Zetetical Society Meeting Notes

One of those cultural oddities that you just don’t expect: the emergence of cuteness in Japanese culture was driven by a cute handwriting craze. That explains all those Hello Kitty pens and diaries. That girl in my junior high who did all the bubble writing with her rainbow pen with the hearts over the i wasn’t adequately merchandised to or else she could have come up with Pokemon and Tuxedo Sam. Here’s an academic paper on it: Cuties in Japan.

Not to just repost waxy links, but here’s an interesting article on Japanese fear of the Internet: http://neojaponisme.com/2009/05/19/the-fear-of-the-internet/