In the 1970s their was a crisis in the Japanese public education system: young female students started to develop excessively cute handwriting.

The invent of fine point mechanical pencils allowed students to add cute features to their kanji characters such as hearts, stars, rainbows etc..

Sociologists were brought in to study the problem. In many cases, teachers could no longer read their students handwriting and the trend had spread nationwide. Experts called the problem "Anomalous Female Teenage Handwriting" and the media was filled with the story. Finally schools across Japan banned the practice and teachers carefully inspected girls work for any sign of cuteness. However, this was not the end of cuteness in Japan ... in fact .. over the years Japan arguably become the cutest country in the world.

In fashion, advertising, cartoons, food, toys and the Japanese people themselves Japan is a hyper-cute country.

The best example of Japanese cuteness are the countless cute characters in Japanese anime and manga.

From a young age boys and girls alike are dressed in cute clothing such as these school uniforms.

Even uniforms for adults can be cute.

There is a social pressure in Japan for young women to look cute.

Cuteness has been a successful marketing strategy for many Japanese products.

Public warnings in Japan are always so cute that they don't look dangerous at all.

Japan is also a major importer of cuteness. Tokyo Disneyland was an instant success and some American characters such as snoopy are far more popular in Japan then anywhere else.

Presentation has always been an important consideration for Japanese cuisine ... these days that often means that food is becoming cute.