Kawaii is a Japanese term which means "cute". Cuteness seems to be a highly valued aesthetic quality in Japanese society and particularly Japanese pop culture, and overpowering cuteness seems to carry less of the stigma of infantilization as it does in many other cultures. Kawaii is pronounced Ka-wa-ee (not to be confused with "kowai", Ko-wa-ee, the Japanese term for "scary"). "Kawaii" can be used to describe animals and people, including fully grown adults; while attractive women are usually described as "kawaii," young men are more likely to be described as "good looking" or "cool". "Kawaii" is also used to describe some men who are considered to have "cute" personalities.------------------------Since the 1970s, cuteness ( kawaisa) has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms. Foreign observers often find this cuteness intriguing and sometimes strange because the Japanese employ it in a vast array of situations and demographics where, in other cultures, it would be considered incongruously juvenile or frivolous (for example, in government publications, public service warnings, office environments, military advertisements, and commercial airliners, among many others).-------------------------Cute elements can be found almost everywhere in Japan, from big business to corner markets, national government to ward and town offices. Many companies, large and small, use cute mascots to present their wares and services to the public. For example: * Pikachu, a character from Pokémon, adorns the side of three All Nippon Airways passenger jets * Conan, protagonist of series Detective Conan * Asahi Bank used Miffy, a character from a Dutch series of children's picture books, on some of its ATM cards * Monkichi, a cute monkey character, can be found on the packaging for a line of condoms * All 47 prefectures have cute mascot characters * The Japan Post "Yu-Pack" mascot is a stylized mailbox. * The Japan Post also uses other cute mascot characters, for example on stamps. * Some police forces in Japan have their own moe mascots, which sometimes adorn the front of koban (police boxes). --------------------------- Cute merchandise is extremely popular in Japan. The two largest manufacturers of such merchandise are Sanrio (manufacturers of "Hello Kitty") and San-X (manufacturers of "Kogepan", "Nyan Nyan Nyanko" and "Rilakkuma"). This character merchandise is a hit with Japanese children and adults alike. ----------------------------------- Cute can be also used to describe a specific fashion sense of an individual, and generally includes clothing that appears to be made for young children, outside of the size, or clothing that accentuates the cuteness of the individual wearing the clothing. Ruffles and pastel colors are commonly (but not always) featured, and accessories often include toys or bags featuring anime characters.--------------In some Asian and western cultures, the Japanese word for cute (kawaii, ) has joined a number of other Japanese words borrowed by overseas fans of Japanese pop culture. While the usage is almost entirely limited to the otaku subculture, it has been used by American singer Gwen Stefani, who gave kawaii a brief mention in her Harajuku Girls music video.-----------------------The influence of cuteness and manga has also been adopted by several North American businesses. In the online world, a large group of kawaii based websites, forums, etc, revolve around kawaii culture. In particular, pixels and scribbles of cute creatures are very popular, and are adopted by other kawaii sites, to be displayed in their "toy box".