HIROSHI WAGATSUMA

The Social Perception of Skin Color in Japan

Long before any sustained contact with either Caucasoid Euro or or peans dark-skinned Africans Indians, the Japanese valued as as "white" skin beautiful and deprecated "black" skin ugly. Their spontaneous responses to the white skin of Caucasoid Euro were an peans and the black skin of Negroid people extension of values deeply embedded in Japanese concepts of beauty.1 From past to present, the Japanese have always associated skin color symbolically with other physical characteristics that signify de or grees of spiritual refinement primitiveness. Skin color has been to a or related whole complex of attractive objectionable social some as tra traits. It might strike curious that the Japanese have ditionally used the word white (shiroi) to describe lighter shades of their own skin color. The social perception of the West has been a that the Chinese and Japanese belong to so-called "yellow" race, while to the Japanese themselves have rarely used the color yellow describe their skin.

I

"White" skin has been considered an essential characteristic of feminine in beauty Japan since recorded time. An old Japanese proverb states that "white skin makes up for seven defects"; a woman's light skin causes one to overlook the absence of other desired physical features.2 the Nara court During period (710-793), ladies made ample use of cosmetics and liberally applied white powder to the face.3 Cheeks were Red were rouged. beauty spots painted on between the eyebrows and at the outer corners of both the eyes and the and were a lips. Eyelids lips given red tinge.4 Both men and women removed their natural and in eyebrows penciled long, thick 407

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lines a emulating Chinese style. The custom of blackening teeth spread among the aristocratic ladies.5 In the next period (794 when court was new 1185), the moved to the capital of Heian (Kyoto), countless references were made in both illustration and to women writing round-faced, plump with white, smooth skin. to was over Necessary beauty long, black, straight hair that draped the back and can shoulders without being tied.6 One illustrate this as a conception of white skin mark of beauty from The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki, a romance of the first decade of the eleventh century:

Her color of skin was white and she was with an attractive very plump face. Her hair grew thick but was cut so as to hang on a level with her shoulders?very beautiful.

Her color was very white and although she was emaciated and looked noble, there still was a certain fulness in her cheek.7 same In her personal diary, the author depicted portraits of several court ladies:

Lady Dainagon is very small but as she is white and beautifully round, she has a taller appearance. Her hair is three inches longer than her height.

texture is Lady Senji is a small and slender person. The of her hair fine, delicate and glossy and reaches a foot longer than her height. a Lady Naiji has beauty and purity, fragrant white skin with which no one can else compete.8 in The Pillow Writing about the year 1002 essays called Book, she "hair not the court lady Sei Sh?nagon described how despised hair."0 smooth and straight" and envied "beautiful, very long written in 1120 Akazome In The Tale of Glory, presumably by women the Emon, a court lady, two beautiful of prosperous Fuji are one "her hair seven or inches wara family depicted: with eight and the other with "her hair about two longer than her height," and her skin white and beautiful."10 feet longer than her height to the twelfth the bearers of From the eighth century, Japanese h ves cultural refinement were the court nobility who idled their the arts of music and away in romantic love affairs, practicing of untanned skin was the of this poetry. The whiteness symbol class which was form of outdoor labor. From privileged spared any to the eleventh century on, men of the aristocracy applied powder as ladies did.11 their faces just the court 408

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In 1184, the warriors took the reins of government away from the effete courtiers and abruptly ended the court's rather decadent era. To protect the samurai virtues of simplicity, frugality, and set in town bravery, the warriors up headquarters the frontier of Kamakura located far away from the capital. The warriors main as in tained Spartan standards, is evidenced the many portrait or countenances. paintings showing rather florid swarthy Women still continued, however, the practices of toiletry established previ was ously in the court. In 1333 the warriors' government moved to from Kamakura back Kyoto, where the Ashikaga Shogunate an family emulated court life and re-established atmosphere of luxury among the ruling class. Standards of feminine beauty still emphasized corpulence of in was worn body, white skin, and black hair, which this period in a was for a woman with a round chignon. Preference voiced face, broad forehead, and eyes slightly down-turned at the corners.12 By this time, the old court custom of penciling eyebrows and black into rites ening teeth had become incorporated the puberty prac rites were ticed for both boys and girls. Such principally held by were the warrior class but later adopted by commoners.13 The a court writing of Yoshida Kenk?, celebrated poet and official who became a Buddhist monk in 1324, exemplifies the continuing pre women. occupation this period had with the white skin of Yoshida wrote in his Idleness: the following Essays of The magician of Kume (as the legend runs) lost his magic power through looking at the white leg of a maiden washing clothes in a river. This may well have been because the white limbs and skin of a woman are no mere external charms but true cleanly plump and fatty beauty and allure.14

a Following chaotic political period, the Tokugawa feudal govern ment was established in 1603. It was to last until the modern more period of Japan, than two hundred and fifty years. Changes in occurred the ideals of feminine beauty during this period of women continuing peace. Gradually, slim and fragile with slender and to faces up-turned eyes began be preferred to the plump, pear shaped ideal that remained dominant until the middle of the an eighteenth century.15 White skin, however, remained imperative characteristic of a feminine beauty. Ibara Saikaku (1642-1693), novelist who wrote celebrated books about common the life during had the to early Tokugawa period, following say about the type of female beauty to be found in Kyoto and Osaka: 409

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woman a A beautiful with round face, skin with a faint pink color, eyes not too the of her nose not too narrow, eyebrows thick, bridge thin, her mouth small, teeth in excellent shape and shining white.16

A woman of twenty-one, white of color, hair beautiful, attired in gen tleness.

Thanks to the pure water of Kyoto, women remain attractive from early childhood but they further improve their beauty by steaming their faces, tightening their fingers with rings and wearing leather socks in sleep. They also comb their hair with the juice of the sanekazura root.17

Another author, depicting the beauties of the middle Toku gawa period of the 1770's, wrote: "A pair of girls wearing red on as lacquered thongs their tender feet, white snow, sashes around their waists, with forms as slender as willow trees."18 Ta an menaga Shunsui (1789-1843), author of the late Tokugawa never to mention the period, forgot white skin when describing women : beautiful of Edo (Tokyo)

Her hands and arms are whiter than snow.

You are well-featured and color is so white that are your you popular among your audience.

This courtesan a than snow. Her was as had neck whiter face shining she always polished itwith powder.19 use the face The of good water and the practice of steaming were socks thought to make skin white and smooth. Rings and were worn since small in sleep to stunt excessive growth of limbs hands and feet were valued attributes of feminine charm. The was These juice of the sanekazura root used to straighten the hair. concern and practices all confirm the continuous with white skin that straight hair. They also suggest, however, the possibility women were in of feminine many lacking such standards beauty. was The following quotation describes what considered ugly: a the lack of Disagreeable features for a woman are large face, any a tufts of hair under the temple, a big, flat nose, thick lips, black skin, too plump body, excessive tallness, heavy, strong limbs, brownish wavy hair and a loud, talkative voice. were a warrior These the comments of Yanagi Riky?, high-ranking a and noted con of the K?riyama fief, who was also poet, artist, He con noisseur of womanhood in the late-eighteenth century. "the amiable features trasted these objectionable features with 410

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a a man of woman, small and well-shaped face, white skin, gentle an ner, innocent, charming and attentive character.,,2? One might or speculate that the supposed Polynesian Melanesian strains, sometimes thought to have entered the Japanese racial mixture, or would be responsible for flat noses, thick lips, brownish, wavy are rare hair. Such features certainly not among Japanese, al run counter though they direcdy to the Japanese image of beauty. a Because Mongoloid skin shows very quick tendency to tan can and to produce "black" skin, the Japanese maintain lightness skin To of only by total avoidance of sunlight. Not surprisingly, women use or kugawa made constant of parasols face hoods to to hide their skin from sunlight and assiduously applied powder face, neck, throat, and upper chest.21 In order to increase the women in whiteness and smoothness of their skin, "polished" it a or their baths with cloth bag containing rice bran the droppings as of the Japanese nightingale. Application of other grains such millet, barley, Deccan grass, and beans was also considered to some on have "bleaching" effect the skin. Juices taken from vari ous were same flowers also used for the purpose,22 and many medi were as cines sold that promised "to turn the skin as white the snow on found the peaks of high mountains."23 When a woman's constant care of her skin achieved desired re as so sults, she would enjoy such praise "Her face is smoothly seems to can shiny that it ready reflect," and "Her face compete a or is so as to a with mirror," "Her face shiny make well polished black lacquered dresser feel ashamed."24 ac From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Kabuki men s tors set the standards of beauty. A rather feminine type of a male with slender figure, well-formed face, white skin, black a hair, and red lips became favorite object of feminine desire. Men possessing these elements of attractiveness would enjoy such a flat as a tering remark "You should be Kabuki actor." By the mid dle the of nineteenth century, these characteristics began to man a more be considered effeminate. A with dusky skin and a piquantly handsome face became the preferred type.20 The word white repeatedly used in the quotations taken from various sources same these is the Japanese word shiroi that is used to describe snow or white paper. There was no intermediate word between shiroi ("white") and kuroi ("black") used to describe skin color.26 When distinctions were made, there would be recourse to such as asa words guroi ('light black"). 411

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n

Not the first long after globe-circling voyages of Magellan, Westerners on appeared the shores of Japan. Dutch, English, Por came tuguese, and Spanish traders to ply their trade in Japanese and missionaries ports. Both Spanish Portuguese sought to estab lish Christianity in Japan. Before the Tokugawa government sealed off Japan from the West, the Japanese had ample opportu to men nity observe white for the first time. In these early contacts, were or the Portuguese and Spaniards called nanban-jin nanban meaning "southern barbarians," words adopted from the Chinese names to to who had designate all the "inferior savages" living the west north, south, east, and of the Middle Kingdom. The Dutch were or called k?m?-jin k?m?, "red-haired people." In several of the colored pictures of the day27 that included both Japanese and Europeans, the Japanese artists painted the men in a faces of the Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese flesh color or women as light brown, but depicted the faces of Japanese white a some are in hue. In few other pictures, however, Portuguese given white faces like Japanese women, while other Portuguese are were given darker faces. Seemingly, the Japanese artists sensi tive in some instances to some form of color differential among were not the foreigners. Many Portuguese and Spaniards actually so as sea white-skinned northern Europeans, and after the long voyage to Japan, they undoubtedly arrived with rather well seem tanned skins. The Dutch in the pictures, on the other hand, or faces. con to be given invariably either gray white When women near trasted with the Japanese them, the Japanese femi a nine face is painted whiter hue than that of the Dutch. in The differences between the Japanese and the Europeans are color and facial char these old prints clearly depicted in hair Dutch are all taller acteristics. The Portuguese, Spaniards, and are than the Japanese and given somewhat unrealistically large and mus noses. Their double eye folds and their bushy eyebrows seem The and taches slightly exaggerated. Portuguese Spanish is a few are black hair. The hair painted brown although given as either red or reddish-brown in Dutch hair is usually depicted indicate that the color.28 Written and pictorial descriptions Japa the hair nese were more impressed with height, color, general noses of the than with their hairiness, big and eyes foreigners Some include of the lighter skin color.29 pictures portraits Negro 412

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are servants of the Portuguese and Dutch. The faces of Negroes a or as painted in leaden- blackish-gray, and their hair is shown extremely frizzled. The physiognomy of the Negroes is somewhat some caricatured and in instances closely resembles the devils and demons of Buddhist mythology. seem a Some Japanese scholars of Dutch science to have had were notion that the black skin and frizzled hair of Negro servants extreme to the result of exposure heat and sunshine in the tropical a countries in which they were born. In 1787, such scholar wrote of what he had learned from his Dutch friends about their Negro servants:

These black ones on the Dutch boats are the natives of countries in the South. As their countries are close to the are sun, they sun-scorched and become black. By nature they are stupid. ones are noses. a The black found with flat They love flat nose and they noses tie children's with leather bands to prevent their growth and to keep them flat. Africa is directly under the equator and the heat there is extreme. are are Therefore, the natives black colored. They uncivilized and vi cious in nature.30 Another scholar wrote: ones are Black impoverished Indians employed by the Dutch. As their in country is the South and the heat is extreme, their body is sun scorched and their color becomes black. Their hair is burned by the sun and becomes frizzled but they are humans and not monkeys as some think.31 mistakenly After the closing of the country by the Tokugawa government in 1639, the only contact of Japanese with Westerners, aside from the Dutch occur traders, would when shipwrecked Japanese sail ors would occasionally be picked up by Western ships and taken for a to a Western period country. The reports about the English, Russians, and Spaniards made by these Japanese sailors upon their return commented much more on the hair and eyes of the Occiden tals than upon the color of skin.32 In 1853 came Commodore Perry of the United States Navy to Japan with his "black ships" and forced Japan to reopen her ports to foreign vessels. When Perry visited Japan for the second time in 1854, there were two American women on board. It was re a ported in Japanese document: On is a woman board named Shirley, 31 years old and her child 5 old. Their is Loretta, years hair red. They have high noses, white faces 413

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and the pupils of their eyes are brown. They are medium in size and very beautiful.33 his The portraits of Commodore Perry and five principals of a noses staff drawn by Japanese artist show the Americans with of are exaggerated size, large eyes, and brownish hair. Their faces a painted in washed-out, whitish-ash color. In other pictures, how are an ever, both American and Japanese faces painted with iden are tical whitish-gray, although the Americans given brown hair some and bushy beards. In pictures showing the American settle ments in Yokohama and Tokyo of the 1860's, the faces of both women are American and Japanese painted whiter than those men. of American and Japanese It may well be possible that the were more American men's faces sun-tanned and exposed to the women elements during the voyage than the faces of the who, canons observing of beauty much like those held by Japanese sun. women, may have kept themselves out of the Also, the artists may have simply resorted to convention by which women's faces were painted white.34 sent an with an en In 1860 the Tokugawa government envoy warriors to the United States to a tourage of eighty-three ratify commerce States treaty of peace and between the United and in 1854. Some of the members of the en Japan originally signed diaries and noted their of the tourage kept careful impressions United States during their trip to Washington. Upon meeting the President of the United States, one samurai wrote: "President Buchanan, about 52 or 53 years of age, is a tall person. His color is were white, his hair is white." The samurai leaders surprised to at women were to tend formal receptions at which included and find women as ser that American men acted toward their obliging vants. They were impressed with the daring exposure afforded by worn women at the d?colletage of the formal evening gowns by these balls and receptions. In their diaries they noted their ap to preciation of American beauty, although they continued express their preference for black hair: skin was white and were in their The women's they charming gala was dresses decorated with gold and silver but their hair red and their eyes looked like dog eyes, which was quite disheartening. Occasionally I saw women with black hair and black eyes. They must more have been of some Asian race. Naturally they looked attractive and beautiful. man s Another expressed his admiration for the President niece, 414

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in true a Harriet Lane, samurai fashion by composing Chinese poem: An American belle, her name is Lane, adorn her her ears. Jewels arms, jade Her no or rosy face needs powder rouge. Her shoulders shine as white as exposed snow.35 This American belle and her friends had asked another samurai at a women or party which he liked better, Japanese American. The samurai wrote in his diary: I answered that the American women are better because their skin color is women. a whiter than that of the Japanese Such trifling comment of mine obviously pleased the girls. After all, women are women.

a nine After seeing about hundred American children aged five to at a gathered May festival ball, another warrior wrote of his ad miration of their beauty: not to The girls did need have the help of powder and rouge. Their skin with its natural was whiter snow beauty than and purer than jewels. I wondered if fairies in wonderland would not look something like these children. On the back way from the United States, the boat carrying the a on Japanese envoy stopped at harbor the African coast, and the had a to see the samurai chance black-skinned Africans inhabiting the region. They noted with disapproval their impression of Ne groid features: ones The black look like devils depicted in pictures.

are as re The faces black if painted with ink and their physiognomy minds me of that of a monkey.36

Ill

In the the early Meiji period, Japanese began their self-con scious imitation of the technology of the West. Less consciously, also to alter their they began perception of feminine beauty. In their writings, they referred with admiration to the white skin of but Westerners, noted with disapproval the hair color and the hairiness of Westerners. hair was not Wavy to the Japanese taste was until the mid-1920's. Curly hair considered to be an animal characteristic. Mrs. the a Sugimoto, daughter of samurai, writes in her as a autobiography that, child with curly hair, she had her 415

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a a it hair dressed twice week with special treatment to straighten properly. When she complained, her mother would scold her, say not ing, "Do you know that curly hair is like that of animals? A a samurai's daughter should not be willing to resemble beast."37 men a The body hair of Caucasian suggested somewhat beastly reasons nature to Japanese women, and, probably for of this kind, women or were Japanese of the late-nineteenth century refused reluctant in many instances to become mistresses to Western dip lomats.38 By the mid-1920's the Japanese had adopted Western customs and fashions, including the singing of American popular songs and dancing in dance halls. They watched motion pictures with de light and made great favorites of Clara Bow, Gloria Swanson, and seem to a Greta Garbo. Motion pictures have had very strong ef fect in finally changing habits of coiffure and attitudes toward women desirable beauty. During this period many Japanese had their hair cut and, in spite of the exhortations of proud samurai to tradition, had it waved and curled. They took wearing long to worn Greta skirts with large hats emulate styles by Garbo. The a was con 1920,s was time of great imitation. Anything Western sidered "modern" and, therefore, superior. This trend lasted until the mid-1930's when, under the pressure of the ultra-nationalist, ties were militarist regime, the with Western fads systematically broken.39 a woman Already in 1924, Tanizaki Junichiro depicted who a was represented kind of femininity that appealing to "modern" in tellectuals of the time. She was Naomi in The Love of an Idiot> a Western She and her physical attractiveness had heavy flavor. was a man if ever to to sought after by who "wished possible go an Europe and marry Occidental woman." Since he could not do so, he decided to marry Naomi, who had such Occidental features. her and educated her so that she He helped her refine beauty even to the of the Oc would become "a real lady presentable eyes a woman cidentals." She became, instead, promiscuous, lust-driven a who turned her mentor-husband into slave chained to her by his uncontrollable passion. An important aspect of Tanizaki's depic is whiteness of her skin: tion of this Occidental-looking girl the out Against the red gown, her hands and feet stand purely white like core a the of cabbage.

to an . . . All the Her skin was white astounding degree. exposed parts were as as meat an of her voluptuous body white the of apple. 416

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in There is a most interesting passage in this book, however, a Naomi which Tanizaki, with note of disappointment, compares a a in with real European woman, Russian aristocrat living exile in Japan. Russian skin . . . was so an [The woman's] color extraordinarily white, almost ghostly beauty of white skin under which the blooa vessels of light violet color were faintly visible like the veining of marble. Com pared with this skin, that of Naomi's lacked clearness and shine and was rather dull to the eye.40 an of The subtle, not fully conscious, trend toward idealization of Western physical features by the Japanese apparently became a increasing importance in the twenties. It remained hidden sub war as of current throughout the last while Japan, the "champion of the colored nations," fought against the "whites." In spite prop ties between and other aganda emphasizing the racial Japanese was never a Asians, the "yellowness" of the Japanese quite made Western standards of point of pride. The rapidity with which war attests to beauty became idealized after the the continuous was in ten drift that occurring spite of years of antagonism and military hostilities.

IV

Older Japanese who have lived overseas have been astounded upon visiting postwar Japan. The straight black hair of the past is all most but gone. Even geisha, the preservers of many feminine wave traditions, have permanents and their hair. Among ordinary one sees women, periodically extreme examples of hair that has more been bleached with hydrogen peroxide or, commonly, dyed a or purplish reddish hue. Plastic surgery, especially to alter eye to folds and build up the bridge of the nose, has become almost standardized practice among the younger movie actresses and, in even some were deed, among of the male actors. There examples of plastic surgery to be found before the war, but its wide popu larity is something new.41 men Contemporary Japanese interviewed in the United States and Japan all agreed in valuing the "whiteness" of skin as a com in ponent of beauty the Japanese woman.42 Whiteness is very of ten associated in their minds with womanhood ("Whiteness is a of them symbol women, distinguishing from men"), with chastity and purity ("Whiteness suggests purity and moral virtue"), and 417

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con motherhood ("One's mother-image is white"). Linked with cerns for the skins whiteness are desires that it also be smooth with a a no close, firm texture, shiny quality, and wrinkles, furrows, spots, or flecks. Some informants mentioned the value of a soft, to resilient, and subtly damp surface the skin. This quality, called an mochi-hada ("skin like pounded rice") in Japanese, has im some plicit sexual connotation for men.43 men Although many young accept the primary preference for a white skin, they also admit that sun-tanned skin in young woman a men con is of "modern" healthy attractiveness. Some a trasted such healthy charm to that of "beautiful tuberculosis a patient whose skin is pale and almost transparent," type of help less beauty that represented tragic charm during the 1930's. Asso as a are ciated with brownish, sun-tanned skin beauty type large a a Western eyes, relatively large mouth with bold lips, well-de an veloped body, and outgoing, gay personality. Such a creature with "Western" charm was held in direct con more con trast to the traditional femininity of white skin, less spicuous physique, gentle manner, and quiet character. One finds these contrasts and stereotypes juxtaposed in popular contempo rary fiction. There is some ambivalence about fight-colored skin men. more in Light skin suggests excessive intellectualism, effete are concern ness, individuals who impractical and themselves with philosophical questions of life, love, and eternity, and those who are to act. unduly ruminative and lack the capacity women was a consensus Among the interviewed, there general women that Japanese like to be "white-skinned," but that there is women a type of modern beauty in with sun-tanned skin. The women believe that such women, however, when they marry and a settle down, "stop being sporty and sun-tanned. Such girl will take care of her skin and become white."44 Several informants with working-class backgrounds said that, as and women children, they heard their mothers other adult talk of about the "fragile, white-skinned women" the wealthier class a who did not have to work outside. They remembered certain a tone of both envy and contempt in their mothers' voices. There is to with urban and "black" tendency associate "white" skin skin with rural living. a In this connection, Japanese social psychologist who had visited Okinawa several times told us that many Okinawans be come self-conscious of their "black" skin when they meet Japanese 418

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to have from Japan. To Okinawan eyes, the Japanese appear "whiter" skin and, therefore, look much more refined and urban a than do the Okinawans. There used to be general association skin with among the Japanese of "white" skin with wealth, "black" economic status. The increas lower younger generations, however, to sun-tanned skin as the of the ingly tend consider sign socially can afford summer vacations at the seaside privileged people who or mountain resorts.45 a women the With only few exceptions, the interviewed voiced women see opinion that Japanese like light-brown-skinned men, as more men. women ing them masculine than pale-skinned Many "a man" and "an attractive man." distinguished between beautiful A beautiful man (bi-danshi) is white-skinned and delicately a featured like Kabuki actor. Although he is admired and appreci some ated almost aesthetically, he is, at the same time, considered a woman is some what "too feminine" for to depend upon. There a man times reference to the saying, "A beautiful lacks money and an man is might." On the other hand, attractive (k?-danshi) dusky-skinned, energetic, masculine, and dependable. Women of in a man a a ten associate light-brown skin with dauntless spirit, a sin capacity for aggressive self-assertion, and quality of manly cerity. A few of the women interviewed parenthetically mentioned a woman own want to that concerned with her "black" skin might a to to marry white-skinned man, hoping thereby give birth light skinned daughters. A few younger women in favor of white skin in man a man a said that white-skinned is "more hairy" (or perhaps out a hair stands better against light background), and hairiness a has certain sexual appeal. Other women, however, expressed on a man. a their dislike of body hair Some women mentioned lik ing for copper-brown skin tone. They associated this with manual not in outdoor labor, strong health, and masculinity, though with to telligence. A reddish, shining face is thought suggest lewdness men in middle-aged fat who have acquired wealth through shady a activities. Such figure stands in opposition to concepts of justice, a sincerity, and spiritual cleanliness. The reddish face of drinking man to some is may look satisfied and peaceful women, though it hardly considered attractive. In these interviews with both men and women, the present attitudes toward Caucasian skin seem to fall into opposites of likes and dislikes an depending, seemingly, upon the degree of individ 419

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or ual's receptivity toward identification with Western culture. These two opposite attitudes may coexist within an individual, either or appearing alternately being expressed simultaneously. Somewhat more than half of both men and women interviewed in two California and about thirds of those interviewed in Japan considered Caucasian skin to be inferior to the Japanese from the texture was standpoint of and regularity. This stereotype among the negative attitudes expressed in the interviews.

Caucasians' skin tends to be rough in texture, full of wrinkles, spots, and speckles. If you look at the neck of an old Caucasian woman with furrows and bristles, it reminds you of that of a pig.

When I try to visualize a Caucasian woman, she is associated in my mind with skin of rough texture and unsmooth surface. Pores of her skin be than ours. women have smoother may larger Young may skin, but older women have bad skin.

a A Eurasian child will be very attractive if it takes Japanese parent's a an skin and Caucasian parent's facial structure, but the result of op posite combination could be disastrous. a seems to This notion concerning Eurasian child be fairly Caucasian skin is widely held among Japanese. The idea that the "ugly" is also expressed in the following passage taken from work of a contemporary Japanese novelist:

When a was on a screen in a kissing couple projected large close-up, then the ugliness unique to Caucasian female skin was magnified. The the woman's throat became visible. freckles covering cheek and clearly ... On the of a man a hairs were seen fingers caressing woman, gold shining like an animal's bristles.46

Some informants who favored Japanese "white" skin but not is not white but trans Caucasian suggested that Caucasian skin parent:

This may be completely unscientific but I feel that when I look at the skin of a Japanese woman I see the whiteness of her skin. When I ob serve Caucasian skin, what I see is the whiteness of the fat underneath the skin, not the whiteness of the skin itself. Therefore, sometimes I see redness of blood under the transpara?t skin instead of white fat. Then it doesn't appear white but red. a I have seen Caucasians closely only few times but my impression is that their skin is very thin, almost transparent, while our skin is thicker and more resilient 420

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The Caucasian skin is something like the surface of a pork sausage, while the white skin of a Japanese resembles the outside of kamaboko [a white, spongy fish cake}. men women on Some and commented the general hairiness of Caucasians. American women do not shave their faces and leave causes some facial hair untouched. This the Japanese discomfort since are to a they accustomed hairless, smooth face. (Japanese women customarily have their entire faces shaved except for the women men eyebrows. ) Some felt that the whiteness of Caucasian lowered their appearance of masculinity; others disliked the hairi ness of Caucasian men a which they thought suggested certain animality. Japanese who have had little personal contact with West erners often associate Caucasians with "strange creatures," if not actors actresses see with animality. Caucasian and they constantly on screens on movie and television may be the subject of their ad miration for "manliness," "handsome or beautiful features," or but don't seem to "glamorous look," "they belong to reality." "Real" Caucasians are felt to be basically discontinuous with the Japanese. As one informant said:

I When think of actual Caucasians walking along the street, I feel that are us. they basically different beings from Certainly, they are humans but I don't feel are the same creatures as we are. they There is, in my a mind, definite discontinuity between us and the Caucasians. Some how, they belong to a different world.

in Deep my mind, it seems, the Caucasians are somehow connected with animal-like. when I think of a something Especially middle-aged Caucasian woman, the first which comes to mind is a thing up my large chunk of boneless ham. This kind of association may not be limited to me. As I recall once in an now, English class at school, our teacher the of the as a explained meaning word "hog" big pig. A boy in our class said I know what it a loudly, "Oh, is! It's like foreign (meaning, woman!" We Caucasian) all laughed and I felt we all agreed with the boy.

For most of the Japanese without much personal contact with skin is one of several Westerners, only characteristics making up the of a Caucasian. Other are image components of this image the and color of of the shape eyes, hair, height, size, weight body, also hairiness. a and Japanese feelings toward Caucasian seem de termined all these factors. in by Many people interviewed Japan talked of their in difficulty discussing their feelings toward 421

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as Caucasian skin differentiated from other Caucasian physical characteristics. An image of a Caucasian with white skin, deep-set a a eyes, wavy hair of color other than black, tall, stout, hairy seems to body, and large hands and feet evoke in many Japanese an association with "vitality," "superior energy," "strong sexual or are ity" "animality," and the feeling that Caucasians basically discontinuous with Asians. Positive attitudes toward Caucasian skin center on the idea that Caucasian skin is, in actuality, whiter than the so-called more white skin of the Japanese and, therefore, attractive. Two in college students California who had dated only Caucasian boys said Caucasian white skin meant to them purity, advanced civili even zation, and spiritual cleanliness. They felt that white-skinned men were attract Japanese "not white enough" to them. Although is no to there basis upon which generalize, the following report a a a woman by student who had sexual relationship with white may deserve some note:

saw Perhaps I was a little drunk. Under an electric light I her skin. It was so it was nature. a white that somehow incongruent with her Such pure whiteness and this girl of some questionable reputation.

a He associated the whiteness of woman's skin with purity and chastity, and felt white skin incongruent with the woman's promis cuous tendency. to a A Japanese hairdresser married Japanese American dis is agreed with the notion that Caucasian skin "ugly." She said that women are Caucasian tend to have larger facial furrows; these more visible than smaller wrinkles, but otherwise "their skin is no better or worse than ours." She added, however:

to Caucasian customers in a when I turn After attending several row, is to a Japanese lady, the change in color is very striking. She yellow. me as a Does it re It always comes to kind of shock, this yellow color. mind me of my own color??I don't know. I think I know I am yellow. Do I still want to forget it??maybe. is darker A sudden realization that Japanese skin color when of Caucasians has been the compared with the white skin experi men women in United States: ence of several Japanese and the some When I stay among Caucasian friends for time and another at fellow and Japanese joins the group, I look him, my countryman, or even "black" to me. in makes me momen he looks yellow This, turn, I I feel different in the tarily self-conscious. mean, myself group. 422

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My daughter is very "white" among the Japanese. Looking at her face, I often say to myself how white she is. As a mother, I feel happy. But see a when I her among Caucasian children in nursery school, alas, my daughter is yellow indeed. time It is interesting to note that Japanese who have spent are in the United States acquire the idea that Japanese "yellow" we a rather than brown-skinned. Those met in Japan, with only or even as few exceptions, hesitate refuse to describe their skin to race" "yellow." They know that the Japanese belong the "yellow (?shoku jinshu, the technical term for the Mongoloid), but they as as some re cannot think of their skin actually yellow, "unless," comes marked, "a person down with jaundice." Having few occasions to compare their skin color with that of other races, the Japanese apparently do not have any words avail able other than black and white to describe their skin. In modern Japan, shakud?-iro ("color of alloy of copper and gold") and are komugi-iro ("color of wheat") used to describe sun-tanned but are skin, other words for brown and yellow rarely employed. a woman When I asked thirty-year-old college graduate to de scribe the color of Japanese skin, she answered spontaneously, it is "Of course, hada4ro ['skin color']!" It is not known why the come to Japanese, after spending time among Caucasians, adopt an the word yellow for their skin. This may be attempt to adhere to common or a a terminology, it may be partially continuation of distinction between themselves and Southeast Asians, whom they consider to be darker-skinned.47 The us informant who had told about the "yellow skin" of her was asked if she s daughter felt unhappy about her daughter "yel lowness." Her answer was an emphatic no, although she admitted that the white skin of Caucasian women is beautiful. A college married to a so graduate, university professor, she suggested her lution to race problems: I think there should be three different standards of beauty to be applied to separately three groups of people of different colors. It is a con fusion of these standards or the loss of one or two of them that leads to tragedy and frustration.

Many Japanese men, especially those in the United States, ad mit the of white skin in Caucasian beauty women, but also point out the sense of the inaccessibility of Caucasian women. Al the of "basic though feeling discontinuity" between Japanese and Caucasians found among those without much contact with West 423

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erners as may become weakened the Japanese spend time among in re the whites, it may sometimes persist this feeling of basic moteness and inaccessibility.

Looking at the white skin I feel somehow that it belongs to a different a world. People understand each other great deal but there is something which people of different races cannot quite share. It sounds foolish and irrational, I know, but somehow this is the feeling I have, looking at the white skin of a Caucasian woman.

White skin suggests a certain remoteness. When I went to Mexico, where most women are not white-skinned like the American, I felt more at home seeing them. I felt more comfortable.

Sometimes I feel that the white skin of the Caucasians tells me that af am an ter all I Oriental and cannot acquire everything Western, how ever Westernized I might be. It is like the last border I cannot go across and it is symbolized by the white skin. Is this my inferiority feeling toward the white people?I often wonder.

An extreme expression of such inferiority feelings about the is Japanese skin color compared with that of the Caucasians found in to sl an Up Aden, short story by award-winning, French-edu cated, Catholic author End? Sh?saku. Written in 1954 when he was In it thirty years old, this is End? Sh?saku's first literary work. he emphasizes the basic discontinuity between European tradi tion and Japanese culture, focusing symbolically upon the hero's somewhat exaggerated feelings about physical differences between a woman a white French and himself. The hero, Japanese student on his way home from France, shares a fourth-class cabin on a cargo boat with a very ill African woman. The story is a beautiful sees on it montage of what the student and feels the boat until a reaches Aden and of his reminiscences of his painful love for was are French girl while he still in France. The following several quotations from the story:

"Race does not make any difference!" the [French] girl said impatiently. are was "The whites, the yellows or the blacks, they all the same!" That what she said. Race does not make any difference. Later she fell in love with me and I did not refuse her love. Because there was this illusion we that race does not make any difference. In the beginning, in love, did not at all take into consideration that her body was white and my was we time?it was in the even skin yellow. When kissed for the first on our where we had . . . ing way home from Mabyon gone dancing? I shouted almost unintentionally to the girl who was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed, "Are you sure? Are you sure you don't 424

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me mind its being me?" But she simply answered, "Stop talking and hold in arms." If race did not make on the earth your any difference, why did I have to utter such a miserable question, like a groan, at that time? If love had no frontiers and race did not matter, I should not have felt unself-confident even for a moment. In I had to reality, however, not to a certain try instinctively envisage truth hidden beneath my groan. was I afraid of it. Less than two months after that evening, the day finally came when I had to see the truth. It was in the last winter when us a was the two of made trip together from Paris to Lyon. It in the time we our . . . evening when for the first showed skin to each other. we arms. Breathlessly, remained long in each other's Golden hair had never more looked to me beautiful. Her naked body was of spotless, pure whiteness and her golden hair smoothly flowed down from her was a shoulders. She facing toward door. I was facing toward cur tained windows. As the light was on, our naked bodies were visible in a on an mirror armoire. In the beginning I could not believe what I had seen in the mirror was really my body. My naked body had been very well proportioned for a Japanese. I was as tall as a European and I was full in chest and limbs. Speaking of the body form, I would not look in harmonious when a white woman in arms. But what I saw holding my reflected in the mirror was something else. Beside the gleaming white ness of her shoulders and breasts in the lighted room, my body looked a dull in lifeless, dark yellow color. My chest and stomach did not look too bad, but around the neck and shoulders turbid yellow color in creased its dullness. The two different colors of our bodies in em brace not even a or was did show bit of beauty harmony. It ugly. I a worm a a suddenly thought of of yellow muddy color, clinging to pure white flower. The color of my body suggested a human secretion, like I cover bile. wished I could my face and body with my hands. I . . . Cowardly, turned off the light to lose my body in darkness. "Hold me are in tight. We love and that is enough," she said to me once when we kissed at a street corner in But was not dusk. it enough that we were in love. love she could not become a By only, yellow woman and I not a could become white man. Love, logic and ideology could not erase differences in skin color. . . White. men had allowed me to enter their as as world long their pride was not hurt. They had al lowed me to wear their clothes, drink their wine and love a white woman. could not a woman They accept that white loved me. They could not accept it because white people's skin is white and beautiful and because I am yellow and ugly. They could not stand a white woman in love with a man of such color. falling lifeless, muddy yellow I had not or Foolishly enough, known thought of it at all until this day the had a [when girl announced her engagement to Japanese man only to invite frightened blame and anger from her friends].

Lying down in the fourth class cabin, I watch the feverish dark brown of a sick African woman in of body front my eyes. I truly feel her skin color is Black color is ugly. ugly and yellow turbid color is even more miserable. I and this woman both Negro belong eternally to ugly races. 425

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I do not know why and how only the white people's skin became the standard of beauty. I do not know why and how the standard of hu man beauty in sculpture and paintings all stemmed from the white so body of the Greeks and has been maintained until today. But what I am sure of is that in regard to the body, those like myself and Negroes can never forget miserable inferiority feelings in front of people possess ing white skin, however vexing itmight be to admit it.

came Three years ago when I to Europe in high spirits, and when I came through this Suez canal, I had not yet given much thought to the fact that I was yellow. In my passport it was written that I was a Japa nese, but at that time in my mind Japanese were the same human beings as white people, both possessing reason and concepts. I had thought, a like Marxian, of class struggle and race conflict but I had never thought of color conflict. Class conflict may be removed but color con am flict will remain eternally and eternally, I yellow and she is white.48 seems to Though it somewhat painful for most Japanese be frank about it (and many of them refuse to do so), there is among a more or Japanese intellectuals less unconscious, if not conscious, an ambivalence toward the world of white people. Such attitude one even a is understandable if takes brief glance at Japan's mod ern at an history. Japan, first overwhelmed by apprehension of in an the Western world's great power, caught up with the West a sense over un amazingly short time. Then, feeling of rejection a equal treatment, Japan appointed itself champion of non-white Asians. In this role, it boldly tried to win a place in the company of white imperialists. Failing disastrously after all, Japan found itself a receiving "democratic education" from its American teachers to ward whom it felt the greatest rivalry mixed with admiration.40 The diffuse ambivalence toward Western civilization may very sense over well be focalized in the admiration, envy, of being or or are in the whelmed threatened, fear, disgust that evoked a with his Japanese mind by the image of hairy giant50 who, great can an vigor and strong sexuality, easily satisfy equally energetic actual sexual and glamorous creature.51 Consequently, experiences woman some to overcome such with a white may help Japanese Caucasians. feelings of inferiority toward once One of the persons interviewed remarked that his uncle over Manchuria told him that during Japan's control many Japa nese Russian men enjoyed sleeping with white prostitutes: a with a white woman made these My uncle said, having relationship men feel different, more masculine or something. The feeling is different an woman. from that one has after having a relationship with Asian 426

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as authors of travel books Generally, however, Japanese men, seem and the suggest, rather overwhelmed discouraged by large of a white woman. This is well author Ta physique portrayed by of human sexual mura Taiji?, who is known for his bold description on he describes a Russian ity. In his reminiscences twelve women, in 1934 after from a uni prostitute he met in Shanghai graduating versity: . . . Her stout body of large build also overwhelmed my feelings. My an arms were bigger than those of average Japanese, but hers were sat next much bigger than mine, almost beyond comparison. When I me to her, the volume and weight of her whole body made feel in was a race feriority and think that I of physically smaller and weaker . . . me than hers. "Shall we dance?" the woman talked to perfunctorily. arms I put my around her and again I was frightened. The girth of her chest was all too broad. It did not belong to the category of chest I women. was had known from the Japanese It certainly something which wriggled in an uncanny way, something which made me wonder she had been . . . "Come on!" she said. Between what eating everyday. two heavy cylinders, like logs, covered up to thighs with black stock ings, which were the only thing she wore, the central part of the woman swoll in a reddish color. It was a bizarre view. ... It was no doubt beyond the imagination of the vegetarian Japanese how the meat-diet of these women made their sexual desire burn and blaze violently and irrepressibly.52 to In contrast this complex of attitudes about Caucasoid racial traits, the Japanese attitudes toward the black skin and facial char acteristics of Negro Americans encountered during the Occupa were a tion generally negative, although number of Japanese women men. in married Negro The Japanese interviewed Califor in were nia, being intellectuals and living the United States, all keenly aware of the recent racial issues. Most of them made such statements as:

I know people should not feel different about Negroes and I have no notions negative about them. I have nothing against them. I don't think I have any prejudice against them. measured comments a These would be followed by "but," and then come would various expressions, usually negative: I feel resistance to coming closer to them. It's almost a reaction and has to physical nothing do with my thinking. It's almost like a biological repulsion. It's the feeling of uneasiness and something uncanny. 427

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were as a These the reactions of the Japanese to Negro features to total Gestalt (eyes, hair, nose, and lips) but particularly black skin.

I think it is simply a matter of custom or habit. We are not accustomed to black skin. I have a Negro friend, very black. I respect him as a scholar and we are close friends and yet I still feel I am not yet used to his black skin. It's something terribly alien to my entire life. It is much better now than itwas two years ago when I first met him.

was Coming to this country, I had not known that a Negro's palm was different in color from the back of his hand. I playing cards with two Americans and one African student and I suddenly noticed the saw color of this African student's palm. I felt I something which I had never seen in my life. All that evening, playing cards, I could not help over looking at his hands time after time.... I just could not get it.

A year after my arrival, I was introduced to an American Negro for the first time. He was a very friendly person and immediately extended his hand toward me. At that very brief moment, I hesitated. No. I did not arm arm hesitate but my did. My resisted being extended forward. a Like light flashing through my mind, I said to myself, "there is no reason why I don't want to shake hands with this black man." I did sense shake hands with him and I do hope he did not my momentary hesitation. Since then I have never hesitated to shake hands with a Negro.

The idea that black skin is something novel to the Japanese and reason only for that difficult for them to get used to was also voiced a a by Japanese woman married to Negro American.

Frankly, I felt uneasy about it [black skin] in the beginning, but you see it every day, from morning to evening; there is nothing else you can do except to get used to it. I did get used to it. Especially since he was very nice and kind all the time. Once you get used to it, you no see it. longer same a a con The idea is stated in novel by Ariyoshi Sawako, as a comment the temporary Japanese author. Although written by a woman to a it most heroine, Japanese married Negro, probably to reflects the author's frank feminine reaction Negroid features:

The Negro's facial features?black sldn, round eyes, thick round nose, ac big thick lips?may very well look animal-like to the eyes of those a or a customed only to yellow white face. Living long enough among the one comes to realize how human their faces are. Negroes, however, . . . skin one an The color of the Negro gives overwhelming impression but once one gets over it, one notices how gentle their facial features are.53 428

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Not Because Incidentally, this novel, with the English subtitle is us. a in of Color, of special interest for Ariyoshi spent few years the United States as a Rockefeller Fellow. She then returned to a Japan and wrote this novel, in which she describes the life of woman a Japanese married to Negro in New York's Harlem. She a women also depicts few other uneducated Japanese married to as a Negro, Puerto Rican, and Italian Americans, contrasted with woman to a highly intellectual Japanese married Jewish college professor and working at the U.N. As suggested by the subtitle, Ariyoshi seemingly wanted to emphasize that?in spite of the prejudiced opinion of many white Americans and Japanese?lazi ness, apathy, lack of conjugal stability, and many other inferior are characteristics attributed to Negro Americans not racially in herent qualities, but the products of their degraded social status. The author accurately describes common Japanese reactions to Negro-Japanese marriages and their offspring. The heroine's wants to a mother, learning that her daughter marry Negro sol dier, says:

Our family has been honored by its warrior ancestry. Though we were not well-to-do, none of us has ever shamed the name of our family. And a member of our wish to a man you, respectable family, marry of such blackness! How shall we apologize to our ancestors? If you wish to an a marry "American," that might be different matter. But marrying that black manl

a am Embraced by such black one, don t you feel disgusted? I afraid of him. Why don't you feel strange?

When the heroine takes her to daughter downtown Tokyo, people around them voice their loudly reactions to her child with Negro blood:

Look, the child of a kuronbo ["black one"].

Indeed, it's black, even when it is young.

She looks like a rubber doll.

She must have taken after her So only father. black. Poor thing. Animal Husbandry,M written by ?e Kenzabur? when he was still a French literature student at the University of Tokyo in is the a a 1957, story of Negro flyer on B-29 bomber inWorld War II. The flier bails out of the plane when it is shot down and lands

429

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on a in a mountain. Caught by Japanese villagers, he is kept stable an some like animal. Eventually of the villagers butcher him be cause they are afraid. not an The story describes only the village children's fear of a an enemy soldier and their association of Negro with animal, but also their discovery of his "humanity" and their timid affection for is him. As already clear from the title, the Negro soldier, "with ...... bristle-covered heavy fingers thick rubber-like lips springy ...... black shining skin frizzled short hair and suffocating was body odor," often associated with an animal. For example, a "The wet skin of the naked Negro soldier shone like that of black horse." A third story to be mentioned here is the work of Matsumoto a numerous Seich?, widely read author of mystery and documentary stories. In this short story, two hundred and fifty Negro soldiers enroute to Korea break out of J?no Camp in Northern Kyushu one night and attack civilian houses around the camp. Many women are are raped. Two other companies of American troops called out to subdue the disturbances; most of the soldiers are sent to brought back to the barracks within several hours and the a man Korean front few days later. A Japanese whose wife had a be been assaulted by group of Negroes divorces his wife and as a carrier gins working at the Army Grave Registration Service, of corpses. One day, he finally finds what he has been looking for: two their the corpses of Negro soldiers he remembered by obscene were tattoos. They among those who raped his wife. Out of his anger, hatred, and desire for revenge, the man stabs the corpses an are as with autopsy knife. The Negroes in this story frequently sociated with animals and also with the primitive natives of the African jungle: re The sound of drums at a village festival was heard from far. It minded them [Negro soldiers] of the rapture of their ancestors, who at in and beat cylindrical and conical drums ceremonies and hunting, . . . whose same blood was running through them. The melody in the Un distance was following the rhythmic pulsing of the human body. avoidably it stimulated their dancing instinct and they began moving their shoulders up and down and waving their hands in fascination. They their nostrils en started breathing hard, with their heads tilted and . . . larged. Thick sounds and rhythm of drums woke the hunters' blood in them.

Their bodies were all dark like shadows but their eyes shone like . . . the inside of a patches of white paper. His white eyes shone like 430

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sea shell but the rest of his face was black, his nose, cheeks, jaw and all...... His thick lips were pink and dull in color. Hair was kinky as if scorched. . . . a . . . Their bodies exhaled strong foul smell of beasts. When he took off his that a his shirt, upper body looked like of rhinoceros, with rich heaps of black flesh. The skin looked almost ready to . . . squeak when moved, like tanned leather of black color. When was was naked, his body swollen, abdomen hanging low. It cylindrical a like monkey's body.55

at Other Japanese interviewed considered that the Japanese more a titude toward black skin is than just simple reaction to to something novel. According this view, black skin is associated in the Japanese mind with many undesirable traits; other Negroid features are the also opposite of what Japanese have long valued as desirable physical characteristics:

Blackness is often combined with death, vice, despair and other kinds of negative things. "A black-bellied man" is wicked. "Black mood" is depression.

When something becomes dirty and smeared, it gets black. White skin in our minds and cleanliness. an symbolizes purity Then, by association, . . . black skin is the opposite of purity and cleanliness. Black skin after all suggests something unclean.56 It is not the natural state of things.

Speaking of a Japanese face, we do not appreciate such features as a pug nose, snub nose, squatting nose, goggle eyes, thick lips, kinky hair. are a They despised and often made laughingstock. They often suggest foolishness or crudity and backwardness among Japanese. What is pre ferred is all the opposites of these. But just think. Aren't they what the Negroes usually have?

a The following report by graduate student who had sexual rela a woman tions with Negro shows that guilt feeling over sexuality can on as become focused the blackness of skin, conceived dirty:

I was not in love with nor was she with me. It was a To her, play. say the I was a truth, curious about Negro, after hearing so much about them. When it was over, however, I had to take a shower. The idea shocked me it was was an because ridiculous but I caught by urge. It was almost a sudden compulsion, to wash my body off, and I did.

Unlike the Japanese interviewed in California, those who were in their questioned Japan expressed feelings toward Negro Ameri cans and Africans without reservation. They were undifferenti seen them as "black atedly by men, with inhumanly black skin, thick goggle eyes, lips, kinky hair, strong body odor,57 and animal 431

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an like sexuality and energy." The feelings toward such image were invariably negative. Many said that they felt indignation toward the white American discrimination against Negroes. Some were were very fond of Negro musicians. Negro baseball players as one are well liked. And yet, said, their "basic feelings repul sion and were disgust toward Negro features"; these feelings fre as a reason quently justified "physiological reaction, which one's ing cannot control." Such strongly negative attitudes toward Negro physical char acteristics certainly pose problems for the mixed-blood children of Negro American fathers and Japanese mothers, although nobody a has yet made systematic study of the lives of these children in postwar Japan. Three lower-class Japanese with less than six an years of primary education independently voiced astonishing a woman notion when interviewed; they believed that if Japanese to a gave birth the black baby of Negro man, her next baby, and a some probably the third one also, of Japanese father would show on black tinge the body. In other words, in the mind of these men, a woman a man was impregnation of Japanese by Negro associated as so with "blackening" of her womb though by ink, that the second even and the third baby conceived in it would become "stained." or The type of Negro the Japanese think attractive hand or a some, the least objectionable, is light-skinned individual with Caucasian features. For this reason, they all find Hindu In more dians with their Caucasoid facial structure generally accept even able, though the Hindus' black skin still groups them with are African and American Negroes. The Japanese not ready to ap a as preciate very Negroid Negro attractive; the newly emergent im trend among the Negro Americans58 has not yet made any pression in Japan. in is The Negro the Japanese language either koku-jin ("black or a person") kuronbo ("black ones"); the former is neutral word, a not tone. but the latter has definitely belittling, if derogatory, to a is a According philologist, the origin of kuronbo Colombo, city was of Ceylon.59 In the seventeenth century, Colombo pronounced as or as by the Japanese "kuronbo" abbreviated "kuro," probably because of the association with the word black (kuro) since the servants on the Dutch boats, identified as "people from Colombo," were The word a actually black-skinned. bo, originally meaning came also to Buddhist priest's lodge and then the priest himself, mean a or to words with the boy "sonny." A suffix certain meaning 432

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as of "little one," such akan-bo ("a little red one": "a baby") and or even sakurartr-bo ("cherry"), bo also creates belittling contemp tuous in as connotations other words, such wasuren-bo ("a forget or ful one"), namaken-bo ("a lazy one"), okorin-bo ("a quick-tem same pered one"). By the token, kuron-bo ("a black one") carries the connotation of childishness. Most Japanese born before 1935 first discovered Negroes by in singing "Old Black Joe" and other Stephen Foster melodies or music classes at school by reading the Japanese translation of Torn s Uncle Cabin. Although they might have related the lot of a a re Negro Americans to vague notion of injustice, such life a mained for most Japanese children remote world. Another sort more to of encounter with black people, with direct reference their color, was evidenced in a cartoon serialized for many years in a popular magazine for children, Adventurous Dankichi, and in a popular song, "The Chiefs Daughter," dating from the 1920's. was a sea one to Dankichi Japanese boy who put to day go fish to an in ing and, while asleep, drifted island somewhere the South Pacific. On the island, Dankichi outwitted the black natives by wore a his cleverness and ingenuity and became their king. He on on a near crown his head and rode white elephant rivers in habited by crocodiles. This fantasy cartoon blended ideas about South Pacific island ers war and primitive tribes in Africa. Originally cannibalistic and like, these people could become loyal though somewhat simple minded subjects when tamed and educated. It is worth noting that this was the kind of image of "black people" to which most were Japanese children of the prewar period exposed. "The Chiefs an Daughter" created image of carefree South Sea islanders with black skin who danced away their lives under the swaying palm trees.

My lover is the Chief's daughter. Though her color is black She is a in the Seas. . . . beauty South us Let dance, dance under the palm trees Those who don't dance, no girls will care to marry. In 1958 and there was a a 1959, sudden fad for small plastic doll was a called Dakko-chan ("a caressable one"). It jet black and much caricaturized child of one in very Negro about foot height when inflated; its hands extended in such a way that it could to a arm or a It was so cling person's pole. widely sold that almost 433

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every house had one, and the manufacturers could not keep up with the demand. A great many teen-agers as well as younger children carried it around with them on the streets. It was, in a cute not an deed, little doll, but it did help the Japanese form a more image of dignified adult Negro.

V

a Since very early time in history, the Japanese have valued the skin color they consider "white."60 The Japanese "white" skin ac is, above all, unsun-tanned skin, while Mongoloid skin is, in sun. tuality, very sensitive to the tanning action of the Japanese, particularly the women, tried hard to remain "white," jealously sun. ex guarding their skin from exposure to the An old Japanese one can see pression observes, "In the provinces where Mt. Fuji, one can see hardly beautiful women."61 The districts traditionally known for their white, smooth-skinned native beauties are, conse are on quently, Izumo, Niigata, and Akita. These all located the one Japan Sea coast where in long, snowy winter weather rarely one can see one enjoys sunlight. Conversely, where Mt. Fuji, also a warm a enjoys Pacific climate year-round and certain continuous can tan skin. sunshine which unguarded Mainly due to modern Japan's contact with the Western world, the Japanese became aware of the "white" skin of the Caucasians, cause "whiter" than the "whitest" skin of the Japanese. This could with the Cauca disappointment when they compared themselves to modernization sians, whom they sought emulate by guided pro as as leisure-time grams of industrialization, well in spontaneous the fads and aesthetic pursuits. During the earlier contact, charm to of the Caucasian white skin was counterbalanced by reactions hair and and hair?distasteful traits in light-colored eyes, body Under the War terms of Japanese aesthetic standards. post-World a for Western facial II impact of American culture, preference the sense of structure and hair style brought Japanese physical aesthetics ever closer to that of Caucasians. The historical inferior this Westernized Eastern na ity-superiority complex of extremely seems mixed attitudes toward Caucasian tion today to reflect texture skin. There is the notion that Caucasian skin is "ugly" in a skin while and quality, thus maintaining Japanese supremacy, of the refined at the same time admitting the better appearance Caucasian facial structure.

434

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skin Up to the present, the color of Negroid and other physical features find little favor in Japanese aesthetics. One may argue that are not it is simply because the Japanese accustomed to black skin; one can but also contend that "blackness" has been symbolically as associated in the Japanese mind, elsewhere, with things evil a or negative and that the image of Negro hitherto created in a na Japan has been that of primitive, childish, simple-minded note to tive. Relatively little has been taken date of the emergence of a new Africa under its modern leaders. a It remains curious fact of Japanese identity that there is rela Asian tively little kinship expressed with any countries other than China, toward which present-day Japan feels less and less cultural cases debt. Japanese eyes, despite of plastic surgery, may keep see their Oriental look, but through these eyes Japanese them as selves part of the modern Western world conceptualized in iden Western terms. Some Japanese wish to change their physical a are coun tity from that of Japanese to something else, but a sense a is not tered by vague of resignation that such change possible. are ex Still in search of their national identity,62 the Japanese some periencing difficulties in maintaining and protecting the on standards of Japanese beauty and handsomeness from the slaughts of standardized images produced by the Western cinema. Preoccupied with changing standards, the Japanese may be slow note a new to convergent perception of beauty entering the West, ar which includes traditional Japanese aesthetic standards in art, even chitecture, and in Mongoloid physical beauty. Physical at tractiveness is gradually losing its unitary cultural or racial basis in most or cannot a societies. Art beauty be maintained in fixed, single standard. Each changes with the diversity of experiences.63

References

1. The word for sldn in contemporary Japanese is either hifu or hada. Hifu is more or less a is in con technical word and used less frequently daily versation than which is the abbreviation hada, of hadae, originally meaning of surface." is in as "vicinity Hada also used figuratively expressions such hada o a woman a man yurusu, "permitting her skin" to when she gives herself to him. is in sense or Hada also used the of temperament disposi tion, as in hada ga awanai, the skin of two individuals does not fit due to the of their characters. A or man incompatibility dashing gallant may be described as a man isami a of hada ("braced-up skin") and research 435

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man as a man In minded of gakusha hada ("scholarly skin"). describing as one's skin color, the word hada is used more often than hifu, in such as hada no shiroi hito A more expressions ("a white-skinned person"). common use practice is to the word iro ("color"), as in iro no shiroi onna ("a white-colored woman").

2. S. Noguchi (ed.), Koji Kotowaza Jiten (Dictionary of Old Sayings and Proverbs; Tokyo, 1963), pp. 40-41.

was 3. Face powder, which in the Japanese is o-shiroi ("honorable white"), to some one the wise of invented, according legends, by of ancient kings or China, Shou of Yin, Wen of Chou, Mu of Ch'in. Actually, graves of the b.c. a.D. early Han period ( 202 to about 25 ) have given up to archaeologists numberless lacquered vessels and metal boxes containing face powder, rouge, and other toilet preparations. Face powder, together with rouge, came or a to Japan via Korea in the third fourth century. In 692, Japanese monk named or succeeded in from Kansei, Kanjo, making face powder was of lead and commended by the Court and presented with "fifty lengths A rice was as face cloth." powder of glutinous and of millet also used in came powder. Another substance, applied liquid form, from the floury no seeds of the jalap plant (o-shiroi-bana). See T. Erna, "Kesh? hensen" (History of Toiletry), Nthon F?zoku Shi (History of Japanese Customs), 4 Vol. (Tokyo, 1959), pp. 52-78; U. A. Casal, "Japanese Cosmetics and Teeth Transactions Blackening," The of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Third Series, Vol. 9 (May, 1966), pp. 5-27.

a not was 4. Beni, made from the safflower and of good but too luminous red, as It was a used rouge. applied with soft, short, round brush somewhat over an inch in It was diameter. distributed rather evenly with but slight A more was on shading. concentrated preparation, kuchi-beni, rubbed the as or lips with the third finger, which is still referred to the beni-sashi-yubi, most "rouge-applying finger." The lower lips, rather fleshy with Japanese, were from times was early partly covered by white powder, and the rouge so as to applied make them appear smaller. See Casal, "Japanese Cosmetics and Teeth Blackening."

nesshi in the 5. According to Casal, the blackening of teeth, called Japanese, more came from is not found in China. The practice than likely Malayan on islands to the since teeth were blackened mixed people south, by various in Asia and the Heian people Southeast Polynesia. During period the custom of at (794-1185), girls generally adopted teeth-blackening twelfth court nobles their teeth. In the puberty. From the century, dyed time of the Regents, de facto rulers of Japan from 1200 to 1333, followers as a of to their of the Regents looked upon teeth-blackening sign loyalty of natural lords. The custom of teeth-blackening and removal eyebrows the court nobles lasted until 1868, the beginning of modern Japan. Among This would seem to be in a it appears to have been compulsory. implied on that nobles were "no decree issued January 30, 1868, stating longer black remove their obliged to paint their teeth and eyebrows." By March, that "henceforth her teeth and 1868, the Empress had decided eyebrows an will be allowed to remain as nature formed them," thereby setting 436

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to the nation. was a based example The blackening done with preparation on iron acetate and as One of known, therefore, tessh? ("iron juice"). way it was to iron in a wine and making place filings small pot with Japanese near or ex juice of the snake gourd, letting the mixture simmer the hearth it to the sun in summer. was to a red posing Another plunge glowing, piece a of iron into small portion of rice wine diluted with water, and after five or six to skim off the scum it in a near a warm days and keep cup fire until before adding powdered gallnuts and iron filings for further heating. The was a resulting dye applied to the teeth with brush of soft hair or feathers. See "Kesh? no Erna, hensen"; Casal, "Japanese Cosmetics and Teeth Blackening."

6. T. Adachi, Y?jo F?zoku Sugata (Customs of Courtesans; Tokyo, 1956); T. Endo, "Josei to Keppatsu" (Women and Their Hairdos), Nihon F?zoku Shi, Vol. 12 (Tokyo, 1959), pp. 69-102.

7. Murasaki Shikibu, Genji Monogatari (Tokyo, 1958), pp. 232, 294. 8. Murasaki Shikibu, Nikki (Tokyo, 1957), pp. 182, 184. 9. Sei Sh?nagon, Makura no S?shi (Tokyo, 1957), pp. 262, 269.

10. Akazome Emon, Eiga Monogatari (Tokyo, 1957), pp. 49, 51.

11. Ema, "Kesh? no hensen," p. 65.

12. Adachi, Y?jo F?zoku Sugata, p. 246. T. 13. Ema, Nihon F?zoku Zenshi (Complete History of Japanese Customs), Vol. 1 (Kyoto, 1925), pp. 170-75.

14. Yoshida Kenk?, Tsure Zure Gusa (Tokyo, 1958), p. 92. 15. Adachi, Y?jo F?zoku Sugata, p. 248. Ibara 16. Saikaku, K?shoku Ichidai Onna (The Woman Who Spent Her Life at Love Making; Tokyo, 1949), p. 215.

17. Ibara Saikaku, K?shoku Ichidai Otoko (The Man Who Spent His Life at Love Making; Tokyo, 1958), pp. 84, 92.

18. Tanishi Geisha Yobiko in no Kingyo, Dori, quoted R. Saito, Edo Sugata (Views in Edo; Tokyo, 1936), p. 97

19. Tamenaga Shunsui, Shunshoku Ume Goyomi (Tokyo, 1951), pp. 76, 95, 108.

20. Hitori Yanagi Riky?, Ne (Lying Alone), quoted in Adachi, Y?jo F?zoku Sugata, p. 144.

21. During the early part of the Tokugawa period, when the center of culture was in Osaka and and was Kyoto, Edo still very much a frontier, the custom of women Kyoto-Osaka thickly painting their faces and necks white did not reach Edo. Edo to women, instead, tended be proud of the natural smoothness and shine of their and unpainted skin, they used powder very After the sparingly. early-nineteenth century, however, under the influence 437

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women See of Kyoto-Osaka culture, the make-up of Edo's became thicker. no R. Saito, Edo Sugata, p. 223; Y. Ikeda, K. Hara, et al, Sei F?zoku (Sexual Mores), Vol. 1 (Tokyo, 1959), p. 229; R. Nishizawa, Koto Gosui (Noon Nap in the Imperial Capitol), quoted in E. Mitamura, Edo Jidai Sama Zama (Various Aspects of the Edo Period; Tokyo, 1929), p. 460. Edo women also came to See paint their lips and fingernails pink and red. S. Fujioka and K. Hiraido, Nihon F?zoku Shi (History of Japanese Customs; 133. as an initiation Tokyo, 1900), p. Blackening women's teeth remained a ceremony at the age of thirteen or fourteen among the warrior class, but woman of the commoner's status blackened her teeth and removed her was eyebrows when she married. See Ema, Nihon F?zoku Zenshi, p. 179.

22. Erna, "Kesh? no hensen," p. 70.

23. K. Hanasaki (ed.), Ehon Edo Kesh? Shi (Notes on Edo Toiletry, Illus trated; Tokyo, 1955), p. 66.

24. E. Mitamura, Edo no Onna (Women of Edo; Tokyo, 1956), p. 28.

25. Ibid., pp. 33-38.

to 26. The word kuroi ("black"), used describe the swarthy skin of the is more Japanese, also used to designate black objects such as black charcoal or black smoke.

27. B. Smith, Japan?A History in AH (New York, 1964).

28. The differences in hair color between the Portuguese and the Dutch were a mentioned in a document reporting the arrest of Portuguese missionary who tried to enter Japan illegally after Christianity had been banned: "His hair is black and not red like that of a Red-haired. His eyes are not like those to ours. His is of the Red-haired but similar nose, however, big and and different from See high certainly ours." Nagasaki Yawa (Night Stories of Nagasaki), ed. S. Nishikawa, in Nanban Kibun Ch? (Rare Stories About Southern Barbarians), ed. S. Mishima (Tokyo, 1929), p. 46.

seems 29. It that the Japanese had various wild ideas about the Dutch living in A Dejima, Nagasaki. Japanese physician, ?tsuki Gentaku, who studied more a Dutch medicine and, generally, Western technology, wrote book to customs inform readers of foreign life and (ranging from wine and bread to correct to making mummies ) and their misconceptions. In this book the author refers to public misconceptions that the Dutch have no ankles the Dutch wore (seemingly assumed because shoes with heels), that their eyes are ?hose of beasts, that they lift one leg like a dog to urinate, and that know a of sexual and are to love they variety techniques, given taking are potions. The author declares that these beliefs all laughable nonsense. See G. Ransetsu Benwaku ?tsuki, (Enlightenment of Misconceptions in Regard to the Dutch), ed. Shigeo ?tsuki (Tokyo, 1911), p. 9. 30. Morishima Chury?, K?m? Zatsuwa (Chitchats with the Dutch), ed. R. Ono (Tokyo, 1943), pp. 54-55, 92.

31. ?tsuki, Ransetsu Benwaku, p. 16.

438

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on 32. Shigeo ?tsuki, "Kinkai Ibun" (News the Seas Around), Nanban Kibun Ch?, pp. 217, 225; K. Nara (ed.), "Aboku Shinwa" (News from America), Nanban Kibun Ch?, pp. 11, 15; N. Kishi (ed.), J?kichi Hy?ry? Ki (Story of J?kichi's Drifting; Tokyo, 1930), p. 51.

33. E. Mitamura, Edo Jidai Sama Zama, p. 460.

34. Smith, Japan?A History in AH.

are 35. Lane is pronounced Rei-en in the poem and two Chinese characters used to stand for the sound; one means "cool" (rei), the other "charm" (en). As there are other characters with the sound of rei (for instance, one means writer's character "beauty"), the choice of the particular character with the meaning of "cool" may reflect his feeling toward Miss Lane, that that was is, he might have felt she charming but somehow distant and inaccessible.

36. T. Osatake, Bakumatsu T?zai F?zoku Kan (The East and West View Each Other's Customs in the Mid-Nineteenth Century), Nihon F?zoka K?za, Vol. 7 (Tokyo, 1929), pp. 37, 42, 44, 54, 58,141. 37. E. S. Sugimoto, A Daughter of the Samurai (London, 1933), p. 131.

38. T. Tobushi, Y?sh? Shidan (Historical Stories of Prostitutes Whose Custom

ers Were Foreigners; Tokyo, 1956), pp. 103-24. Adachi, Y?jo F?zoku Sugata, p. 258; T. Nakayama, Ai Yoku Sanzen-nen Shi (Three Thousand Years of Love and Lust; Tokyo, 1935), pp. 339-42.

39. T. Wakamori, Nihon F?zoku Shi (History of Japanese Customs), Vol. 2 (Tokyo, 1958), pp. 740-50.

no 40. J. Tanizaki, Chijin Ai, Selected Works of Tanizaki Junichiro, Vol. 4 (Tokyo, 1950), pp. 30, 58, 59, 140, 183.

41. The writer failed to discover when the traditional narrow preference for in a woman to new eyes gave way the preference for round eyes with double-folded eyelids, which the Japanese must have learned to value from aesthetics. is a the Western There Japanese saying, "A woman's eyes a should be bell shaped, and man's eyes should be like thread," indicating in a woman the preference for round big eyes but for rather narrow eyes in a man. The time of the origin of this saying is unclear to us. Natsume S?seki one the seems (1867-1916), of greatest novelists of modern Japan, to be the earliest admirers of the charms of in among double-folded eyelids women. For instance, in his first novel of 1907, he describes one of the heroines: "Itoko with white, soft and full fingers and cute eyes with double-folded He mentions eyelids." certainly the whiteness of the girls: in in a "White color, born the shadow of setting moon, she was named Sayo"; "Fujiko's white face shone under her black hair." Natsume S?seki, Gubijins? (A Field Poppy), Zensh? (Collected Works), Vol. 4 (Tokyo, One 1963), pp. 74, 112, 119. evidence of the Japanese woman's strong to is a desire acquire double-folded eyelids the popularity of small tool, in 1930's In widely advertised the and 1940's. shape it somewhat resembles an American and it a eyelash curler, helps single eyelids to fold into 439

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crease. it is double If such "folding" is repeated time after time, the eyelids, to a of this believed, will eventually become accustomed double fold. Sales instrument were revived after the war.

on a series 42. The following section is based of informal interviews, the first, men women in in Spring 1965, with twenty-two Japanese and Berkeley, their one woman California (graduate students, visiting scholars, wives, to a woman to a married Japanese American, another married Negro American; their ages ranged from 28 to 50; their stays in the United States over ten varied from two to years ) ; the second, in Fall 1965, with thirty-six men women and in Tokyo and Kobe, Japan, who had varied ages, and one educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. The second group shared common never or no factor: They had been abroad; they had had little contact with Caucasians and personal Negroes.

seems over be 43. It that Japanese men, especially forty years of age, tend to more a woman concerned with the skin texture of Japanese than with the men measurement of her bust and hips, while the Western will first think a woman of the "shape" of rather than her skin texture. We might say that is the Japanese man's sexual aesthetics traditionally "surface-oriented," while the Western man's is "structure-oriented." Mishima Yukio, an author known to Western readers through English translations of many of his to texture works, paid attention the of the skin when describing healthy women. "His mother well rich physiques of diving had sun-tanned thighs which did not show even a wrinkle, and their abundant flesh shone almost in amber color. . . . She had skin which could never be called 'white' in in it was . . . color but constantly washed waves, smooth and tight. Every were no woman diver's breasts well sun-tanned and had mysterious white ness, and did not show veins underneath the skin. The sun, however, nourished a translucent, lustrous color like honey in their sun-tanned skin." Mishima Yukio, Shiozai (Sound of Waves), Mishima Yukio Selected Works, 120. Vol. 14 (Tokyo, 1954), pp. 64, 67, It should be noted, however, that is among the younger generation the "structure-orientation" replacing the "surface orientation."

one 44. In summer 1965, Mainichi, of the leading newspapers, serialized women a column called "Charm School," which gives advice to readers on how to increase and keep their feminine beauty. The column of August 2, are in as with the caption, "blessed those white color," read, "... the white color covers seven and a woman with white proverb says, defects, skin looks beautiful even if she is not endowed with an attractive look. is more accessories. can Healthy white skin charming than expensive How you become a white-colored beauty? You should be careful not to expose in . . . your skin directly to the ultraviolet rays sunshine. Never forget to a out on a summer and to to carry parasol when you go day, apply your ... to use face 'foundation/ It also helps to take orally Vitamin C, and cream C. or rice milky lotion and containing Vitamin 'Packing' with flour mixed with several of a of powder, drops hydrogen peroxide, spoonful a a olive oil, tablespoonful of powdered milk, and few drops of lemon juice, also has whitening effects." Another example of the Japanese women's 440

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from the advertisement preoccupation with "white" skin may be assumed a of medicated face shampoo, named "Rozetta Pasta," supposedly effective in and whitening skin and removing pimples, spots, freckles, wrinkles. The in in and advertisement, which frequendy appears newspapers, magazines, on television screens, shows an illustrated conversation between Kuroko-san (Miss Black) and Shiroko-san (Miss White). An advertisement for in on Rozetta Pasta published Asahi, another leading newspaper, August 14, 1965, read: Shiroko: "I have not seen you for a while. You are as black as ever." Kuroko: "Speaking of color, you have become very white recently. Is there any secret? I am so black that I may have to use bleaching chemicals for cloth." Shiroko: "No. Don't you remember our chemistry at once that are two one teacher school said there ways of bleaching, by the not reduction, other by oxidation? Bleaching by reduction does do any or harm to cloth skin. For instance, chloride of lime bleaches by oxidation, while brown sugar, honey, and sulphur bleach by reduction." Kuroko: "But the bleaching power of brown sugar is too weak for my black skin." on harmless Shiroko: "Sulphur, when chemically processed, takes bleaching an power." Kuroko: "Then, sulphur might be used for developing effective skin lotion, I suppose." Shiroko: "Exactly! That's Rozetta Pasta."

45. In the summer of 1966, sun-bathing became fashionable among the young women urban in Japan. Those who could not afford to go to the seaside or to mountain resorts went instead to already overcrowded swimming pools in cities. These ladies also seemed to have after gone swimming sun-bathing. Newspapers reported complaints of many pool visitors that "the water be came from sun-tan lotion and very oily olive oil the ladies had lavishly applied to their skin." On August 14, 1966, Mainichi printed a warning by various doctors that "sudden and long exposure of skin to strong summer can sunlight does damage to the skin and also cause various health dis turbances such as or even general fatigue, pleura and phthisis," and "it is a women questionable tendency that the young are very eager to have their skin sun-tanned excessively." S. 46. Ariyoshi, Hishoku (Not Color; Tokyo, 1964), p. 204.

47. The interviewed tended to be Japanese explicit about the physical differ ences they believed to exist between themselves and other Asian and South east Asian to peoples; they also tended be rather sensitive about Westerners them for Chinese or Burmese. mistaking Corresponding differential images may exist among other nations in the Orient: three American-educated Thai women told the me, independently, stereotypes of the Asian people held by the Thais: The Filipinos, Indonesians, Burmese, Laotians, and Cambodians look the same as the physically Thais, with big round eyes with double-folded eyelids and dark skin of rather rough texture, while the and Chinese look Japanese, Koreans, undistinguishably alike, all possessing narrow and skin of smooth eyes lighter surface. The Vietnamese, they said, fall between these two groups; some look like Thais and others like Chinese. 48. S. End?, Aden Made (Up to Aden), Shin Nihon Bungaku Zensh? (Collec tion of Contemporary Literary Works), Vol. 9 (Tokyo, 1964), pp. 128-42. an American-educated 49. Minami Hiroshi, social psychologist, writes: "For 441

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the Japanese, the foreigners are not only different people of different race and from are nationality, coming outside, but they also people of status and higher stronger power, coming from above. Japanese feel shy toward the as outsiders and feel foreigners inferiority-superiority complex toward the who come from H. no foreigners above." Minami, "Nihonjin Gaikokujin kan" (Japanese Views of Foreigners), Ningen no Kagaku (Sci ence of Man), Vol. 2, No. 1 (1964), pp. 14-23.

50. ambivalence toward a in Japanese large body and large limbs is reflected some proverbs: "Wisdom cannot fill up too large a body" (Big body, little or wit); "A fool has big feet," "Seeds of prickly ash are tiny but peppery" (A small man is shrewd and wise).

men 51. When Japanese feel a vague sense of annoyance or discomfort at the or notion of a woman a an sight Japanese marrying white man, especially the be related to their American, feeling may unconscious understanding that a a white is Japanese woman, by choosing man, challenging their worth as men and their masculine potency.

52. T. Tamura, Jo Taku (A Folio of Women's Rubbed Copies; Tokyo, 1964), pp. 73, 75, 76, 78.

53. Ariyoshi, Hishoku.

54. K. ?e, Shiiku (Animal Husbandry; Tokyo, 1963), pp. 317, 310-11, 325. no E on 55. S. Matsumoto, Kuro-ji (A Picture the Black Cloth), Tanpen Senshu (Selected Short Stories; Tokyo, 1965), pp. 70, 75-77, 81-85, 89. men women in 56. A study of 344 and of Tokyo middle-class families regard means to their attitudes toward various nations snowed, by of social-distance were scale, that the Negroes among the "most distant" and "least liked"; were as M. S. they often described "dirty" and "ugly." See Oka and Izumi, "Imminzoku Mondai" (Problems of Foreign Races), Shakai-teki Kinch? no Kenky? ( Studies in Social Tensions; Nihon Jinbun Kagakkai [Japan Society of Humanities]; Tokyo, 1953), pp. 423-44. A similar study by Ichiei Azuma, at Mihoko Seike, and Ikuyo Yamada, probation officers Kobe and Osaka are that thirteen Family Court, whose data still being analyzed, shows of men women nations and races, the Koreans are the least liked by 272 and are the second of working- and middle-class background. The Negroes not seem least-liked group. Stereotypes of the Negroes, however, do to show the attributes such as ugly or dirty, but they are frequently described as and "athletic," "jovial," "superstitious." or a 57. The strong body odor, actually perceived imagined, of Negro and a was sometimes also of Caucasian often considered by the Japanese to be a source a writer one of their repulsion. Fujishima Taisuke, and of the at a classmates of the Crown Prince the Peers School, wrote rather depress Cannot in a ing essay with the title "We Marry Negroes" widely read and He the respectable magazine. emphasized strong body odor of the African I at "I Negroes. "When arrived Nairobi Airport," he writes, felt the air was a was filled with striking smell. It body odor of the Negroes. Unless one to it is a becomes accustomed it, sickening smell, really strong." After 442

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comes to describing his other experiences with the body odor, Fujishima his conclusion: "The real underlying thought upon which racial discrimina tion is based, I believe, is primarily derived from the physiological repulsion caused by this striking odor. All tie other sophisticated thoughts and logics are . . . Humanism is one and the justification added later. thing, physio is another T. logical repulsion of human being thing." Fujishima, "Kokujin to wa kekkon dekinai," Bungei Shunj? (February, 1966), pp. 308-13. 58. Harold R. Isaacs, The New World of Negro Americans (New York, 1963), pp. 90-96.

was a 59. A document from the late 1670's says, "In the country of Inaba there man seven was loiro/ He had been of feet height. He from the country of at war and over to His color was that captured the Korean brought Japan. him kuron-bo." See K. of soot and people called ?tsuki, Daigenkai (Dic tionary of Japanese Language; Tokyo, 1956), p. 565.

a face with in the Far 60. The thousand years' practice of whitening powder of white color or the distant East might suggest universality preference result of some past cultural diffusion of early European origin. An extremely interesting subject of inquiry, it is beyond the scope of this paper. 61. S. Shiroyanagi, Nihon Josei Shiwa (Stories from the History of Japanese Women; Tokyo, 1934), p. 115. His 62. Harold R. Isaacs, "Group Identity and Political Change: The Role of a at of Association for tory and Origin," paper presented the meeting the Asian Studies in San Francisco, April 3, 1965, pp. 31-36; R. Lifton, in Cul "Youth and History?Individual Changes Post-War Japan," Asian ture Studies, No. 3 (October, 1962), pp. 115-36; A. M. Rosenthal, "New to Giant in an Japan?Future Beckons Timorous Search of Identity," The New York Times (June 24-27,1963). 63. I would like to express my deep gratitude to my friend Professor Harold R. me to Isaacs, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who urged write this article and gave me constant moral support. I am also indebted to my colleague Professor George De Vos of the Department of Anthropology am of the University of California, Berkeley, for his valuable advice. I also to shared me grateful my wife, Reiko Wagatsuma, who with the burden of are our library research and interviewing. We indebted to Japanese friends whose latter in Berkeley, Tokyo, and Kobe, kind cooperation made the part of this paper possible.

443

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