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Insights Into Japanese Beauty
| Article
# : |
14243 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1988 |
2,546 Words |
| Author
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Dorothy Perkins
Dorothy Perkins has lived in and is currently writing a book
about Japan. She now resides in Philadelphia. |
Modern Japanese girls wear Western clothing and admire Western body types and the deeper-set facial features and "higher" noses of Western women, while Americans admire Japanese women's delicate, subtle qualities.
Sachiyo Ito, a classically trained Japanese dancer and choreographer who is now based in New York City, said that when she was growing up in Japan, many of her friends wanted to look like American beauties--tall, long-legged, and bosomy.
Ms. Ito performs many contemporary dance pieces in pants that allow her to move easily, but says Americans are fascinated when she dresses in a gorgeous kimono and obi to perform a classical dance, and covers her face, neck, and hands with a base of heavy white makeup. But her personal characteristics are what bring out their deepest response.
In Japan, the modern and the traditional coexist in harmony. The Japanese have a genius for absorbing new influences while treasuring traditions that have proved effective in the past. Perhaps this is the key to the beauty of Japanese women ... having the best of both worlds, old and new, East and West.
William Prendose, official historian of the Miss Universe beauty pageant, states that Japanese women have placed among the top three winners only a few times. There has been only one Miss Universe from Japan, Akiko Kojima, in 1959. That was soon enough after World War II for the romantic mystique of beautiful, delicate Japanese women to remain fresh in Western minds.
Many Asians also perceive this quality of delicacy in Japanese women. When asked for their opinion, the Chaos, a young couple from Taiwan, replied that "Japanese women have smaller and more delicate features. They are also more refined, elegant, and feminine because of the way they are socialized."
Throughout history, personality and health, as well as appearance, have been the components of beauty that Japanese women concern themselves with. Looks have always been considered very important; Japanese beauty standards place greatest value on a pretty face, neck, and hair. Japanese brides were traditionally presented with mirrors, which are associated with the sun goddess, Amaterasu Omikami, the supreme deity and ancestor of the emperor. Thus, the women of Japan have considered it to be a sacred duty to look their
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