Beauty Comes First
As many non-Japanese say, genelally, most of Japanese girls are fashionable and pretty. There may not be outstanding beauty like US or Europe though, Japanese girls pay attention on their own appearance very much in general.
For example, you know most of Japanese woman keep make- up on. Their skills of making up are incredible for non-professional. They use proper cosmetics to make pores virtually imperceptible, put on foundation carefully, apply finishing powder, draw eyebrows perfectly, putting on eye liners with consummate skill and use three kinds of mascaras. But it doesn’t look like “too much” make up at all. It looks like with no make-up on. It is called “Natural Make” in Japanese.
In my knowledge, Korean is also good at making up. But seems “Natural Make” is not popular for Korean ladies. They maybe prefer “Makeup” face.
Perhaps Japanese’ manual dexterity are genetically programmed. In this country, there are some people who write sutra on a grain of rice. That’s why many of manicurists are Japanese. What kind of “normal” people have nails with design in mother-of-pearl inlay? In any big city, fashionable, MAW (models, actress or whatever) exist. Though, Japanese woman keep high average as a whole. You can find out what is in fashion with taking one look in Shibuya or Shinjuku. People change clothes from nails to toes in every season. It is a big different from States. In this country, “My blue jeans and converse” are not fashionable at all.
Not only fashion or make up stuff, girls even change their skin color. A few years ago, there were full of “Ganguro” (very much tanned) highschool girls in everywhere. Though, they suddenly disappeared. Instead of “Ganguro” girls, now superwhite girls conquest this city. Their faces are insanely white. Even whiter than real white people.
I have several website and BBS to read. There is an interesting discussion was going on some website. Some females insist on “Fat girls shouldn’t come to clubs because their revealing clothes are harmful to public eyes”. Of course other girls arguing back “Whatever I wear, it is none of your business! Being fat is sexy! Shut up, living skeltons!”. It is really funny discussion though, seems being fat is a crime in Japan.
Meanwhile, there is a unwritten rule in Japanese female world. The rule is “Beauty talks in any time any occation.” For example, some woman accept her boy friend’s cheanting if the other woman is more beautiful than herself, we tend to let the woman who has better looking than oneself go first, somehow we feel so guilty when the beautiful woman crying for her own fault (not yours) and et al.
This caste is decided by other females. Guys’ opinion are ignored usually. This battle is females’ war.
Though, actually, I am not in this killing field because I don’t care about other females’ appearance. When I am fine with myself, I am fine whatever others say. Is it nice? I am pretty sure it sounds like I am already giving up with being a woman for other Japanese females.
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Greetings!
Very interesting blog and worthy of a documentary.
“Perhaps Japanese’ manual dexterity are genetically programmed.”
Warm Regards,
Chester
Chester P. Bateman
Assistant to the Dean for Technology
Oregon State University
School of Education
418 Education Hall
200 SW 15th Street
Corvallis, Oregon 97331-3502
Office: (541) 737-8836
Fax: (541) 737-8971
http://oregonstate.edu/education/
“Perhaps Japanese’ manual dexterity are genetically programmed”
I surely hope this is meant ironically.
“They use proper cosmetics to make pores virtually imperceptible, put on foundation carefully, apply finishing powder, draw eyebrows perfectly, putting on eye liners with consummate skill and use three kinds of mascaras. But it doesn’t look like “too much” make up at all. It looks like with no make-up on. It is called “Natural Make” in Japanese.”
This all makes me want to scream: “What’s wrong with pores? Human beings have pores, you know. Pimples, too. In fact, human beings sweat, sneeze, fart, have hairs grow in inconvenient places…”
What you’re describing, it seems to me, has nothing to do with beauty. It is, rather, a detailed program for the complete obliteration of nature and its replacement by a smooth, sweatless, nanometer-scale facade.
Women who do this are daily designing a skin job in front of the mirror. That terrifies me.
I would, however, be interested in learning more about how such a large proportion of Japanese women came to hold such beliefs about their own bodies. It can’t all be Shiseido ads.
In Japanese beauty magazine, you can find the term “ceramic looks skin” often. It’s not surgery. good applying foundation skill makes your skin looks ceramic smooth. it sounds weird but don’t we all prefer make up on beautiful ladies?
Oh the ganguro era is done, then now the domination of super white comes over? So what comes in the future? Will they finally notice the beautiness of their own?
Well, Coco, that’s the problem. “We” don’t all prefer make up on “beautiful ladies,” or even necessarily on any “ladies.”
There are people who personally consider heavily-made-up women more attractive, yes. There are people who hate make-up for its artificiality, or its impracticality, and there are people like me who recoil from heavy makeup because of what it says about a person’s values.
And I’ve heard there are even some people who couldn’t care less what someone looks like from the outside, as hard as that may be to believe.
But still more importantly, it seems to me that what *anyone* thinks about the person inside the cosmetic mask is less important than that person’s own thoughts. If you personally enjoy slappin’ on the layers of makeup you describe, great. If you don’t, great. Why should anyone else’s opinion make any difference at all?
Isn’t this what forty-five years of global feminism have been about, at least in part? I know Japan is not, and should not be, America, or anywhere else, but geez, haven’t you ever heard of Betty Friedan?
Neo,
Probably they won’t notice own beauty for a while. Fashion/cosmetic industry won’t allow it. I suspect if the gangro era was planned by cosmetic industry so they would need “whitenening” cosmetics later.
Adam,
as long as it is balanced out, taking care of herself is good. physical attraction is also a gift from heaven as well as heart.
A lot of young women are obsessed about appearance but it is understandable. Appearance is easy to recognise and it is easier to make up more than cultivating inner self. young people don’t have enough time to find out the personality so much because they need to know a lot of people and what are out there.
young is good. because it doesn’t last forever. only limited time, they can enjoy it.they can make the most of it. Keep trying everything and learning from mistakes.
but after being grown up, inner fertility tells the person who he/she is. what they learned from experience tells. if he/she is still immature after growing up, it is a problem though.
About Japan, Japanese males put too much value on young women. I don’t know anywhere else where over thirty guys love low teen singers such as Morning Musume. I hope Japan will change.
I think,most Japanese people are very naturally beautiful no matter what their shape is or what they wear.Maybe it’s the big dark eyes and pleasant faces.A natural beauty that even the Japanese infants have from birth.
Can someone from Japan please tell me what gifts Japanese want from US?