Cute geopolitics

Given my interest in all things cute, I was of course drawn in by this news:

As Japan sheds its postwar pacifism and gears up to take a higher military profile in the world, it is enlisting cadres of cute characters and adorable mascots to put a gentle, harmless sheen to its deployments.

”Prince Pickles is our image character because he’s very endearing, which is what Japan’s military stands for,” said Defense Agency official Shotaro Yanagi. “He’s our mascot and appears in our pamphlets and stationary.”

That’s right, Prince Pickles (“saucer-round eyes, big dimples and tiny, boot-clad feet”) is the “image character,” for the Japanese military. Because endearingess is what the Japanese military is really all about.

According to this story, Foreign Minister Taro Aso, addressing art students at “Tokyo’s Digital Hollywood University,” said: “The more positive images pop into a person’s mind, the easier it becomes for Japan to get its views across ….. You are the people . . . involved with bringing Japanese culture to the world.”