Burikko

Burikko (ぶりっ子, sometimes rendered Burriko in English) is a Japanese term for a style of personal appearance and demeanor that is considered childish and cute, sometimes excessively so. The term was coined during the 1980s, and is sometimes attributed to Japanese comedian Kuniko Yamada,^[1] though its exact moment of invention is unclear. Burikko style is often associated with Japanese idols of the 1980s such as Seiko Matsuda.^[2] It is associated with the Japanese notion of kawaii, meaning "cute", which has become important in modern Japanese culture.

Although there is no literal English translation, Burikko falls under the main idea of being cute, but with a childlike style to go along with it. The Burikko style was accepted and followed by some Japanese women in different cities and some men were fascinated by it too. Such fascination is known as lolicon (ロリコン, sometimes transliterated as lolicom), short for the Japanese pronunciation of the English Lolita complex (ん, the kana that's usually transliterated as N, can also represent M).

Burikko is the "idea of a helpless, submissive, and cute look of a young girl".^[3] It started off with women adopting the sound of a baby or a child. "Girls would obscure their words to sound like children learning to speak".^[4] For example, "Mary wants curry for dinner" could be said as "Mewwy wants cuwwie for dinna". After that, they adopted the physical characteristics as well with the attire of cute. That way, they were maintaining the overall picture of being "cute" by sounding like a child and also dressing for the part.

The maid café and butlers café are examples of the Burikko ways in which women and men dressed in a public forum. It was seen to be "forced childishness".^[5] It has become a trend for some women across Japan. Television stars like Hoshino Aki, Sato Tamao and Chiaki are encouraging such acts by being Burikko themselves.

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