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Beauty Up : Exploring Contemporary Japanese Body Aesthetic


Jenny Wang 20'(eBook)


Across many societies across the world, women are considerably made self-aware about their
bodies. Such assertions are made through media like magazines. There a few exceptions such as
Japan where for a time, women are not valued for their physical appearance but rather their personalities.
There has been a considerable shift from them being viewed as social foundations and more of sex symbols.
Such shifts may point towards possible shifts in attitudes and values within societies. Over one hundred years
ago, local criteria was utilized to decide and set a benchmark for physical beauty. In one explanation brought
forward was through the theory of sexual imprinting. There are some arguments that some perspectives are
established inherently through biology. Others like clear unblemished skin are quite standard across cultures.
A number of these so-called prejudices have come up through a number of beauty contests. Many of the ideas
of beauty are not new ideas, as they existed in previous eras. Just as today, clothing was utilized to emphasize
certain areas of the body. Women who are considered stars have been used in many media to portray the “ideal”
qualities that are desirable. In Japan like many other parts of the world, the standard of beauty keeps changing
with fashion. The intended audience of this article is everyone who is interested in learning about Asian’s beauty
ideology and how it evolved during time. This article is significant because appearance in Asian culture also plays
a big role in society: women are also expected to look a certain way, so the beauty standards have always been paying
a lot of attention. I am very interested in learning that there was a particular time that Japanese people care not much
about appearance, and in my future research, I would like to read more about this and see how this evolve over time.
In addition, I would like to learn more about how beauty standards in Asian cultures are challenged over time, and how
non-conforming Asian Women have contributed to this change and evolution. This is related to my other source about
the Idol Republic in South Korea. A lot of the female idols in South Korea definitely make significant impacts on beauty
standards in Asian culture. I am interested in learning about who are specific examples that fitted those beauty standards,
and who in particular redefine beauty standards. This reminds me of a Chinese Pop Star called Naomi Wang, who is a
non-conforming Asian Woman who challenged the traditional beauty standards for Chinese stars.

Miller, Laura. “Beauty Up : Exploring Contemporary Japanese Body Aesthetics”,   
University of California Press, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/iub-ebooks/detail.action?docID=267390.
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