Moeka Akutsu

ENG150-1 AY2019 Fall

Introduction and Outline Assignment
October 21, 2019

Outline and Introduction

https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b02602/the-fair-face-of-japanese-beauty.html

90% of the impression is decided by one’s appearance. Facial features seem to impact on

first impressions and that people generally agree on how to evaluate some aspects of

personality based on a face, even though these evaluations often are far from the self-

measured personality trait (Woffhechel, Fagertun, Ulric, Majewski, and Hemmingsen, 2014).

These days, the number of people who care appearance seems to have been increasing.

According the research conducted by Recruit Lifestyle (2017), 80 percent of women in Japan

are interested in improving appearance or keeping appearance younger. In addition to this, a

half of women are not satisfied with their appearance, especially balance of their body. As a

tendency, younger women feel more inclined to improve their appearance than women who

are older. To figure out the relationship between makeup and self-esteem, three kinds of

perspectives would be needed in my view. One is cosmetic industry, such as the way of

advertisements and characteristics of models in ads. The second is what elements assemble

the self-esteem such as reactions from others and comparison to others. The third is social

and cultural background such as the history and the change of characteristics of make-up.

To begin with, the cosmetic industry can affect women’s self-esteem. In Japan many
images of haku-jin women (literally, white people; Caucasians) are used in advertisements for

whitening cosmetics as well as other make-up products. On the contrary, very few black

models appear in ads in the Japanese mass media (Ashikari, 2016). Since beauty standards in

Japan consider it better for women to have white skin, cosmetics companies use Caucasian

models to motivate women to aim for paler skin. This further enforces the stereotype around

beauty for women in Japan. As for cosmetic industry, Japan is the second-largest cosmetics

market in the world after the U.S.A., and Japanese cosmetics manufacturers are highly

competitive and sophisticated (Ono, 2013).

What is more, the term “self-esteem” has various aspects and in this research paper will

be defined in terms of appearance. Generally, self-esteem refers to an individual overall

positive evaluation to the self, according to Rosenberg (1965), who is a pioneer of this

domain. When it comes to appearance, self-esteem relates to the degree of recognition of

one’s own attractiveness. One research shows this relationship. Harter (2000) asked girls as

follows: “You first don't like the way you look and then you don't like the kind of person you

are? Or You first don't like the kind of person you are and then you don't like the way you

look?”

As a result of this questionnaire, about 60% of adolescents chose the first option. And the

author concluded that “Members of this group also reported that appearance is more

important, that they are more preoccupied with appearance, and that they worry more about
how they look compared to those individuals whose self-esteem preceded judgments of

appearance. (Haeter, 2000)” Through the analysis, they felt worse about their appearance in

comparison to their personality and were more depressed than girls for whom self-esteem

preceded judgments of appearance. The author mentioned that this orientation is emphasized

by social media, which plays a role in proliferating social expectations. However, there is no

tendency that boys have lower self-esteem. It would be because they are reasonably

attractive. To summarize, especially girls feel worse toward their appearance and have lower

self-esteem than boys (criteria is different, expectations are not the same).

Thirdly, social and cultural background can connect to makeup and self-esteem.

According to Niponica (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, N.D.), personal beauty products

have become as a part of fashion in the late 6 th century. From that age, the concept that “show

one’s self better by makeup” seems to have occurred. Ashikari (2003) insists that in Japan,

applying white powder to the face has been considered a woman’s moral duty since the Edo

period. The norm of white skin has lasted for 400 years. The Japanese makeup feature of

turning the face white seems to continue into the present. In another article, according to

Ashikari, “preference for white skin originates from Akita bijin (an Akita [a northern

prefecture] beauty Akita being a northern prefecture) or Tohoku bijin (a Tohoku [a northern

region] beauty) Tohoku is a northern region (Ashikari, 2016)”. (less exposure to sunlight =

whiter skin) As for data, the value of the face-whitening market for 1997 was estimated at
160 billion yen (Nihon keizai shimbun, 1998). Thus, preference for white skin is

compounded by both historical and regional elements.

In conclusion, there are three aspects that can be connected to the relationship between

self-esteem and appearance. Appearance has strong impact on evaluation from others at first

impression as mentioned above. Self-esteem would be influenced by cosmetic ads which

impose women to be white skinned and beautiful. Additionally, evaluation from others can

affect one’s self-esteem. As for self-esteem, young girls have lower self-esteem according to

the research. Although girls have extremely lower self-esteem, boys do not. This data shows

that young, adolescent age and adult age may have different level of self-esteem. Thus, it

would be significant to research the difference among age. Furthermore, the living

environment can affect their construction of self-esteem as for adolescents. In terms of

history, make-up has a long history and the preference still exists. For these three aspects as

mentioned, I would like to analyze and research this topic.