Kawaii Catastrophe

Kawaii. The aesthetic of Japanese cute. You love it or hate it, but you can't escape it, as Hiroko and I learned when renewing the insurance on our house. Japan being Japan, the pamphlet that explains the different levels of coverage features helpful super deformed illustrations of the catastrophes that can befall homeowners. We aren't insuring our house through Playskool. One of Japan's biggest banks gave this to us.

Noooo!

Double noooo! Yes, you can get earthquake coverage in Japan.

 

Triple nooo! I've discussed tsunami mascots before, but the fact that something like this still flies even post-3/11 is a testament to how deep the kawaii aesthetic runs in Japan. Imagery like this isn't seen as infantile or condescending; it's understood that cute graphic design acts as a visual signpost to hold peoples' attention even when they might want to look away.

These unhappy little houses appeared in the section illustrating the difference between (from bottom to top) partial damage, half damage, and total writeoff. 

And what homeowner insurance policy would be complete without coverage of your possessions? Again, bottom to top, partial damage, half damage, and totally supercute huggable destruction of the contents of your home.

KAWAIIIIIII!!!!

Comments

[steve mockus]

This is amazing!

[The CronoLink]

Ok, I just found this article that is tangentially related

http://www.livescience.com/23515-cute-animal-images-boost-work-performance.html

hahahahahahhaha

[MattAlt]

I can only hope that cute house images boost insurance performance.