Kawaii (cute) is a HUGE part of Japanese culture.
Most Japanese women aim for kawaii to varying degree, some of them for all their lives!
Many Japanese guys too!!

Quite acceptable to tell a Japanese girl in front of her boyfriend or husband that she is kawaii, usually the guy will feel good about it too!
Girls walking on stage on most TV shows are greeted with a unified "KAWAII!!!" from the predominately female audience.
Sometimes male guests too.

Cute pink characters hanging off mobile phones is the fashion for Japanese girls AND guys.

Many girls dress like 8 year olds with pink frilly dresses and big bows in their hair.
Not unusual to see guys with big hair clips holding back their fringes too!

This is from Wikipedia and sums it up well:

"Since the 1970s, cuteness (kawaii) has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms.[1] Foreign observers often find this cuteness intriguing and sometimes strange because the Japanese employ it in a vast array of situations and demographics where, in other cultures, it would be considered incongruously juvenile or frivolous (for example, in government publications, public service warnings, office environments, military advertisements, and commercial airliners, among many others)."