Barekzi, Nadiah, and Nazir Barekzi. “A Case Report on Consumer Purchasing of theSquishmallowTM Plush Toy during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Journal of Business Management, vol. 2, no. 1, 2023, pp. 1-6. https://www.jbusinessmanagement.com/articles/1009.pdf. Accessed: Dec. 15, 2025.
Bernkastel, Olivia. “Sacred Items Series: Kagura suzu.” Medium, Jul. 12, 2018. https://medium.com/@livingwithkami/sacred-items-series-kagura-suzu-4acfe2a8cc47. Accessed: Dec. 13, 2025.
Dynan, Karen. “Most large, advanced economies face slower GDP growth next year, while China and India withstand tariff drag.” Peterson Institute for International Economics, Oct. 14, 2025. https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/2025/most-large-advanced-economies-face-slower-gdp-growth-next-year-while. Accessed: Dec. 16, 2025.
Filleul, Ynes Sarah. “Chiikawa’s Dark Lore: The Shocking Stories of Japan’s Cutest Characters.” Tokyo Weekender, Aug. 7, 2025. https://www.tokyoweekender.com/entertainment/anime-and-manga/chiikawa-dark-themes-explained/. Accessed: Nov. 5, 2025.
Hawkins, Mhairi Shaw. “Depictions of The Bomb and Nuclear Apocalypse in Japanese Anime.” Asia-Pacific Journal, vol. 19, no. 7, Aug. 2021, pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1557466021031223. Accessed: Nov. 5, 2025.
Heljakka, Katriina. “Objects of Resilience: Plush Perspectives of Pandemic Toy Play.” Beresin, Anna R., and Julia C. Bishop, editors. Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation, edited by Anna R. Beresin and Julia C. Bishop, Open Book Publishers, 2023, pp. 143-165. http://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0326.07. Accessed: Nov. 6, 2025.
Holcombe, Madeline. “Adults can sleep with stuffed animals, too. It might even be a good thing, experts say.” CNN Health, Mar. 30, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/30/health/adults-sleep-stuffed-animals. Accessed: Dec. 16, 2025.
Lieber-Milo, Shiri. “Pink Purchasing: Interrogating the Soft Power of Japan’s Kawaii Consumption.” Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 22, no. 3, Aug. 2022, pp. 747–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/14695405211013849. Accessed: Nov. 5, 2025.
McCurry, Justin. “Tokyo governor apologizes for calling tsunami ‘divine punishment.’ The Guardian, Mar. 15, 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/15/tokyo-governor-tsunami-punishment. Accessed: Dec. 15, 2025.
Murakami, Takashi. Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture. Japan Society, 2005.
Occhi, Debra J. “Wobbly Aesthetics, Performance, and Message: Comparing Japanese Kyara with Their Anthropomorphic Forebears.” Asian Ethnology, vol. 71, no. 1, 2012, pp. 109–32. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41551385. Accessed: Dec. 13, 2025.
Osawa, Machiko, et al. “Precarious Work in Japan.” American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 57, no. 3, Mar. 2013, pp. 309–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764212466240. Accessed: Dec. 16, 2025.
Rots, Aike P. “Nature’s Blessing, Nature’s Wrath: Shinto Responses to the Disasters of 2011.” When the Tsunami Came to Shore, edited by Roy Starrs, BRILL, 2014, pp. 21–49. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004268319_003. Accessed: Dec. 14, 2025.
Shiohara, Hannah. “The Japanese Economic Miracle.” Berkeley Economic Review, Jan. 26, 2023. https://econreview.studentorg.berkeley.edu/the-japanese-economic-miracle/. Accessed: Dec. 13, 2025.
Tran, Sharon. “Kawaii Asian Girls Save the Day! Animating a Minor Politics of Care.” MELUS, vol. 43, no. 3, Aug. 2018, pp. 19–41. https://doi.org/10.1093/melus/mly029. Accessed: Nov. 5, 2025.
Vachon, Matt. “Inari Fox—Everything About Japan’s Sacred Kitsune.” Tsunagu Japan, May 14, 2020. https://www.tsunagujapan.com/inari-fox-japan/. Accessed: Dec. 13, 2025.
White, Daniel. Administering Affect: Pop-Culture Japan and the Politics of Anxiety. Stanford University Press, 2022.
Young, Nana. “Unlocking the Meaning of Japanese Religious Symbols: Torii Gates, Shrines, and More.” Bokksu, Jan. 28, 2025. https://bokksu.com/blogs/news/unlocking-the-meaning-of-japanese-religious-symbols-torii-gates-shrines-and-more. Accessed: Dec. 13, 2025.
Links to Header Images
What is Chiikawa? https://www.blippo.com/blogs/characters/chiikawa
The Dark Origins of Kawaii: https://yumetwins.com/about/history
Chiikawa and Economic Apocalypse: https://market-bulls.com/japanese-asset-price-bubble-explained/
Shinto and Natural Apocalypse: https://taegongsin.artstation.com/projects/k4G3m6
Covid-19 and the Rise of the Plush Toy Industry: https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/06/us/jellycat-squishmallow-adult-stuffed-animals-cec
All other non-linked images courtesy of the author.