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JREF Open Online Cuteness Competition - Show me the Cute!

Mandylion

Omnipotence personified
Contributor
15 Mar 2003
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Dearest JREF-ers,

Here is your chance to show the world what is and is not cute according to you!

I am putting together a little webpage entitled :

The Cute, the Bad, and the Ugly - A Consumer and Safety Guide to Cuteness in Japan

I would like to fill it with lots of pictures of cuteness of all kinds - people, animals, household goods, cars...if it is cute and in Japan, I want a picture of it!

This is your chance to help define what is honest-to-goodness cuteness and what is bile from the depths of dark, dank, commercial evildom.

Please attach your photos (google and AltaVista have good image search services) to your post RESIZED to be no bigger than 300 pixels in any direction (length or width). Attach images by using the "Manage Attachments" button in the "Additional Options" area of the advanced posting screen. Start by clicking on the "Go Advanced" button below the "Quick Reply" box at the bottom of this screen. If you are unsure how to attach things contact me.

Include in the text portion of your post why you think the thing/person should be considered as either...

cute
so-so cute
-or-
beyond redemption (i.e. cuteness taken too far).​

If you just want to submit without a bi-line, that is OK with me.

If selected, I will include your submitted image and credit you, unless you tell me otherwise, on my being-designed-as-we-speak website. The last few rules before we get going - 1) Anime is welcome, but don't send your own drawings. This is a Cute in Japan contest, not an original cute contest. Everything else is fair game. 2) Anything you post can and may be used against you in a different category than you initially indicate. As you can guess by my sig, anything involving Ayaya - my mortal enemy - will be considered beyond redemption. Almost every other ultra-cute idol/thing will get a fair trial.

And away we go :LOL: 🙂 (I'll get us started as an example)

Picture One - Ayaya - Beyond Redemption - A crafty self promotor and pusher of all things cute. A crafty, almost over-the-top spawn of the evils of commercialized cuteness. That she stopped just short of the edge makes her all the more insidious (I could go on, but I will stop)

Picture Two - Miho Nakayama - genuine cute - classy and understated. Can pull off the cute thing when need be. Plus she used to promote the drinking of beer. Not very great as a singer some years ago, but she got past that little phase having learned the lessons Ayaya has yet to understand.

ayaya-wood038b.jpg


MihoNaka.jpg
 
Mandylion,

I think it is important to distinguish "cuteness", "beauty", "charm" and "attractiveness".

Ayaya is definitely cute (but your picture is not so good - check the "Entertainment Gallery"). In the case of Miho Nakayama, she is beautiful, but too mature and serious-looking to be called cute at all. Possibly charming or atrractive, but never cute. "Cuteness" involves "naive childishness", which is why "kitty-chan's" or a puppy are cute, but an elephant, a landscape or an antique statue or furniture, can be called "beautiful", but not "cute". That is at least how I see it...

Below, cute Ayaya from the gallery :

 
Yeah, I'd say so too. The one on the left, Ayaya, is what I would call 'cute'. The one on the right is what I would call 'pretty' or 'beautiful'. Miho Nakayama looks much, much better, in my opinion. I like the more mature look.
 
Ah, Maciamo, don't over rationalize this - it is just for fun mate! :)

I agree my pictures were not the best examples- I just lifted them off google in two seconds. However, I still find the Ayaya pictures above to be perfect examples of cuteness taken waaaaaayyyyy to far. Call me biased, but I made that clear in my OP. The above two pictures make my skin crawl. Plus everyone needs a mortal enemy. :)

Here are some of my working definitions for my site. There are no external links to it yet, but you can see the general categories I will divide pictures along.

http://www.geocities.com/fbgrable/cuteness1.html

Just tell me where you think your pics belong and unless it involves Ayaya, I'm open to discussion. Don't just post to get in the cute section - I need examples of malignant cute too :)
 
Just to show it is okay to get away from the idol thing -

Picture 1 - Domo-kun - he has been around the net pasted into other humor photos, but he started in Japan working for NHK's BS network. The Jury is still out on this one

Picture 2 - The newest version of the Nissan March - hard to tell in this picture, but judging by the commercials, this car is supposed to be cute. Hmm.....
 

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I could really get carried away with this one.

Okay, here are the first three that I thought of. First, there's Mami Yamase. Her look with that tooth, but then there's her voice. The sound of her voice makes me want to run far, far away. Second, there's the *ahem* adult toys that take on cute little shapes, like this one as a cute little rabbit. There's also the Hello Kitty version and other versions that look like various fruits. Then, the third one is snacks. The first one I thought of were these little Meiji mushrooms. I know they have oodles more of cute snacks, but this was just the first that popped into my mind.

So, to me, Mami Yamase would be malignant cute. I mean, she's what? 35 and talks like a 6 year old? The toys would be in the grey area, I guess, and I would say the snacks are benign.
 

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Fantastic, great KNM - and please, by all means, get carried away with this thread! More the merrier
 
kittens, definately kawaii and Chiyo chan
 

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Here's another good testimony for the obsession of Japanese women with "cute" (not that there's anything wrong with it). Found it on the net some time ago.
It's a pink Hello Kitty vibrator! :D
 

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Yeah, I mentioned the Hello Kitty vibe above. They have different versions of Hello Kitty ones too. Not that I would know personally...
 
Great guys, keep 'em coming - a few more...

Photo 1) Chikako Takagi - weather girl from Fuji Television's morning show, Mezamashi Terebi. Genuine cute.

Photo 2) Kaba-chan - hard to tell from the picture, but "cute" male talent. Kaba falls in the category of male-acting-ultra-girly. Can't come right out and say everyone in this category is homosexual either. Not knocking the style, just posting the "cute" folks. Undecided, but closer to the creepy end of things...

Photo 3) Runa Nagai - closest thing I could quickly find (JREF Entertainment Gallery) that represents a Lolita Complex without going XXX rated. Should sexy and cute even try and go together?
 

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I should put mine. 😌 😌
 

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kirei_na_me said:
Yeah, I mentioned the Hello Kitty vibe above. They have different versions of Hello Kitty ones too. Not that I would know personally...
No, of course not 😊
Are these any good, or do you prefer anatomically shaped ones?

@frank
I'm pretty sure it's a photomontage, so no worries about the cats there.
 
Where's that gal from the J-phone commercials? I don't know if she's still doing them, but her photo used to be everywhere. Very cute.
 
2002-2003. I think it was J-phone. It could have been another cell phone company. I think she might have been a singer too.
 
I'm pretty sure she was the Docomo girl, but I went to their website and I couldn't find her. Maybe they have a new spokesgal.
 
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