Along one side of this steep hillside street in Tokyo’s Akasaka neighborhood, there’s a guard rail decorated with cute plastic cut-outs of pink cartoon rabbits. This, we think, is due to the proximity to a press-school at the top of the hill and an effort to make this safety feature more visibly obvious and attractive to small children who walk this route and need to be safely kept apart from vehicle traffic. The cuteness is undeniable. The bunnies are another example of the pervasiveness of Japan’s endearing kawaii culture. But, though these rabbits are designed for children, could this wonderful cuteness also on prey upon the attention of adults, too? And if so might this be a distraction for drivers as they scoot up and down the hill. Distraction by cuteness, as it were! In fact this safety feature might, one could argue, be a danger. Is there such thing as too kawaii for one’s own good? Perhaps further investigation is warranted.
GLOBAL GRAPHICA 