- 23 Sep 2005
- 1,295
- 76
I was inspired with the initial topic "How come Japanese girls so beautiful?" ( How come Japanese girls so beautiful? ), however that spiraled into personal argument and was closed, so i have decided to start my on thread on the subject as i actually think the topic of western fixation with Japanese beauty a very socially interesting one and want to discuss it.
For a start, i will state that my current impression of the situation is only that and i do not profess to have any particular in-depth knowledge on the subject, which is also partly why i want to debate it- i also have to say that as of yet, i have not lived in Japan yet.
Anyways.
There does seem to be a western fixation with Japanese beauty which i have noticed in many westerners. But i honestly believe this is a case of "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" situation, which has been brought about by the most popular material westerners often see of Japanese women and men.
Westerners who have this particular fixation, generally seem to believe feel that Japanese women (although this also sometimes extends to Japanese men, although this doesn't seem as common) are generally all very slim and petite, have cute/beautiful faces, great fashion and beautiful hair etc. And it is certainly true that many Japanese women are just this- but i also honestly think that there is a also very normal average appearance that Japanese women have, and that even by our own standards such women are of average looks- i don't believe that the Japanese are a race of people that are all very good looking.
So where does the belief that Japanese women are on the whole all very good looking?
Well, for a start i have noticed that most westerners that have the Japanese beauty fixation tend to be westerners who have never visited Japan or have at most only been there for short holiday/s. But such westerners almost always also tend to have a fixation with Japan and its culture itself- so in their spare time they go on the internet and seek out pictures and information on their Japanese interests. When they look at pictures of Japanese people (the content of which tends to be connected to the viewers interests, like Japanese music or films etc), such pictures are almost always going to be of Japanese pop/rock singers, movie stars, models, tv hosts and general celebrities. Of course these people are almost always going to be very attractive!
So is this Japanese beauty fixation simply one that has come about by westerners being exposed most to pictures/videos of very attractive Japanese people all the time, and this influences their image of Japanese people on the whole?
I say this because i believe this works both ways on the Japanese and Western fronts. From what i have read, on the other side of the fence Japanese society has a fixation with western society (this is pretty obvious in their modern culture) and that many Japanese women idealize western women in the same way we often idealize Japanese women. Apparently many Japanese women believe that western women are very beautiful, that they are better proportioned physically like having better curves and that they are also better are being sexy (and wearing sexy clothes) and have better fashion, and so some Japanese women end envying western women in much the same way westerners with the Japanese beauty fixation thing do towards Japanese women. And it comes about from the same way- the western culture Japanese people are exposed to the most (or is the most available).
It is true that on the whole, Japanese women have a lighter body weight than women in the US or UK, but this doesn't mean that obesity is absent from their population. I believe the only reason why Japanese women on the whole have a smaller BMI than us is simply because there is a massive amount of pressure on Japanese women to be slim and this pressure is displayed very openly, while over here (largely due to political correctness), we have become a lot more accepting of being overweight and the overweight in society in general and open displays of pressure to be slim are generally very frowned upon. There are also other reasons.
I don't think you can really use the genetics argument for Japanese being slimmer than us, because so far no real evidence has been found to prove this- the evidence so far points to Japanese people being slimmer as being down to culture and its pressures, and traditional Japanese diet and traditionally smaller portion sizes at meal times (and also Japanese generally having more physically active day-to-day lifestyles). However it seems that as western foods have become increasingly more popular in Japan (like with the increase of McDonalds restaurants/takeaways and their popularity for example), so has the obesity rates risen in Japan (very smoking gun evidence, ne?).
Anyways, back on track- of course if the bulk of what you see of Japanese women/men comprises of watching youtube videos of Morning Musume, Ayumi Hamasaki, Gackt, Antique Cafe etc and Japanese tv shows, idol photobooks and magazines etc, then of course you will get the impression that the Japanese are all generally very attractive and perfect (especially if your assumptions are backed up by seeing the odd attractive Japanese in your own country here and there) because being very attractive is a very important aspect of being a celebrity in Japan in general (in much the same way the same is true for our celebrities).
But these are things which are useless to base the attractiveness of a whole population of Japanese on- they are only useful to their specific area's (like whether Japanese pop/rock singers are on the whole beautiful or not). There are plenty of average or unattractive real Japanese in normal Japanese society, just like over here with westerners in western society.
What do you think? Do you think that the fixation/assumption with Japanese being beautiful has come about simply by the very select culture of theirs we are most often exposed to?
For a start, i will state that my current impression of the situation is only that and i do not profess to have any particular in-depth knowledge on the subject, which is also partly why i want to debate it- i also have to say that as of yet, i have not lived in Japan yet.
Anyways.
There does seem to be a western fixation with Japanese beauty which i have noticed in many westerners. But i honestly believe this is a case of "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" situation, which has been brought about by the most popular material westerners often see of Japanese women and men.
Westerners who have this particular fixation, generally seem to believe feel that Japanese women (although this also sometimes extends to Japanese men, although this doesn't seem as common) are generally all very slim and petite, have cute/beautiful faces, great fashion and beautiful hair etc. And it is certainly true that many Japanese women are just this- but i also honestly think that there is a also very normal average appearance that Japanese women have, and that even by our own standards such women are of average looks- i don't believe that the Japanese are a race of people that are all very good looking.
So where does the belief that Japanese women are on the whole all very good looking?
Well, for a start i have noticed that most westerners that have the Japanese beauty fixation tend to be westerners who have never visited Japan or have at most only been there for short holiday/s. But such westerners almost always also tend to have a fixation with Japan and its culture itself- so in their spare time they go on the internet and seek out pictures and information on their Japanese interests. When they look at pictures of Japanese people (the content of which tends to be connected to the viewers interests, like Japanese music or films etc), such pictures are almost always going to be of Japanese pop/rock singers, movie stars, models, tv hosts and general celebrities. Of course these people are almost always going to be very attractive!
So is this Japanese beauty fixation simply one that has come about by westerners being exposed most to pictures/videos of very attractive Japanese people all the time, and this influences their image of Japanese people on the whole?
I say this because i believe this works both ways on the Japanese and Western fronts. From what i have read, on the other side of the fence Japanese society has a fixation with western society (this is pretty obvious in their modern culture) and that many Japanese women idealize western women in the same way we often idealize Japanese women. Apparently many Japanese women believe that western women are very beautiful, that they are better proportioned physically like having better curves and that they are also better are being sexy (and wearing sexy clothes) and have better fashion, and so some Japanese women end envying western women in much the same way westerners with the Japanese beauty fixation thing do towards Japanese women. And it comes about from the same way- the western culture Japanese people are exposed to the most (or is the most available).
It is true that on the whole, Japanese women have a lighter body weight than women in the US or UK, but this doesn't mean that obesity is absent from their population. I believe the only reason why Japanese women on the whole have a smaller BMI than us is simply because there is a massive amount of pressure on Japanese women to be slim and this pressure is displayed very openly, while over here (largely due to political correctness), we have become a lot more accepting of being overweight and the overweight in society in general and open displays of pressure to be slim are generally very frowned upon. There are also other reasons.
I don't think you can really use the genetics argument for Japanese being slimmer than us, because so far no real evidence has been found to prove this- the evidence so far points to Japanese people being slimmer as being down to culture and its pressures, and traditional Japanese diet and traditionally smaller portion sizes at meal times (and also Japanese generally having more physically active day-to-day lifestyles). However it seems that as western foods have become increasingly more popular in Japan (like with the increase of McDonalds restaurants/takeaways and their popularity for example), so has the obesity rates risen in Japan (very smoking gun evidence, ne?).
Anyways, back on track- of course if the bulk of what you see of Japanese women/men comprises of watching youtube videos of Morning Musume, Ayumi Hamasaki, Gackt, Antique Cafe etc and Japanese tv shows, idol photobooks and magazines etc, then of course you will get the impression that the Japanese are all generally very attractive and perfect (especially if your assumptions are backed up by seeing the odd attractive Japanese in your own country here and there) because being very attractive is a very important aspect of being a celebrity in Japan in general (in much the same way the same is true for our celebrities).
But these are things which are useless to base the attractiveness of a whole population of Japanese on- they are only useful to their specific area's (like whether Japanese pop/rock singers are on the whole beautiful or not). There are plenty of average or unattractive real Japanese in normal Japanese society, just like over here with westerners in western society.
What do you think? Do you think that the fixation/assumption with Japanese being beautiful has come about simply by the very select culture of theirs we are most often exposed to?
