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Ponder the meaning of “kawaii” while munching on this new brand of miso soup from Marukome!

A new collaboration between food giant Marukome and talent agency ASOBISYSTEM has brought us the Kawaii Miso Soup Harajuku flavor. If you have no idea what that means, worry not! We can explain.

Moshi Moshi Box was a limited-time miso soup stand located at the Harajuku tourist information center, offering a blend of 24 different types of barley miso topped with cute fish cakes and a fried egg. The temporary stand gained a huge amount of popularity after it was promoted by model and singer Natsume Mito.

In order to bring these flavors to a wider audience, Marukome packaged the soup in instant form and began selling it at Japanese convenience stores on February 22. To celebrate its release they also created two commercials — one clocking in around two and half minutes and the other only 30 seconds long.  While these videos may be ads for instant soup, they also delve into what we consider one of the most important philosophical questions of our times: Just what is “kawaii”?

▼ What do you think “kawaii” is? (Japanese with English subtitles)

▼ The 30 second spot

The commercials feature a young girl contemplating the word “kawaii” and how it has changed throughout history. Images of Sei Shonagon’s The Pillow Book, school uniforms, gyaru, Harajuku-style, tooth blackening and other various aspects of kawaii culture flash briefly before our eyes.

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As the girl tries to define the term, she wonders if it means “cute” or “sexy” and if it is sometimes “pure” or even a little “gross”. All these ideas swirl around her and she absorbs them, before literally diving into a cup of miso soup.

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It’s a little weird but wonderful at the same time, kind of like the miso soup being advertised! And, we have to say, combining the tradition of miso soup with the cutting-edge culture of Harajuku almost makes the same amount of sense.

▼ World’s first kawaii miso soup

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Be sure to head to your closest convenience store to pick up a cup of instant Kawaii Miso Soup Harajuku Flavor! You can speculate about the meaning of kawaii too as you eat it — we’re sure the topic will make for some good dinner conversation.

Source: Kai-You
Top Image: Marukome
Screenshots: YouTube/marukomeOfficial