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?

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

People find baby animals to be cuter than human babies, according to a cross-cultural survey that I co-authored.

“The Complexity of Cute” podcast introduces a variety of perspectives on the study of cuteness.

Cute images are often used to tell people what to do in Japan. Public and government organizations rely on cute mascots to innocuously assert their authority.

In this painting, a rice paddle (spatula) dressed in a woman’s kimono dances with a cat.

Kyaraben, or character bento lunchboxes, incorporate food made to look like well-loved characters.