Amae has been one of the most frequently considered characteristics of relationality in Japanese culture since the prominent psychiatrist Takeo Doi published Anatomy of Dependence [fig.2] (1) in 1971.
Amae, whose literal meaning is “sweetening,” is, according to Doi, an attitude of indulgent dependence which is indispensable in order to build up a mutual relationship in Japanese culture. Doi asserts that “Amae, in other words, is used to indicate the seeking after the mother that comes when the infant’s mind has developed to a certain degree and it has realized that its mother exists independently of itself. In other words, until it starts to amaeru the infant’s mental life is an extension, as it were, of its life in the womb, and the mother and child are still unseparated. However, as its mind develops it gradually realizes that itself and its mother are independent existences, and comes to feel the mother as something indispensable to itself; it is the craving for close contact thus developed that constitutes, one might say, amae.” Doi indeed admits that this phenomenon is not limited to Japanese culture, but he, focusing on the untranslatability of “amae,” argues its efficacy to understand “the ways of thinking of the Japanese.”
Kawaii and Girls Culture
Let us here remember that The Anatomy of Dependence (1) was published just three years earlier than the “birth” of Hello Kitty, a blank faced cute creature, which mirrors your feelings. Explaining the historical context of Kawaii and girls culture in the 1960s and 1970s, Shinji Miyadai, a Japanese sociologist, analyzes, without mentioning Takeo Doi’s argument, that a proliferation of youth cultures recreate the traditional mother-child stories which frequently appeared on Manga magazines, into the so called “high school drama.” Miyadai states that the self-fashioning of girls in the 60s and 70s is accompanied with separation from their elder family members, including mothers, and discovery of a new relationality with others. Youth culture brought about new standards which girls would follow instead of traditional examples such as Purity, Honesty, and Beauty. And, that is an inclination to Kawaii culture for building up a new amae relationality with others. It is highly possible that Hello Kitty, who was born in 1974, became an object to accept “the craving for close contact” of girls, who need “amae” dependent relationality with others.
Your Thoughts?
As you see, Kawaii means something you want to protect, but simultaneously it could mean something you want to depend on. Do you have a similar concept in you own culture?
© Keio University
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