Everywhere there are Pandas.  On keychains, socks, food, cookies, towels, furniture anywhere else you can imagine.  When I was a child, my grandmother took my older brother and me to see the giant pandas visiting from China at the Los Angeles Zoo.  Every since then, I have been in awe of these large beautiful  creatures.  Like many other precious animals, the giant pandas are facing extinction.  They play a vital role in the ecosystem in which they cohabit with other animals and plants in bamboo forests.  Being such large animals, they are not in danger of other animals, but of humans and the rapid demolition of their natural environment.  I didn’t intentionally plan for this post to be about animal rights and awareness.  But I came to think that what we as children are taught thru these “cute” images gives us no real connection as we grow up with how these animals are truly existing and trying to survive in a predatory society.  There are only about 1600 giant pandas left in the wild.

Sorry, I just got carried away.  Angelo just reminded me that this is supposed to be a post about Pandas and cute things in Japan…

Ok!!

In Japan, cute is referred to as kawaii.  There is so much kawaii here in Japan! It is almost overwhelming.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.  Beware of a kawaii overload!!