In the delightful presence of adorable little things, it isn’t uncommon to be conquered by a desire to shout “Kawaii”. In Western culture, we’ve come to think of kawaii as a synonym for cute. In Japan, where the kawaii aesthetic (审美) has been its own pop culture phenomenon for decades, the word is a bit more complex.

Nittono, a kawaii researcher, says the Japanese word kawaii was originally an affective adjective that expressed one’s feelings toward an object. “In Japanese, we can say ‘feel kawaii,’” he adds. Visually, kawaii is tied to what researchers call baby schema—a large head, round face, and big eyes—but kawaii involves the other senses too. In a paper published in the journal Universal Access, researchers reported that people also label certain sounds as cute, and those sounds tend to be high pitched, like the chirp (鸣叫) of a baby bird.

Kawaii isn’t always what we would traditionally describe as cute, either. Ugly or strange- looking things can also bring about kawaii feelings, a concept referred to as kimo-kawaii, or “gross cute.”

Put simply, Nittono says, kawaii is the “cute emotion” you experience in the presence of something that elicits that emotion.

Kawaii doesn’t just make us feel good — it changes our behavior. Kawaii is what causes you to pinch (捏) a baby’s cheeks or snuggle (紧抱) a puppy. What’s more, kawaii not only makes you want to physically embrace the cute thing, but also enables a natural need to protect it. Kawaii also influences our feelings and behavior in other ways. It has a calming and healing effect, for instance. It also makes us soft — more easily influenced and open to requests. “I think kawaii, or cute feelings, reminds us of human connection that we sometimes forget,” says Nittono.

Each May since 1956 people from across Europe and around the world have gathered around their televisions with friends and family for an evening of international entertainment (娱乐): The Eurovision Song Contest. It may be a fun event but perhaps it’s not the shared celebration of European language that it could be. In the first ten years of Eurovision, the UK and Ireland were the only two countries to sing in English. Now English is what we expect. Is it that English has become the official language of music?

From high streets in Hungary to supermarkets in Sweden, from bus stops in Bulgaria to parks in Poland, people listen to English-language music everywhere. And people don’t just listen, they sing it too! From sporting events in Spain to nightclubs in Norway, from concerts in Croatia to fitness classes in France, people sing along to popular songs in their everyday lives, in English. But why?

For one evening each year Eurovision is the dinner party of Europe. A dinner party to which each guest brings something unique. Their clothing, tradition and food represent their culture and their language shows the character of a nation. Although there are 50 nations with 83 languages, for Eurovision, English is the only language. Does Eurovision really represent Europe?

English is an international language spoken by over 1 billion people worldwide. It is no surprise that so many musicians make music in English. Of course, music makes money and more listeners make more money. According to Ragnar Thorhallsson, a singer and guitarist, English is simpler and is easier to make rhymes (韵律). Could this be true?

Let’s remember that although English-language music is everywhere, music is not everything. As long as we continue to learn, to speak, to love, diversity (多样性) shall be valued. After all, what fun is a dinner party if the guests can’t communicate or express themselves in the way they choose?