I was a consultant for the CUTE exhibition at Somerset House in London. I also wrote an essay for the catalogue called: “The Irresistible Rise of Cuteness” (pp. 8-19).

Joshua Paul Dale, the author of Irresistible: How Cuteness Wired our Brains and Conquered the World, spoke to the CBC about why the Hello Kitty mascot endures half a century after it first came out in Japan.

It all started with a photograph of Lisa from mega K-pop girl band Blackpink, carrying a bag with an “ugly” doll accessory strapped to her bag. The demand for Labubu exploded to epic proportions thereafter and the craze has led to thousands of dollars spent – and sometimes lost through scams. Labubu isn’t the first (remember Hello Kitty?) and it certainly won’t be the last. So why is it that “cute” sells so well? Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman speak to Dr Joshua Paul Dale, Professor, Department of British and American Literature Culture, Chuo University, to find out more.

This is an op-ed I wrote for The Japan Times.

WGN Morning News Chicago guest appearance:

How our brains are wired to gravitate toward cuteness

On how the cuteness of digital entities like LUCA, a new Artlab Digital Commission from Ed Fornieles, can act as a catalyst for the evolution of human-digital relationships.

This is an op-ed I wrote for The Japan Times.

Episode on cuteness for the No Fixed Address podcast.

Article for the NZ Listener.

Reading at a “Book Break” event at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan.

Cute Ecologies: an online recorded seminar.

The exhibition “Cute: the Irresistible Rise of Cuteness in Contemporary Culture” begins January 24, 2023 at Somerset House in London.

The Sanzen-in Temple in Kyoto houses a captivating collection of Warabe-Jizo statues, each carrying a profound sense of serenity and charm.

Prince Chu is the mascot of Chuo University.

The big idea: why do we find cuteness so hard to resist?

A video about the new academic field of Cute Studies.

This smiling rabbit was the logo of Bunkio Matsuki’s (1867-1940) Boston shop that sold Japanese imports in the early 20th century.

A lesson for TED-Ed on the science of cuteness.

What happened when I showed an 800-year-old puppy statue at a Japan Foundation New York workshop.

Sanrio exhibition “The Beginning of Kawaii” featuring Hello Kitty and friends.

An online reading group for the Aww-Struck: Creative and Critical Approaches to Cuteness, 8 December 2021.

A presentation at Casa Con online convention, June 25-27, 2021

A presentation at the Aww-Struck: Creative and Critical Approaches to Cuteness online seminar, 21 May 2021.