Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Capitalizing on “Cuteness”: The Aesthetics of Social Relations in a New Postwar Japanese Order

1998; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 9; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09386491.1998.11827119

0938-6491

Leila Madge,

Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

In the fall of 1988, Yoshida Kenji, the president of the San'yo Sago Bank in Okayama, made headline news in the economics section of leading Japanese newspapers. Unlike most bank presidents appearing in the news at that time, Yoshida was not defending himself or his bank from accusations of wrongdoings. He had made the national news because of the new name he had chosen for his bank: Tomato Bank. The occasion for the new name was the bank's planned change in status from a savings and loan association to a commercial bank following a recent reform in Japanese banking law. The hoopla that arose around the name Tomato, along with the bank's bright red logo, was related to the associations that it conjured up in many Japanese minds, associations that somehow seemed incongruent with the image that banking institutions have traditionally held in Japan. Although there was some initial opposition among bank employees, who felt that the name Tomato sounded more appropriate for an agricultural cooperative than for a bank, the public response seemed only positive. Although the conversion was not to take place for six months, Sanyo Sago was inundated with inquiries from people all over the country wishing to open accounts at the new Tomato Bank. In interviews about the unexpected popularity of the previously little-known prefectural bank, Yoshida explained that he thought it important to send the message that he was breaking the status quo. A crucial element in the delivery of this message was the use of a name that would be perceived by the public as kawaii (cute, as translated in the Japan Times, 21 October 1988: 11). Although newsmaking in the context of its application to a banking institute, the kawaii aesthetic itself was, at the time, neither new nor very newsworthy. The commodification process of kawaii goods can be traced back to the early 1970s with the establishlllent of a joint stationary and gift card business by Gakken publishers and Sanrio gift shops now the largest purveyors in the cute gift industry, which garners some 10 billion yen annually (about $ 90 million) (SHIMAMURA 1991: 60). In 1965 Sanrio began manufacturing gift cards with the United States manufacturer American Greetings. Under this arrangement, the designs and messages done in English were created by the American half while the printing was done