Japaneseness and the Ideal Image of Women

This article was downloaded by: [89.250.189.218] On: 26 March 2013, At: 05:44 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Japan Forum Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjfo20 The memory of the women's white faces: Japaneseness and the ideal image of women Mikiko Ashikari a a Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge Version of record first published: 09 Dec 2010. To cite this article: Mikiko Ashikari (2003): The memory of the women's white faces: Japaneseness and the ideal image of women, Japan Forum, 15:1, 55-79 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0955580032000077739 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. 05 ashikari (jk/d).fm Page 55 Wednesday, February 26, 2003 9:19 AM The memory of the women’s white faces: Japaneseness and the ideal image of women MIKIKO ASHIKARI Abstract: During the Meiji period, the white face became the woman’s face, whereas in the pre-modern period, certain men needed to put white powder on their faces every day. An examination of changes in clothing and fashion in relation to the Meiji state’s policies on gender reveals that representations of the man’s face and of the woman’s face have been differently modernized and Westernized since the encounter with Western culture. The division by gender along the lines of Western clothing/unmade-up face/men and kimono/white face/women relates to the formation of a national identity in the course of the Japanese nationalist project. An ideal image of middle-class women became a symbol of tradition and native culture, and it still survives as such in contemporary Japan. A woman can experience and express Japaneseness through the representation of the ideal image of women by using the white face in public. There is a pivotal link between femininity and Japaneseness. This article explores both why it should be the ideal image of middle-class women that has come to represent tradition and national culture, and how the link between the representation of the ideal womanhood and of Japaneseness continues in contemporary Japan. Downloaded by [89.250.189.218] at 05:44 26 March 2013 Keywords: gender, representation, Japaneseness, white face, middle-class women, social memory Femininity and Japaneseness are conflated into the ideal image of Japanese women. Being feminine in contemporary Japan means being a Japanese woman, rather than simply being a woman. Recent studies which deal with the contemporary Japanese woman’s body suggest that there is a pivotal link between femininity and Japaneseness. Both McVeigh (1997), in his study of femininity among Japanese women’s college students, and Clammer (1995), in his analysis of femininity as represented in women’s magazines, point out that Japaneseness and ladylike behaviour and appearance both contrast with and reinforce one Japan Forum 15(1) 2003: 55–79 ISSN: 0955–5803 print/1469–932X online Copyright © 2003 BAJS DOI: 10.1080/0955580032000077739 05 ashikari (jk/d).fm Page 56 Wednesday, February 26, 2003 9:19 AM 56 The memory of the women’s white faces another. However, these studies do not focus on the problem of why and how femininity and Japaneseness are linked. Moreover, much historical research by recent Japanese scholars discusses the ‘nationalization of women’ (josei no kokuminka) (Koyama 1999; Wakakuwa 2001; Ueno 1998).1 These studies, which show how a dominant gender ideology – men working outside the home and women managing the home – became essential for Japanese nationalism, base their arguments on the assumption that this ideology exists in present-day Japan. Nevertheless, they do not give any explanation of why and how the ideology has been able to continue for such a long time. This article questions this continuity and the pervasive power of the ideology. A lot of recent studies, including Ueno’s (1998), suggest that the past (or tradition) can be created or reinterpreted by our knowledge of the present. However, what I argue in this article is that our experience or knowledge of the present also largely depends on our knowledge or memory of the past (or tradition). By focusing on white make-up among women as a means for representing femininity in public, this article both explores the origin of the link between femininity and Japaneseness and examines the pervasive power of the link. Two different styles of white make-up for women exist in contemporary Japan.2 One is the traditional Japanese white make-up, which is famous worldwide due to the geisha’s white-painted face. Most Japanese women have or will have had at least one experience of the traditional make-up complemented by the traditional Japanese hairstyle – at their wedding ceremony, when they wear the wedding kimono. A simplified version of the traditional white make-up can be seen on women who wear kimono on any formal occasion, such as a graduation ceremony or a coming-of-age ceremony. The other is an everyday white make-up. The style of make-up in everyday life, just like clothing, hairstyles, bags and other accessories, has to a great extent become assimilated to that of Western women. However, the Japanese make-up style is still characterized by the distinctive ‘white’ face. Both my street observation and questionnaire survey suggest that the vast majority of women wear foundation in public places.3 Foundation for Japanese women is not only designed to make their skin look lighter than it really is, but also makes their Downloaded by [89.250.189.218] at 05:44 26 March 2013 complexion look just like everyone else’s. They seem to be using foundation in order to achieve the ‘right’ face for a Japanese woman. As in most Western societies, in contemporary Japan women wear make-up and men usually do not. Most Japanese people believe that white make-up is traditionally women’s make-up. However, in the pre-modern period, it was the social norm for the male nobility, as well as the female nobility, to wear white-lead powder, to shave their eyebrows and to blacken their teeth. However, Japanese men in all social strata stopped wearing make-up in the course of the Meiji Restoration, and they started to consider make-up as feminine, as their European contemporaries did. Are these changes just a question of the assimilation of Western styles of fashion? This article, which examines the changes in clothing and fashion since the Meiji period in relation to state policies on gender, first demonstrates how 05 ashikari (jk/d).fm Page 57 Wednesday, February 26, 2003 9:19 AM Mikiko Ashikari 57 differently the representations of the man’s face and of the woman’s face have been modernized and Westernized since the encounter with Western culture. This division by gender relates to the formation of national identity in the Japanese nationalist project. Then, it will show that an ideal image of middle-class women4 became a symbol of tradition and national culture, and that it still survives in contemporary Japan. It is argued that the representation of the ideal image of women in public is related to the representation of Japaneseness. This article explores both why it should be the ideal image of middle-class women that has come to represent tradition and national culture, and how the link between the representation of the ideal womanhood and of Japaneseness continues in contemporary Japan. The invention of the Emperor’s face: ‘enrich the nation and strengthen the army’ and national identity Many studies of nationalism present the Meiji Restoration as one of the most successful nationalist projects (e.g. Anderson 1991; Smith 1991). These studies often attribute the success to a relatively high degree of Japanese ethno-cultural homogeneity resulting from two and a half centuries of isolation and internal pacification by the Edo shogunate, to the ‘unique’ antiquity of the imperial house and its emblematic Japaneseness and to the samurai culture and ethic. On the other hand, recent studies on the nature of Japanese nationalism emphasize the importance of the ‘invention’ of the Japanese race as a basis, combined with the ideology of the family-state of divine origin, for the successful nationalist project initiated by the Meiji men (e.g. Yoshino 1992: 26, 90–2, 1997: 200–1; Weiner 1997: 101; Siddle 1997: 137; Oguma 1995). Through the Meiji Restoration, the nation came to be conceived of as an extended family, with the Emperor as the supreme father to the national community and head of the family-state. As a result, a common perception of a consanguineous Japanese race developed, fostered by the notion of the family-state. This racialized national identity was the other underlying component in the enormous success of the Meiji Restoration as Downloaded by [89.250.189.218] at 05:44 26 March 2013 a nationalist project.

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