Kawaii~

This weekend I went to the SF Jpop festival..... The theme was kawaii. They got Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to come which I was surprised about! She definitely has an interesting sense of fashion. Also there was Kylee, whom I realized I had fb mutual friends with earlier this year (and that I read about her on arama before)

Kyary, one of the hottest young stars in Japan right now!

 

Kylee, local Jpop singer

Speaking of kawaii culture, SNH48 is a crossover of the 48 family into China.  I had my doubts about the success this group could achieve.  They recently put out another MV, ponytail to shushu (马尾与发圈)  Now the reason I was doubtful was because AKB's cuteness seems such a quintessential Japanese thing.... I just didn't know if the Chinese girls could make it work, and if it did would any of the Chinese otakus buy into it?  Or just prefer the originals?  Well I think SNH did really well in this, I was surprised how open China has become, that it's ok for girls to dance in bikinis in MVs (and a girl girl kiss)  And for me at least they do have an appeal that is different from AKB even though it's the exact same song and concept.  I think it's similar to how EXO-M is a kpop group and kpop style but because of it's Chinese members they feel different, and I stan them more as a result.  It's very interesting to note too how well these Japanese and Korean companies can package native Chinese into some sort of hybrid that becomes more attractive.