Afro-Japanese Makeup and Beauty — Haruka
Project Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B6fXECf33JyrtJ1v9-Ohc35HBWyAk28O/view?usp=sharing
My project imagined the Afro-Japanese interaction in the future by sharing makeup looks: popular makeup style among black women and Princess Tiana inspired makeup.
I believe the first step of Afro-Japanese interaction is to feel familiar with its culture. While Korean and Chinese makeup and cosmetics are popular in Japan and many people copy their style, not many people follow the makeup style popular among black people. Moreover, limited kinds of makeup are introduced in magazines and on TV. Thus, I want to focus on thinking about how people can feel closer to the type of makeup for women of various colors and how they can be favored in the future. Although there are preferences, I believe one of the significant reasons Japanese people do not follow non-Asian makeup is the difference in facial features. There are different physical features, but I think we can still absorb other makeup styles and adapt them to our faces. For instance, recently, Youtubers worldwide enjoy popular makeup in different countries or ethnicities, and there are videos such as “Korean inspired makeup for dark skin.” Watching the video and reading the comments, I felt that makeup could be the first step to learn about another culture. Besides Korean and Chinese makeup, the makeup is expressed as “foreigner-like” makeup, which I believe is too broad as there are various foreign people. It is true that many of them find Korean and Chinese makeup attractive. Still, I think there is not enough diversity in terms of beauty. Therefore, I hope the popular makeup among black women can be welcomed in Japan in the future.
One example of my project includes the makeup of Princess Tiana, a Disney Princess, who is not as well-known as other princesses in Japan. We cannot meet Princess Tiana at Tokyo Disneyland, and when Youtubers upload Princess inspired makeup, Tiana is often not included. Thus, considering the significant influence of Disney Princesses, I believe there will be a change by being exposed to Princess Tiana, and enhance her name recognition.
In Japan, Ganguro or Yamamba makeup trend was popular from the mid-1990s to the early first decade of the 2000s. According to an interview in Traveling texts and the work of Afro-Japanese cultural production: two haiku and a microphone, one ex-Yamamba woman answered that Yamamba makeup was about mastering Gal-ness, and not them wanting to be black. On the other hand, she also shared her opinion that she wanted to be darker to look ikatsui (rough, tough) like black people. Moreover, B-Kei, or “black style” fashion and makeup, which was inspired and derived from the respect towards black people, adopted the blackness as a Japanese version. However, I felt that they have a stereotype towards black people that they are ikatsui. Additionally, many enjoyed the appearance but did not desire closer relations with real black culture or black people themselves (Cornyetz, 2015). Thus, I certainly believe it is best to enjoy makeup with our unique skin color. Even if we have respect, it is better not to change our skin color since many races experienced hardships related to their skin colors (Hall, 2010). No matter what skin tone you’re trying to portray, some people argue that showing yourself as someone of a different race uses someone’s skin tone as a costume (Trammell, 2019).
I hope makeup can be the first step to create an Afro-Japanese future where people purely enjoy both cultures without any stereotypes. Ultimately, I hope there will be more opportunities for Japanese people to be interested in black culture by enjoying the popular makeup looks among black people to get rid of prejudice or internal barriers. As you can see from the B-Kei trend, people do have respect for black culture. On the other hand, they indeed see black people with a fixed image. Thus, my project imagined a future where people enjoy different makeup, but enjoying it with our own facial features, and with a non-biased view. In addition, there is an improvement in the beauty industry, and there are more foundation shades than in the past, and models have different skin colors and sizes (Frisby, 2019). On the other hand, it is still difficult to see those changes in popular Japanese beauty brands we find at drug stores. Thus, if the makeup style becomes popular in society, I believe we will see those changes as well.
References
Cornyetz, N (2015). Traveling texts and the work of Afro-Japanese cultural production: two haiku and a microphone. The Theatrics of Japanese Blackface Body as Mannequin. Pp.45–54.
Frisby, C. (January 2019). Black and Beautiful: A Content Analysis and Study of Colorism and Strides toward Inclusivity in the Cosmetic Industry. Scientific Research Publishing. pp. 35–43. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333850420_Black_and_Beautiful_A_Content_Analysis_and_Study_of_Colorism_and_Strides_toward_Inclusivity_in_the_Cosmetic_Industry
Hall, R. (January 2010). An historical analysis of skin color discrimination in America: Victimism among victim group populations. Introduction. Research Gate.
Trammell, K. (September 20, 2019). Brownface. Blackface. They’re all offensive. And here’s why. CNN World. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/19/world/brownface-blackface-yellowface-trnd/index.html
