‘Studio 360:’ Cuteness and Japan

Japan has embraced cuteness with a vengeance — from the ubiquitous Hello Kitty to the successful artist-designer Takashi Murakami, the Andy Warhol of Japan. Sarah Lilley tries to figure out why an ancient culture like Japan’s would strive to be super adorable.  And in Japan, anxieties about the atomic bomb may be masked in cuteness.

Gary Cross is the author of "The Cute and the Cool," a study of how and why adults project cuteness onto their children — and how our children are constantly rebelling against it. He is a Distinguished Professor of Modern History at Pennsylvania State University.