From Girlybubble: Unless you’re talking the Kirei-Me Magic Painless Hair Removal Sponge (you can breathe now), hair removal is never, ever, ever cute. For most women, hair removal of any sort is the bane of our existence. How many people do you know get excited about waxing, plucking, tweezing or shaving? No one. Despite it’s mouthful of a name, the Kirei-Me Magic Painless Hair Removal Sponge has changed my mind about hair removal, namely the way I feel about removing the hair off my super un-Asian long legs. More »

From Girlybubble: There’s nothing kawaii about Pocky. Skinny, dark-chocolate covered bread sticks. Big deal. Popteen’s Decopocky on the other hand…that’s a whole different kind of Pocky. For one, it’s entirely endorsed by teen magazine Popteen and Japan’s cutest female idols. It’s also 100% customizable and you can add your own pearls, hearts, ribbons and flowers — probably the same kind professional patisserie chefs use to make fancy cakes. Hence the name, ‘Decopocky.’ More »

From Girlybubble: Ain’t no party like a Hello Kitty Party…magazine. Those lucky enough to be living in the UK know that a biweekly subscription to the Hello Kitty Party magazine is nothing but the best stories and tips on how to entertain, Hello Kitty style. Better yet, the magazine is offering exclusive gifts for the first 4 isssues; a dining set, placemats, magnetic notepad, exclusive binder and tote bag. More »

From Girlybubble: Say hello to Oyasumi Bakura, San-X’s latest character. As with most San-X characters, I have no idea what the hell this thing is but it’s freakin’ cute. Most people on the Internet are speculating that it’s actually a big blue pillow in kawaii animal form. Hmm, I’m sensing some sort of a trend with kawaii Japanese characters. More »

From Girlybubble: Kewpie dolls are meant to be in the nude, although sometimes they wear costumes. It is kind of strange to see them fully clothed. Over at Strapya World, they come in the form of costumed bears representing each of the 12 months of the year. These Kewpie cell phone charms are colored according to the month’s birthstone–garnet for January, amethyst for February, etc. This makes it appealing to any kawaii lover. Their bear costumes are so cute, it is ridiculous! More »

From Girlybubble: Without ever knowing what Nyan Nyan Nyanko is, most people would assume that Japanese people eat cats because it is always seen stuffed into a hamburger or fries. Fortunately, the whole point of stuffing a cat into food is to be cute (or kawaii) and not to eat. So please, do not confuse this super cute commercial for a restaurant advertising cat burgers or fries. Just think of it as the best 46 seconds of your life, ever. More »

From Girlybubble: One of my favorite time wasting activities as of late are webcomics. Especially kawaii ones. I figure, kawaii not, ya know? If I’m going to be wasting time, it might as well be on cute, funny mini webcomics. Sure enough, kawaii yes, kawaii webcomics do exist and you can find them on Kawaii Not. More »

From Girlybubble: When parents upload videos of their children online, sometimes it is cute, while other times it is not. In those cases where it is not cute, a child looks lost and awkward while obviously being directed by his parents off camera. But those other times when it is cute, the child is a ham for the camera and comes off with a certain charm about him. The five year old Japanese boy with a ukulele falls under the category of the latter. His videos have been making their rounds on the internet since late last year, and he has garnered a small cult following. That is not surprising find out. Whenever I watch his videos, I have a huge smile on my face. More »

From Girlybubble: Behold, what is pictured above is our beloved Japanese mascot and patron saint of relaxation, Rirakkuma and cupcakes. Almost everything I love in life is in that picture. A random thought occurred to me the other day: What if the two combined? How cute would that be and also…how confused would I be? A little research on the Internet yielded some answers and pictures. If the two combined it would be very cute, yet extremely confusing. To eat or not to eat? More »

From Girlybubble: Some girls want plush toy dolls for Christmas. Some, don’t. Me? I’ll take a life-sized Rirakkuma bear, thanks. (Remember, bigger = better.) What’s pictured is most likely a lowly Japanese teenager slaving away to make ends meet and not an actual life-sized plush doll. However, I think it gives us all a good idea of how huge this life-sized Rirakkuma bear should be. For me, at least. More »

From Girlybubble: As of yesterday, this Christmas wish isn’t the most legitimate for me. While Christmas shopping, I thought I’d actually buy myself a really cute phone charm from a local Japanese pop culture novelty store. Turns out, my new phone is not cute phone charm friendly. I shake my fist at you Samsung Eternity! More »

From Girlybubble: A New Year’s resolution of mine for 2010 is to write more letters. As in, the physical kind, not the hit “send” kind. This resolution was not only made out of novelty or to revive a dying art but for a more personal reason. More »

From Girlybubble: Japan, you’ve done it again. The Strapya Itazura Coin Bank has got to be the cutest piggy bank I’ve ever seen. Although, given that it’s just a box with a kitty or puppy that pops out to take your money, I don’t think it’d be fair to call it a piggy bank. Perhaps, a kitty or puppy bank? Another question I’ve got in mind is…why stop at kitty banks? Why not ATM machines? More »

From Girlybubble: A recent trip to Youtube suggests that someone has actually taken what I try to explain often here, and turned it into a Youtube tutorial, called How To Be Kawaii. If you’ve just caught on, “kawaii” (ka-why-ee) is basically the Japanese word for cute. My first reaction in watching this is, can you really teach a person how to be cute? More »

From Girlybubble: There really has to be something to be said about irony being one of the core reasons why Japanese kawaii works. Take this week’s Toy Tuesday pick, Gloomy Bear Dunny. On first glance, you think, “OMG SO CUTE IT’S PINK WITH BEADY EYES LIKE HELLO KITTY!!!” and then you realize that it has blood dribbling down its mouth to its stomach. Upon that realization, do you find yourself deterred from its cuteness? No. More »

From Girlybubble: Korean flash game Magic Castle is pretty much the worst thing that has happened to me all week. I worked really hard to get the Bejeweled game addiction out of my system, and now it’s back in my life — only WAY cuter and in Korean. The rules of the game are pretty much the same. Instead of boring ol’ jewels you get cuter items like cupcakes (do we see a theme here?), hearts and cute animals. There goes any ideas of me being productive this week. More »

From Girlybubble: As if there aren’t enough signs in the world telling me that life isn’t fair, I come across these Japanese fashion magazine scans of women fabulously rocking a hairstyle most women would wear on their ‘day off.’ Odango is Japanese for dumpling — if you can think of a ‘dumpling hair concept,’ you can easily visualize it as just being a messy bun on top of your head. And it’s painfully easy to do: More »

The most famous Asian pussy in the world is turning 35 this year. I know Hello Kitty has been around for a while but never knew she was the same age as me. This makes her a Tiger according to the Chinese zodiac. Those born in the year of a Tiger are supposed to be “difficult to resist, for they are magnetic characters and their natural air of authority confers a certain prestige on them“. Is this why bitch is so popular and well liked by many even though she always treats people with such rudeness? Look, when was the last time she said hello back to you when you mentioned her name? N-E-V-E-R! More »

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From Girlybubble: Meet Rilakuma, Japan’s ambassador of lazy. He’s not officially the ambassador of lazy, but he’s mostly seen doing just that: being lazy. In fact, his name in Japanese is a combination of “relax” and “bear.” Perhaps he’s what Hello Kitty would be if she took breaks throughout her 35-year career– and was a bear. It’s no surprise that Rilakuma has a San-X line that’s spa-themed. More »

From Girlybubble: The next time you get your nails did and you’re hassled by your persistent manicurist, just know you’ve got one extra option worth caring about: 3-D. Who needs glitter gel or painted on flowers when you can have 3-D flowers or gems ON your nails, in your face like it ain’t nobody’s business? When it comes to nails and bling, the Japanese don’t play around. More »