Today I'd like to write about kawaii (cute) culture in Japan. A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went to Nara to have lunch at our favorite restaurant. On the way home, there's a cute sweet shop that I've been curious about for a long time. However we can't stop there because we need to take care of our grandson after he gets home from nursery school. I finally got a chance!

The sweet shop produces crème caramel, but for some reason, it uses a Buddha statue as its symbol. Nara is famous for the gigantic Buddha statue in Todaiji, so I guess the shop took the idea from it.

At first glance, a Buddha statue doesn't connect to cuteness at all. However, the shop seems so good at advertising its products.

First, the building itself looks very cute, and it makes us feel as if we step into a fairly land.

The illustration of the Buddha statue really suited to the entrance of the building.

The inside of the shop also looked cute.

We took the crème caramels home, but if we wanted, we could eat them in the shop. The table and chairs looked also very cute.

This shop is in a rural area in Nara, and without a car, it's hard to get there. Even so, customers kept visiting. Most of them were women or young couples who love cute stuff.

It's hard for us to find any cuteness in a Buddha statue, but the illustration looks so cute that makes us smile.

When I took my first bite, surprisingly, it was very tasty. The shop is so good at using cuteness to get people's attention. The crème caramels was so good that I'd love to stop by again when we go to Nara next time.

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