Since the end of the war, Japanese had been blindly following the Western standard of beauty and they tried so hard to imitate and look like Western models or actresses regardless of our physical differences. But in recent years, Japanese have stopped looking only outside and started looking inside again. They are beginning to find their identity of being beautiful in the way they are.

Monday 14th July, 07:14 AM JST

Beniko Kishi, the CEO of a company that runs several beauty and lifestyle brands, saying Japan is a very different place than in the years after World War II, when Western concepts of beauty were held on a pedestal. (AFP)

Latest 15 of 16 Total Comments Show All

RepublicofTexas at 11:06 AM JST - 14th July

Western style was emulated in Japan, but I don't think that the traditional was ever entirely rejected. Most of the world today has shifted to wearing Western-style clothing (jeans, t-shirt, pants, etc.), I don't think it's a Japanese phenomenon. Also the clothing of the average Japanese it a lot different than the average American. Tokyo has been a global fashion capital for a long time, so it's only natural that the Japanese would have a style of their own. However I do not disagree with the statement that the Japanese like the Western concept of beauty (just look at all the fashion ads, most of the models are white).
blackfeet at 12:57 PM JST - 14th July

This is wrong. It is a probleme of tendance in fashion word. Even in Paris now, Japanese style is the reference.
MarkBellis at 01:12 PM JST - 14th July

So, they should go back to putting nightingale droppings on their face and blackening their teeth? That was high fashion before the Meiji era, although the clothes that they wore really were fantastic.
bamboohat at 01:24 PM JST - 14th July

This is purely marketing fluff. It has absolutly no meaning. It is designed to expand Japanese idea of beauty. With an expanded idea of beauty (western, japanese, inner, outer) there are just more products to sell.

Marketing 101: convince the population they need your product.
kinniku at 01:31 PM JST - 14th July

As I wrote earlier, the CEO needs to get out more. Please take a look at the continued popularity of hair coloring and skin whitening products. To ignore these types of products and trends is to ignore reality. As bamboohat writes above, this company is just trying to sell their own products.
omarbabilon at 01:38 PM JST - 14th July

what about chapatsu????....
texashog65 at 04:12 PM JST - 14th July

Wait a second, Riyo Mori and Kurara Chibana don't look too "western" to me. They seem to be the best of what Japan has to offer, are they following some "western standard"?
wilbur at 05:04 PM JST - 14th July

this guy doesn't leave the house much apparently
niku at 05:05 PM JST - 14th July

Maybe, but they still want to look like all the American tarts that they see on tv
sabinuki at 07:34 PM JST - 14th July

They are beginning to find their identity of being beautiful in the way they are.

Thousands of years of history but they are just starting to find their real identity, courtesy of our products. No need to thank us, just spend 50 thousand a month on being beautiful in the way you are.
omarbabilon at 02:40 AM JST - 15th July

I insist i preffer Inoue Waka style....
gaswarrior at 04:55 AM JST - 15th July

Really ? Japanese value Japanese Beauty ? In what cave is he living ? All the white women used in advertisement, and the Russian "models" in the Service industry says otherwise. Gaswarrior
Blue_Tiger at 05:45 AM JST - 15th July

If Mr. Kishi means "Western" as in "American", I think he's a little off-base. Japanese models and celebrities tend to dress in VERY revealing clothing, as one starlet complained a couple of years ago, that she couldn't dress in her typical "girlie" (read: slutty) fashion while in New York because fashion trends in the States were far more conservative and, according to her words, men were oggling her.
realist at 02:27 PM JST - 15th July

Japanese people have beautiful black hair - yet hundreds of thousands of them dye it to try to look like foreigners, whom most of them dont like anyway. I think Kishi san has lost his grip on reality . . .
Xentrix at 02:08 AM JST - 16th July

US American beauty's and fashion'S are the exotic trend from todays generation. Almost their clothing fashions, hairstyle, accessories, models are the most top compare to other countries. No wonder every nations are following their artistic trends. Well, Japan's inner beauty is a unique one because they highlights almost their artistic fashions from traditions and spiritual image.