Amigurumi: Craft

This is my pattern~

So recently I have been trying to mas produce little stuffed creatures that look like the picture on the right. I thought it was really cool to make a pattern of an animal. In Japan, they call it amigurumi or "knitted/crocheted, stuffed doll." Since amigurumi don't seem to fulfill any practical purposes, like a blanket or a sweater might, people have made elaborate ones for decoration. The main objective for amigurumi is to have a cute, albeit useless decoration. Sometimes they're given as gifts or given to children, but prove that Japan truly adores cute things, regardless of whether or not it has a purpose. By looking at the fact Japan really focuses on cute things, its influence on Americans (and documented presence on the internet) can be easily tracked.

In the early 2000's, amigurumi became very popular around the internet because of how trendy it was in Japan. To find amigurumi in America, one doesn't have t look far. Etsy, a craft/selling website is overflowing with peoples various knitted or crocheted inventions. The creators of amigurumi often label it as "amigurumi" as well, which makes it more obvious that the Japanese influenced it. Everything from anthropomorphized candles to cutesy, almost "cartoon-y" creatures (and their patterns) can be found anywhere on the internet in American English or in bookstores and libraries.Americans, as a result, have been leaning more and more towards cutesy things to create, rather than more lifelike creations, such as American Girl dolls.

Why is cuteness overflowing in American pop culture? The Power of Kawaii research by Hiroshi Nittono, Michiko Fukushima, Akihiro Yano, and Hiroki Moriya document how the trend of "kawaii" or "cute" things, as influenced by Japan, examine "hypotheses is that viewing cute things affects behavioral tendencies but not general performance levels" (Nittono). The study further goes on to state that,

Kawaii things not only make us happier, but also affect our behavior. This study shows that viewing cute things improves subsequent performance in tasks that require behavioral carefulness, possibly by narrowing the breadth of attentional focus. This effect is not specific to tasks related to caregiving or social interaction. For future applications, cute objects may be used as a facile emotion elicitor. Cute features not only make objects more user friendly and approachable [3], but also induce careful behavioral tendencies in the users, which is beneficial in specific situations, such as driving and office work.

 So, the rapid spread of "cuteness" throughout America via "amigurumi" can be said to be calming. Add that to a lucrative and laid-back hobby such as knitting or crocheting, and peaceful Americans can be found.

I do note that I didn't specify that most of the people involved with amigurumi or knitting are women, because although that may be the current majority group of openly active participants, it doesn't encompass everyone.