving the human body the face of an animal and "vice versa" giving the animal a human face. This aspect is very popular in many anime and mango. The universal fascination with everything childish, doll-like, toy-like is peculiar to the Japanese. Miniaturization is manifested in bonsai, netsuke, dishes, portions of food, folding screens, furniture, numerous small drawers that allow you to save space, guided by the rules of inner beauty.

Female beauty was subject to the requirements of miniaturization, a woman who looked like a child, a doll, without breasts with a small face, arms and legs, was considered beautiful, causing delight with tiny sizes, the owners of which often had squeaky children's voices for the sake of fashion and beauty. The tenderness of the charm of childishness is transferred to cats, dogs, fish, birds, including them in the kawaii cycle. Japanese milota culture became the center of attention in the late 1960s, and in the 1970s and 1980s, along with the growth of the economy and consumer ability, the popularity of kawaii culture^[2] increased even more ^[27].

Setsuko Tamura is one of the first artists who popularized the style of "kawaii", became famous for manga for girls and cute illustrations in the magazines "Shojo Club", "Ribon", "Nakayoshi" in the company "Sanrio".

In the youth environment, there is a category of aesthetics and beauty close to kawaii, combining simplicity and a carefree life. At the moment, three highlighted by the Japanese philosopher Kuki Shuzo, which make up the concept of iki, dominate: coquetry, living one day, the vanity of ignorance.

All kawaii characters released by Sanrio are different, but they all share a simple execution style, including the famous Hello Kitty anime character ^[24]. They all have small, compact bodies, big heads, tiny noses, and huge shiny eyes. They have little or no facial expressions. Flattening without unnecessary details allows you to express new emotions by making small changes. For some time, kawaii characters may be without fingers, noses, but their posture and gaze convey different moods. The expression of the face is very important and it is manifested with the help of painted eyes (small black circles, glitter or dots). The closer the eyes, nose and mouth are to the horizontal line, the more severe the face becomes, which is observed in infants and puppies, causing admiration^[3]. In youth, the nose and eyes are located closer to the center of the face, so the eyes appear large. Characters with small mouths and big eyes get the kawaii effect. The absence of emotions on the face makes the characters attractive, allows the viewer to form their own emotions, feel like this character, endowing him with his own experience and experience superiority over him. Since Hello Kitty does not have a mouth, the most expressive part of the face is that the viewer sees what he feels at a particular moment. If he is sad – sad, happy – rejoices with him, this is the charm of Kitty. A characteristic feature of kawaii characters is the outline of a thick black line, and their color palette is usually pastel tones.

By the mid-1980s, kawaii was Japan's most recognizable symbol, based on an industry with billions of dollars in revenue. Kawaii in Japan is found in large companies, small shops, police stations, sports and municipal institutions, prefectures, government, etc. It is believed that the introduction of kawaii into the environment has a calming effect. Mascots (mascots) are being developed taking into account the aesthetics of kawaii, which have their own specifics, representing a certain prefecture or city. Kawaii's interest arises due to the diversity of aesthetics, mass popularity and mythological heritage of the country, its ancient culture, due to the adaptation of mythological images in mango and anime in modern conditions ^[22]. The most popular kawaii characters are: Hello Kitty kitten girl, Pokemon (Pikachu), anime characters (Totoro), manga and webcomics.

Siann Ngai argues that cute can be scary, weird, and terrible. Cute objects, in particular Kitty has a deformed body, no mouth and fingers, a large head, dots instead of eyes and nose. The strangely ugly and the cute don't have a clear boundary. The combination of the cute and the unattractive causes a feeling of pity and this ambivalence of the inexplicably cute, fragile, vulnerable and ugly causes emotion, turning into an emotional and psychological reaction ^[30].

The ugly has a certain recognizable shape, because one or more parts make it look inharmonious. The ugly is associated with aesthetic experiences, but it can cause delight, tenderness and sweetness. The combination of the cute with the grotesque indicates ambivalence. According to Inuhiko Emota, it is possible to combine the cute with the unattractive ^{[7, p. 96]}. Simon May presents the inconsistency of the cute as its inherent feature ^[28].

Refined diverse kawaii has spread like an avalanche to all spheres of Japanese society. Kawaii is becoming especially effective in the accounts and websites of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, where animation is used by the military to attract attention, propaganda and conscription of young people. Anime with girls in the style of moe^[4] and animals often appear on campaign posters in the uniforms of different branches of the armed forces. Animated girls are depicted on the sides of airplanes and tanks in revealing uniforms, sometimes the equipment is painted pink. Anime mascots are owned by almost all military departments, and they are the propaganda material of military enlistment offices. Anime is so actively penetrating the military sphere that it raises the question whether this is a new wave of militant militarism hiding behind a cute image. The use of military iconography on weapons can be mistaken for an invitation to children's games. Kawaii is evidence of the deep duality of the Japanese armed forces. Kawaii mascots reflect pop culture trends and act as a way to defuse the situation caused by the presence of the military. However, many politicians believe that the modern kawaii culture being introduced into the army indicates the degradation of the Japanese military ^[33].

Many companies use mascots to promote their products and services. Pokemon characters decorate the sides of passenger planes, bank cards, mailboxes, and police booths. The concept of kawaii aesthetics as a cultural phenomenon has become part of Japanese culture and national identity.

Maintaining harmony is essential in interpersonal relationships. Empathy, despite the signs of infantilism, manifests itself in the spread of kawaii culture. Kawaii aesthetics is used by the government, where it is raised to the level of public consciousness and is used as a means of self-promotion, shaping the image of a politician to attract votes. Kawaii in the Japanese political tradition implies a culture of compromise, respect for the opinion of a minority and the desire to achieve consensus, non-public methods of conflict resolution are used. Political life has a staged character and resembles a theatrical performance, where randomness plays a significant role.

During the pandemic, Japanese politicians and public figures came to the attention of the media, becoming the subject of attention on social networks. People discussed the design of masks, their aesthetic and advertising value, and their kawaii nature. Thus, masks became the subject of aesthetic and cognitive content. The pattern on the mask was used as a talisman during the epidemic. So on the mask of the second person in the state, the ancient pattern of the Ainu people was applied, and the governor of one of the prefectures wore a mask with the image of a cherry tree, an ancient talisman against any infection. The inconsistency of politics, the constant stay between truth and falsehood, the tendency to attractive but unfulfilled promises forces officials to hide their face under the mask of "sympathetic" indifference, manipulating public opinion. The appearance of a sweetheart in politics indicates a desire to balance power with what inspires trust and sympathy among the population.

Due to the fact that kawaii has acquired a commercial connotation and due to the oversaturation of the kawaii market with goods, as well as the transience of changing aesthetic requirements of consumers, especially young people, companies are forced to resort to new ideas, often contradicting the cuteness, adding ugly, frightening images, turning them into a marketing ploy. The fascination with "creepy" is now at the peak of popularity.

Gudetama is one of the most unique characters created by Sanrio – a sad egg yolk, personifying a depressed, tired, lazy person, devoid of motivation, whose existence is almost unbearable. He is always afraid of being eaten, presenting a mixture of the strange and the cute, blurs the boundaries of the cute and defies the norms of aesthetics, may include elements of zombie traits, as well as cute characters existing in creepy situations. His image traces the traditional Japanese ephemerality of existence, its transience. Gudetama resists this. Many people who are disappointed in their work and career may feel unhappy and frail, similar to Gudetama. One of the popular characters, similar to Gudetama, is the "gloomy" bear, created by Mori Chuck. The cute pink teddy bear often has traces of blood around its mouth, meaning that it attacks people and devours them. This is a vivid example of combining sweetness with elements of horror. The frightening details make you wonder what is really cute. The strangest and scariest characters remain fashion brands for a long time in advertising, in mobile phone screensavers, until their disgusting antics cease to be cute.

The attractiveness of milota is gaining popularity in the art world, developing this style in various genres such as – guro-kawaii (grotesquely cute), ero-kawaii (erotically cute), kimo-kawaii (terribly cute), busu-kawaii (hideously cute). A follower of the milota culture, especially mango and anime, is a modern Japanese artist, founder of the Superflat Art movement Takashi Murakami (1962). His most recognizable characters are skulls, animals, smiling flowers and clouds, Mr. Dob and other animated images. The culture of anime and manga inspired him to create art projects, the origins of which are in the field of classical Japanese art and mythology. Murakami successfully mixes popular culture and high culture. According to the artist, "one of the distinctive features of the national psychology of the Japanese both in ancient times and in modern times is a flat perception of the world, which extends both to the artistic sphere and to everyday reality" ^{[9, p. 163]}. Murakami formulated the main artistic idea in the theory of "superplane", which emphasizes the "two-dimensionality" of traditional and modern art. Therefore, the culture of kawaii fills everything around it, revealing the infantilism of Japanese society, the desire to escape from reality into a "stylized and idealized world" ^{[9, p. 167]}. Exhibitions of the artist's works – exciting installations have won the hearts of viewers in France, the USA, and Russia. Mr. Dob, who appeared in 1998, often portrayed by Murakami's character, is his alter ego, asking the question – Why? What for? This philosophical question is heard throughout Murakami's work, encouraging the viewer to reflect. The concentration of the cute is off the scale in his work. He founded the commercial company KaiKai Kiki Co. Ltd (2001), which sells clothes, toys, souvenirs with kawaii-style images created by Muraki himself and young artists whom he patronizes and promotes. At the same time, he is engaged in animation, where the central images are destroyed cities, empty, bare land and bomb explosions. Murakami is working on the traumatic experience of the Japanese, the triggers of which are the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945), earthquakes and tsunamis in the wake of the accident at the Kama nuclear power plant (2011). The most powerful image of an atomic explosion is presented by Murakami in the work "Time Bokan" (red) (2001), as well as significant works "Memories of a stormy Life" (2015), "Gifa gradually conquers the world", "Island of the Dead" (2014), "The Lion peers into the abyss of death" (2015), "Mr. Dob" and the mosaic "Autumn" (2017), a reference to the creation of the world by Michelangelo, "Dob mows like a fool" (2017). The nuclear disaster has become a new starting point for reflecting reality after the apocalypse. The conscious displacement of reality and the departure from it gave life to anime and mango with elements of kawaii and creepy kawaii. Kawaii and yami-kawaii help to cope with post-traumatic syndrome, emphasizing the infantilism of Japanese culture, built on the "observer effect" as a contemplator, not a fighter.

Yoshimoto Nara (1959) is a Japanese kawaii–inspired artist who portrays children and animals as sinister and innocent at the same time. He participated in solo exhibitions (about 40) in many countries of the world as a representative of the pop art movement. The combination of naivety and aggressiveness in his works brought them to the world level. His original toys and sculptures are sold on Sotbis and used in marketing. In Yoshimoto's works, there is an acute sense of loneliness in childhood. His characters with taped eyes, a cigarette in their mouth, brandishing knives, express anger, joy, fear, aggression, they are both dangerous and innocent, cast sidelong glances, plot evil. Grotesque creatures – small monsters especially like to evoke pity and affection. Nara's drawings are out of proportion with big heads and huge eyes. The cute appearance of children is deformed and turns into a creepy, frightening image. A child's fear, lack of confidence in adults, and lack of a sense of security distort the perception of reality, and weapons act as protection from a hostile environment. The author pays great attention to the psychological reactions of the child, calling in his works to pay more attention to children, not to limit their freedom of action and ensure the safety of the environment. Children act as a reflection of images of Japanese popular culture, indicating the unwillingness of people to grow up.

Tycho Aoshima (1974) is an avant–garde Japanese artist who creates surreal images of creepy mythical creatures - demons and ghosts. She worked in the pop art style at KaiKai Kiki exhibitions, embodying her world of cute and scary kawaii ("Black Fountain", 2008).

Katsuhiro Hori (1969) portrays bloody kawaii with his strange view of the world. In her paintings, schoolgirls in sailor suits (school uniforms) are in a caramel pink, plush country. Against the background of sweets, candies, balloons, ice cream, bored girls with red inflamed eyes who drown in cotton candy, jam, die pierced with lollipops or in the mouth of their plush toy bears. There's blood everywhere, scattered guts, perverted madness. The artist depicts nightmarish visions of adolescence: "Angel" (2012), "Sweet Rain" (2013), "Relief" (2017), "Necrosis" (2021), etc. The artist's phantasmagorical bright and depressive paintings reflect the exciting contrast of the scary and mysterious in the theme of growing up. Kawaii characters are the epitome of lost innocence, and kawaii itself acts as an antidote to the dehumanization of modernity.

Hasuimo, an illustrator, combining the Japanese concept of "kawaii" and modern fashion trends with features of Catholic, Shinto and Buddhist iconography, creates amazing paintings where new interpretations of images are found – nuns, angels, saints, martyrs, the dead, grave symbols (crosses, tombstones, skulls, etc.). All this creates a picture of the afterlife based on Japanese philosophy, reflected in contemporary art, bringing the charm of kawaii to it. Hasuimo depicts young girls in triangular headbands (tankan), as an integral attribute of the deceased in the funeral ritual. The tankan and zigzag paper (side) used in the shinto purification rite are used in pop culture to demonstrate the transition to the other world.

Ai Shinohara (1984) is touching and terrifying with his work. Her paintings evoke a storm of emotions. Little lovely girls, some in school uniforms, found death among the flowers that sprouted through their bodies, gaping wounds with internal organs into which fish and various animals bite. The girls undergo a metamorphosis – they themselves gradually turn into fish and animals, disappearing among the grass and flowers. Dead innocence is presented in the arms of gentle death, exposing the sensuality of young flesh and cute-creepy images.

A special subculture is represented by yami-kawaii – a mixture of elements of the cute and creepy, innocent and gloomy. Bed tones with a predominance of pink, sequins, toys side by side with knives, syringes, bandages, patches, blades. Yami-kawai declares that not everything is good in this world. The combination of the strange, frightening and sweetness draws attention to the problems of youth, pointing to the existence of sweetness at the same time as the theme of suffering and even death.

The symbol of yami-kawaii is considered to be Menhera-chan, the heroine of the manga by Edzaki Bisuko^[5]. She is a warrior with cut wrists who saves the world by fighting evil. The characters of yami-kawaii wear red or pink blush on their eyelids or cheeks, creating the effect of soreness, tears, bruises, bruises. There is a combination of charm and strangeness in the clothes: pink pastel colors are complemented by bloodstains, medical objects – pills, razor blades instead of earrings, prints – "kill me", "I want to die", decorated with hearts and angels, prostheses are imitated, clothes are cut through, respirators, skulls are used.

Many kawaii characters seem weak, non-aggressive, harmless, but they love evil and cruelty. The terrible kawaii is reinforced by an inner emotional mood and feelings. The fashion for cynicism and negativity is increasingly spreading in the street environment, which is alarming, as a transition to a more depressive style is planned.

Most artists working in the style of yami-kawaii, depicting cute things and images turn them into creepy and repulsive, so Junko Mizuno, Aya Kakeda, Hinako Hinana, Tycho Aoshima, Risa Mehmet, undermining the culture of kawaii, show the viewer an ominous stream. Enhancing the contrast between the cute and the grotesque, they demonstrate the severed body parts of girls infected with the sugary "virus" of Disney, which has been brainwashing them since childhood. Cute things are not always what they seem, a special charm ("Mother of the Snake" by Junko Mizuno, "Bali" by Aya Kakeda) has a simultaneous combination of cute and strange. The darkness and dark transformation of women into semi-animals acts as a symbolic liberation in creativity. The psychedelic style of the artists is a response to the numbing influence of the kawaii culture, shocking viewers and prompting philosophical reflections on the role of women in society and culture.

The problems of children, their feelings and emotions, loneliness, rejection, conflicts in the family, are reflected in the works of the Japanese illustrator Avogado6 ("Cordiality", "Rehabilitation", "Masks", "Anxiety", "Do not give up". Yami-kawaii "sick" kawaii, spreading in the field of street fashion, acquires a depressive style used by marginal youth on anonymous forums and social networks. They come together in communities dedicated to this style. Most of them suffer from serious mental disorders. Their clothes express a gloomy mood, helping the girls to attract attention. Designer Jenny Fung advertised the appearance of her models on the catwalk at Tokyo Fashion Week in sugar and candy prints, carrying accessories in the form of severed limbs. Her design consists of 50% kawaii and 50% rough grim reality. Kawaii's "sick" is gaining popularity. "Cute", "touching" as an aesthetic category has its opposite – creepy, scary, terrible. One thing passes into the other as a dialectical connection. The level of depression in Japanese society is clearly expressed by the breakthrough of the pink mildness of the consumer system. Experts say that mental disorders and suicides in Japan are a very serious problem. Yami is a kawaii subculture as an "abscess" of this consumer society. The loss of the meaning of life in the endless race for the consumption of goods, high competition, insomnia, accelerated pace of life, lack of free time, closeness, limited communication, fear of losing "face" – all this leads to mental disorders. The outlet is in virtual reality, drugs, self-destruction. The demonstration of depressive disorders does not cause inconvenience, shame. The cute-creepy style acts as a symptom of the disease, drawing the attention of others to those who are ill, to the problem of mental disorders and the fight against them, as a cry for help in a society where it is not customary to talk aloud about personal problems and illnesses^[6]. The terrible invades art, turning life into a hopeless, hopeless, non-enlightening existence. In the terrible, a person is a slave to circumstances. The terrible acts as an aesthetic dominant, the leading category of the entire aesthetics of the XXI century, filling it with fear. N. Berdyaev wrote: "fear, always associated with empirical danger, must be distinguished from horror, which is not associated with empirical danger, but with the transcendent, with the longing of being and non–being… Longing and horror have a kinship. But the horror is much sharper, there is something striking about horror. Longing is softer and more viscous. A very strong experience of horror can even cure longing… Horror is associated with eternity. Sadness is lyrical. The horror is dramatic" ^{[2, p. 54]}. Fear manifests itself as a side effect of well-being and something fundamental, it contributes to the perception of certain information by consciousness. F. Bacon said that suffering has a limit, fear is boundless. Feelings and emotions capture a person and force him to act in this world. The manifestation of emotions depends on mentality, culture and social context. D. Hume emphasized that even a negligible threat can cause fear, which causes aggression. E. Burke paid attention to fear and horror as an affective system of the sublime, which is associated with the instinct of self-preservation. When danger and pain are too close, they cause terror, and being in the distance they soften their effect and can cause delight. The sublime, which is based on horror, is associated with delight and amazement, manifests itself as a reaction to liberation from fear and horror ^{[3, pp. 71-72; 83-84; 11, pp. 234-236; 12]}. According to I. Kant, when a person encounters something threatening his existence, the power of the spirit helps a person overcome fear of the power of nature and spiritually elevates him above it ^{[8, p. 134]}. For Kant, the sublime elevates a person, for Burke it causes awe with the identification of feelings. Z. Freud considers fear from the point of view of neuroses, believing that it is based on a traumatic experience. Fear acts as a reaction of helplessness in case of injury ^[18]. M. Heidegger considered the fear that arises in front of a real danger. He gave a philosophical interpretation of the phenomenon of "horror" ^{[19, p. 185]}. Fear, horror, and pain are aggravated by experiencing "aesthetic shock", an example is the drawings of kittens on the walls of Auschwitz. Their sweetness, tenderness, defenselessness, and naivety of the image do not mitigate the horror of the environment, but increase suffering and emphasize the sophistication of Nazi philosophy and "aesthetic perversion" ^{[7, p. 196]}. The theme of the terrible has recently been intensively included in the aesthetic discourse of the philosophical culture of Japan, in particular the genre of "horror". "Horror" is a positive category, expressing a state of being where a person finds the meaning of his existence, penetrating into everyday life, the terrible becomes the basis of the ugly. Modern horror is omnipresent, which causes a loss of meaning. "Horror" in art as a genre of "horror" inspires a sense of anxiety, fear and curiosity associated with the absence of danger to the viewer. All these experiences make life more vivid, which is the appeal of the genre ^{[13, 14]}. The roots of modern horror in art go back to the mythology of Japan, where good, evil spirits and ghosts are represented, which are relevant in our time. The genre has an emotional release. In the 21st century, fear and horror convey the tragedy of modernity, indicating a change of priorities in Japanese philosophy and aesthetics, penetrating into everyday life and transforming it. "Ugly", "ugly", "creepy" are considered as important subjects of aesthetics, as described in his book "The History of Ugliness" by W. Eco, where he develops a discourse on the relationship between ethical and aesthetic, ugly and terrible, the idea of "ugliness" in culture ^[21]. Thus, yami-kawaii is based on psychological trauma – physical, mental, emotional abuse, focuses on childhood trauma, loneliness, depression. The aesthetics of yami-kawaii combines cute, eerily frightening images such as dolls, household items, medical instruments, corpses, skulls, mango characters and anime. Nostalgia for childhood, things related to comfort, warmth, kindness, aestheticization of the past, cause a desire not to grow up, a desire for escapism. Touching appearance, infantile signs (pedomorphic), manifestations of infantilism, act as a defense, a psychological barrier in finding support and sympathy, in preventing the aggression of others. Kawaii is based on positive emotions associated with social interaction of the individual while maintaining harmony and harmony. The psychological concept of kawaii goes beyond infantilism, pointing to the cultural phenomenon of kawaii, including sociality. To increase the demand for mass consumer power, kawaii acts as a label of consumer choice. Creepy kawaii as a new product, without denying the dominant cute kawaii, without questioning it, emphasizes an alternative lifestyle, points to new strategies for winning over consumers. Japanese scientist Inuhiko Emota, after conducting a theoretical understanding of cute, established that Japan is a country conquered by the kawaii culture, "pink globalization"^{[7] [23]}, which has conquered the consumer and people's minds. The bivalent kawaii model includes a biological basis, cultural determinants, psychological and behavioral aspects. The aesthetics of kawaii cuteness acts as one side of the coin, the other is the internal conflict of society – fear, helplessness, depression, the production of ugliness and horror. The combination of the creepy with the cute, touching, levels the former and reduces the level of aggression. Therefore, dangerous, fear-inducing things can look cute and touching. The "toxicity" of kawaii, its increased infantilism permeate everywhere, the relationship between the cute and the creepy-cute occurs in contrast, revealing anxiety and problems of society.

^[1] Mono-no-avare has its roots in the depths of mytho-ritual consciousness (avare – charms, magic). In the story of the brilliant prince Genji, Marasaki Shikibu (976-1116) wrote about the beautiful avare, using this concept more than a thousand times. Avare is beauty, harmony, sophistication, which is under the veil of death and frailty. The sad charm of things, the awareness of transience and finiteness. Life is fleeting, fragile, and therefore vanishing moments are valuable. Mono-no-avare – admiring the moon, nature, a moment of creative illumination in the most ordinary finds an aesthetic experience.

The essence of sabi is to see beauty in flaws, imperfections and asymmetry, in understanding the fragility of life and its constant renewal. Sabi as a measure of sensation expresses "wise consistency with nature" ^{[6, p. 267]}.

Winter night in the garden,

A thin thread – and a moon in the sky,

And the cicadas are barely audible.

Matsuo Basho

Wabi – indicates beauty in minimalism, simplicity, balance and harmony, modesty, restraint, and the charms of the ordinary. Over time, wabi and sabi began to be perceived as a single whole. It is an intuitive understanding of the passing beauty of the world, the beauty of imperfection, aesthetic sensuality, the sad beauty of transience. Wabi and sabi are related to the Buddhist understanding of life.

Sibui – understatement, primordial, literally means tart taste, primordial imperfection.

Yugen is a hidden beauty, mystical subtext, poetization of the inexpressible in words and gestures, leaving free space, emptiness (shunyata in Zen Buddhism). In this way, the artist in his work leaves an opportunity for the viewer to fill the "void" with his imagination. These categories are important for expressing emotions, feelings, and understanding life in harmony.

^[2] Lolita's style charmed everyone with its kawaii style, a pink cloud of sweetness, fragility and femininity blooms under the mask of innocence. The widespread culture of kawaii celebrates childish charm, a mix of the Victorian era and Rococo: crinoline skirts with lace and frills, caps, bows, platform shoes, pink eye shadow and lipstick. Lolita-style fashion celebrates the girlish charm of shojo, the carelessness of youth. Lolita acts as a lifestyle, not just a fashionable style, as well as a marketing ploy by manufacturers of goods. Most of the followers of this fashion are young women under the age of 20 from the middle and lower classes, nevertheless, clothing prices exceed 50 times the minimum hourly wage in Japan. Lolita as a symbol of Kawaii culture is widely covered by the media. Today, Lolita's style has grown from a niche subculture into a well-known fashionable kawaii style for young women. Lolita's female subculture is consumer-oriented, going beyond the Japanese establishment, penetrating into different countries, spreading femininity and infantilism ^[29].

^[3] Austrian scientist Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) was the first to describe the effect of the Cupid doll used in child development, explaining the attractiveness of the baby and attachment to it. Lorenz was the founder of ethology, the science of animal behavior. He formulated the concept of imprinting (to imprint, to leave), a specific form of learning and fixing in memory the signs of objects in the formation or correction of innate behavioral acts. His "children's scheme" defines sweetness by a set of physical characteristics in infants and young animals. The British psychoanalyst and psychiatrist John Bowlby (1907-1990), being the author of the theory of attachment, transferred Lorenzo's idea to the sphere of human relations between children and parents. The sweetness of children's characteristics causes an emotional reaction in people, which is also indicated by Hiroshi Nittono ^[31].

^[4] Moe is a fetishization of a certain type of young girl, for example, a girl with big breasts and huge eyes, wearing glasses, Lolita style, etc.

^[5] The drawings of the young artist are used as prints on T-shirts.

^[6] It is necessary to take into account the increasing vulnerability of adolescents in social networks. In a state of depression, they post photos with wounds on their wrists, cuts on their body and face, talk about their feelings, pain, the horrors of death, ways of injuring themselves, savoring and elevating pain and depression, aestheticizing suffering. Depressive states and negative emotions are mainly manifested more by girls in the puberty period. Social media weakens real interpersonal relationships and contacts by providing extensive information related to suicide, self-harm and drugs. Using the Internet and social media can be dangerous, harming depressed youth.

^[7] The term "pink globalization" was introduced by Yano Kristin in 2013.