ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the controversy over the Fujimae Tidelands in Nagoya; Japanese whaling and the "Tokyo Two" scandal; and responses to the 2011 disasters in Eastern Japan to demonstrate how cute images and media foster a sense of environmental custodianship while instilling comfort and optimism. The emotional dimension of kawaii bears close associations with the precarity endemic to the frenetic pace and pressures of daily life, pressures that have been magnified by systemic breakdowns in Japan's post-bubble years. Historically dependent upon top-run institutions and systemically discouraged from pursuing self-determined lives, the Japanese have been emotionally shaken by vanishing economic and professional opportunities and left vulnerable by the authorities inability to provide for public safety. The Great Hanshin earthquake, a sarin nerve gas attack on five Tokyo subway lines, and an accident at the Monju fast-breeder nuclear reactor extended a sense of post-bubble anxiety beyond economic concerns.
