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The paper defines what “cute” means, traces market trends that enabled commercial cute in Japan’s postwar economy, and analyzes how empathy and reduced alienation are communicated through cute characters and related goods. Focused case studies include the rise of Hello Kitty and two regional yuru-kyara, interpreted through Japanese soft power and cultural diplomacy.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/japans-next-top-mascot-an-analysis-of-the-use-of-character-marketing-and-commercial-cute-in-japan/135564/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/japans-next-top-mascot-an-analysis-of-the-use-of-character-marketing-and-commercial-cute-in-japan/135564.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Margaret","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-17","2026-08-21",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",14,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What does the paper aim to explain about “cute” in Japan?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"It examines what “cute” is and how it became pervasive in contemporary Japanese society through character marketing.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"Which examples of cute characters are analyzed in the paper?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"The paper analyzes the rise of Hello Kitty and two regional mascots (yuru-kyara).",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"How does the paper connect cute characters to empathy and soft power?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"It argues that cute characters and their products can provide empathy and bridge modern alienation, and it discusses global implications through Japanese soft power for cultural diplomacy.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},135564,1787314644,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":130,"read_time":145},137451207643,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","24 • Wittenberg University East Asian Studies Journal  \nJapan’s Next Top Mascot:  \nAn Analysis of the Use of Character Marketing and Commercial Cute in Japan  \nZachary Long  \nZachary is a student at Valparaiso University with majors in history, communications, and the humanities. He is interested in Japanese history and visual culture, and hopes to study these subjects in graduate school.  \nAbstract  \nJapan is absolutely obsessed with mascots, yet these lovable characters are just one part of the larger narrative of the commodification of cute (kawaii) within Japan. This paper will seek to understand what “cute” is, and how it has become so pervasive in contemporary Japanese society, namely through the use of character marketing. I will also take a look at market trends that assisted the rise of commercial cute in Japan’s postwar economy. Moreover, I will address three examples of cute characters by exploring the rise to power of Hello Kitty and that of two regional mascots (yuru-kyara) . There will be analysis on the ways in which cute characters and products based off them are able to provide empathy and bridge the alienation of the modern age. This paper will provide arguments supporting the economic and emotional support that cute creates for Japan, as well as discovering how cute has gone global through an analysis of Japanese soft power, which forms the basis of Japanese cultural diplomacy.  \nIntroduction  \nIn 2016, there was an event that drew millions to vote. Different figures competed on a grand stage which left only one victorious. Spectators traveled across the country to interact with their favorite candidate, an event  \nSpring 2019, Volume XLIII • 25  \nwhich last year drew in 70,000 viewers.1 However, among the different candidates, there was one theme that was universal: cuteness. This event was none other than the Yuru-Kyara Grand Prix, held in Japan. The Grand Prix is an event held annually in Japan to commemorate the wide range of mascots within the country, and to vote on the one that is the most popular. Yet, behind the scenes of this gathering are hundreds of booths filled with character products and commemorative souvenirs, which are closely tied to the mascot phenomenon.  \nThe yuru-kyara hail from a larger trend of character marketing in Japan, an industry based around the creation and marketing of characters. Character marketing is more narrowly defined by author Marc Steinberg as:  \nThe licensing, production, marketing, and consumption of goods and media based around the image of a character...narrowly defined character merchandising is the copyright business; it is the business of creating contracts and gaining income through selling or leasing the rights to use a character image its viability as a business depends on the existence recognition and enforcement of the intellectual property laws that support it.2  \nTheyuru-kyara serve as regional mascotsin Japanese society, generated to increase local pride or raise awareness fora person or company, including advertising and promotion for a specific brand or cause. Yet, character marketing is not a new phenomenon in Japan; one of the best examples is the 1970s creation of Hello Kitty, a character created specifically for the purpose of marketing. Although theyuru-kyara and Hello Kitty fulfill different functions and were created for different purposes, they were both created in the context of a culture of commercial cute in Japan. Japan has experienced an increase of character related products in recent years created under the guidelines of commercial cute, the commodification of goods that attempt to be universally perceived as cute.  \nThe purpose of this thesis is to put character marketing in dialogue with commercial cuteness. I will explore the way in which commercial cute has become the focus of character marketing in Japan by first examining what  \n1 See Splendor, Jo.,“Yuru-Kyara Grand Prix 2016 – The Ultimate Japanese Mascot Event,”  \nWanderlust I","cbCaiq0aJLXAMNqT","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiq0aJLXAMNqT","pdf",291754,21,"English","# Introduction\n## Yuru-Kyara Grand Prix and character marketing\n## Purpose and thesis structure\n# Cute (kawaii) and cultural meaning\n## Etymology and definitions","[{\"question\":\"What does the paper aim to explain about “cute” in Japan?\",\"answer\":\"It examines what “cute” is and how it became pervasive in contemporary Japanese society through character marketing.\"},{\"question\":\"Which examples of cute characters are analyzed in the paper?\",\"answer\":\"The paper analyzes the rise of Hello Kitty and two regional mascots (yuru-kyara).\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper connect cute characters to empathy and soft power?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that cute characters and their products can provide empathy and bridge modern alienation, and it discusses global implications through Japanese soft power for cultural diplomacy.\"}]","Japan’s Next Top Mascot - An Analysis of the Use of Character Marketing and Commercial Cute in Japan | PDF",53]