In 2011, to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Japan Self Defence Force’s 4th Anti-Tank Helicopter Unit rolled out a Cobra attack helicopter with a kawaii (cute) anime character painted on the side. The character, affectionately named Aoi-chan by soldiers, is emblematic of moe aesthetics in anime – cutesy, childlike femininity, complete with big eyes, pale…

By the late 1990s, life had turned precarious for young Japanese. The economic bubble had burst, and decades of rapid growth had ended in stagnation. Japanese in their late teens and early 20s had grown up being promised a good education and lifetime employment, but now were struggling to pay for university and working as…