"the sugary poison of Hello Kitty cuteness"

Since I arrived in Japan, I've noticed that there seems to be no age-limit on anything here. People of all ages celebrate toys- most popular "Kitty Chan" of Hello Kitty, "Pooh Chan" of... I think you can put this one together on your own- musicians that might generally be considered of the "youth market" category (Hilary Duff, Avril Lavigne, and Canada's unfortunate new export Sky Sweetnam are widely revered) and, in general, everything "kawaii" (cute!). At my home-stay family's house, pasted in the toilet was a Winnie the Pooh calendar, and a framed Disney cartoon picture. The first word I learned here, I think, was "kawaii", and I found it came in handy on many occasions (commenting on babies, dogs, clothing, etc.) I find this age- indiscriminance, in terms of the reverence of typically "children's" objects, odd. I found this article heartening, although I've been hard-pressed to come across any biker girls in my town. Maybe I should start a new club at my school... (because I'm so "hard-boiled" and all...)

A website devoted to kawaii ----- and a model who has changed her name to "cute"