Kawaii aesthetics have long been a staple in differing iterations within Japanese culture, where the notoriously cutesy style first emerged as a handwriting style (particularly in girls), and then ...

in an aesthetic dubbed Kinderwhore. While I love the intent of this – taking clothing designed for pliant little girls and adding feminist anger – I always wanted my take on cute straight up ...

This year has been anything but cute. It’s been occasionally ... plays a major role in the popularity of kawaii, because so much of the kawaii aesthetic is indeed visual.

Alongside "photobomb", one of the new words added to the Collins English dictionary this week was "kawaii ... said it's not just for girls. "Guys in Japan love cute stuff too.