--- title: Hamster Butt Photos From Japan Are Super Cute description: Who knew rodent rumps could be so kawaii? canonical: https://time.com/119476/hamster-butt-photos/ author: Joseph C. Lin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-29T15:15:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:38.911Z og:title: [PHOTOS] Hamster Butts Are the Newest Adorable Trend Out of Japan og:description: Who knew rodent rumps could be so kawaii? og:url: https://time.com/119476/hamster-butt-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: [PHOTOS] Hamster Butts Are the Newest Adorable Trend Out of Japan twitter:description: Who knew rodent rumps could be so kawaii? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Hamster Butts Are the Newest Adorable Trend Out of Japan by [Joseph C. Lin](https://time.com/author/joseph-c-lin/) ## Joseph C. Lin May 29, 2014 3:15 PM UTC by [Joseph C. Lin](https://time.com/author/joseph-c-lin/) ## Joseph C. Lin May 29, 2014 3:15 PM UTC From the country that brought you [cat cafes](http://time.com/2280/heres-an-inside-look-at-japans-best-cat-cafes/) and [soccer-playing robots](http://time.com/75642/obama-japan-robot-asimo/) comes the next big thing in cute: hamster butts. The furry pheonemon known as _hamuketsu_ is a portmanteau of hamster and _ketsu_, the Japanese word for butt. _Hamuketsu_ became a hit in Japanese social media circles around the end of 2013 and becomes the latest example of Japan’s aesthetic for all things _kawaii_, or cute. Japanese publishers latched onto this trend and have released two _hamuketsu_ photo books in 2014 already, selling more than 40,000 copies combined. Photos from [_Why Are Those Hamster Butts So Darn Cute?_](http://www.basilico.co.jp/book/books/9784862382085.html)_,_ Japanese publisher Basilico’s contribution to this emerging genre, can be seen above, while additional user-submitted hamster butts can be seen on their [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/hamu.ketsu) page. “The great thing about _hamuketsu_ is that it is delightfully cute. I can’t stop smiling when I see these butts,” Takeshi Takahashi, a spokesman for Basilico, told the [Wall Street _Journal_](http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/05/21/photos-of-hamster-rear-ends-are-hit-in-japan/). Keep calm and _kawaii_ on.  Basilico  Basilico  Basilico  Basilico  Basilico  Basilico ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/119476/hamster-butt-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/119476/hamster-butt-photos/"},"headline":"Hamster Butts Are the Newest Adorable Trend Out of Japan","datePublished":"2014-05-29T15:15:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:38.911Z","description":"Who knew rodent rumps could be so kawaii?","url":"https://time.com/119476/hamster-butt-photos/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph C. Lin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-c-lin/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/119476/hamster-butt-photos/","name":"Hamster Butts Are the Newest Adorable Trend Out of Japan"}}]}] ```