"Mari Katayama wins inaugural Mori Art Prize"

Photo source: https://www.akionagasawa.com/en/artist/mari-katayama/GINZA/

Mari Katayama received the inaugural Mori Art Award grand prize at a ceremony at the Roppongi Hills Club in Tokyo on Feb. 26. This biennial award for Japan-based, mid-career artists comes with a ¥10 million monetary prize and the opportunity to hold an exhibition at the Mori Art Museum. It is among the largest payouts for a single contemporary artist in Japan, surpassing the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award, which distributes ¥3 million each to two artists.
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Katayama, 39, works with analog photography and handicraft practices such as embroidery and needlework, designing and handsewing objects she attaches to her body that she then captures in self-portraits. Her creations challenge preconceptions about the human body, disability, gender, nature, beauty and fashion. She was born with tibial hemimelia, a congenital condition affecting limb development, which resulted in a cleft hand and the amputation of both her legs at age 9. On her website, she describes the core of her artistic practice as “living every day within her own body, which she uses as a living sculpture, mannequin and lens through which to reflect society.”

Read the whole story at The Japan Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2026/03/02/art/mori-art-museum-prize/

Mari Katayama | 片山真理 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katayamari/

The Image of Beauty in Contemporary Japan: "'Haafu' to represent Japan at Miss Universe 2015"

Photo and text borrowed from Japan Today, 3/16/15.

...For the second year in the row, the Japanese representative for the Miss Universe competition hails from Nagasaki, with last year’s crown holder being Keiko Tsuji. As cool as that is, the real story of the year is that the 2015 representative, Ariana Miyamoto, is half-Japanese.

It’s no surprise that Western features are considered beautiful in Japan. Sometimes, due to their alluring features, “haafu” are not always treated the same, or even as Japanese, as their native peers. Miss Nagasaki faced her fair share of race-related challenges too and although some people are against her acting as a representative for Japan due to her mixed heritage, she is also receiving a lot of support.

The final of the 18th Miss Universe Japan contest was held in Tokyo on March 8. As you’d expect, Miss Nagasaki faced some tough competition of equally beautiful and graceful young ladies, but it’d be a stretch to say that she didn’t stick out. However, it really was only her looks that set her apart, being born and raised in Japan, she is not only a Japanese citizen, but she identifies with Japanese culture and considers herself Japanese.

Twenty-year-old Ariana was born to a Japanese mother and an African-American father in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, the location of a major American naval base. After junior high graduation in Sasebo, she spent her high school years studying in the U.S. Upon returning to Japan as a young adult she set her sights on becoming a model.

Working part-time as a bartender, Ariana hesitantly entered the pageant scene, feeling that with her “foreigner look,” she would never make it far. How wrong she was!

But she’s not just a 173-cm bombshell; Ariana is described as a “saishoku kenbi,” “a woman blessed with both intelligence and beauty.” Growing up in Japan, she is no stranger to Japanese culture and even has a 5th degree mastery of Japanese calligraphy. She lists her hobbies as cooking and “touring,” having obtained her motorcycle license, a rare thing for a young woman in Japan.

Link: http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/haafu-to-represent-japan-at-miss-universe-2015

Body/Comm Spring 2012 Poster Workshop: Beauty in Contemporary Japan

Beauty in Contemporary Japan was once again taken up by students of "The Body and Communication in Japan" class during a recent poster workshop session. Students balanced academic sources and their own observations of beautiful women and men (both were assigned as homework) in their creative endeavors. Common themes included youthful cuteness, thinness, light skin (from products and through genetics via the popular half Japanese phenomena), small faces and big eyes (and various methods to accomplish these goals), shorts to emphasize/create long, shapely legs, fingernail art and accessories. See each poster for more details. Students will next take up fashion and other forms of body ornamentation (tattoos, body pierces) to explore the ultimate question of how body image and presentation contribute to communication.

Click here to see posters from previous semesters.

Spring 2011 Body/Comm Japan Beauty Poster Workshop

Spring has sprung and once again Body/Comm students are contemplating beauty in Japan: this semester's poster workshop, tempered with research and discussion, produced creative illustrations of cool, cute, sexy, and western influences combined with leg-enhancing, eye-opening, nail decorating and slim/youthful body manipulations that make up notions of contemporary beauty in Japan.

Great stuff this semester! Thanks for all of your efforts. Click here to see posters from previous semesters.

Beauty in Contemporary Japan: Fall 2010 Body/Comm Poster Workshop

Beauty entails paying special attention to specific problem areas.

Beauty expressed in advertisements entails computer generated imagery.

Beauty entails sexy poses inspired by animals.

Body/Comm students working on their posters.

Once again Body/Comm students earnestly researched and created posters about ideal body image and beauty in Japan. Commons themes included working on and fixing specific problem areas through make-up, surgery, enhancement products and weight loss devices and the impossibly of a living ideal body. Kinda depressing this semester... Anyway here are their posters:

See posters from previous semesters here.

Beauty in Contemporary Japan: Spring 2010 Body/Comm Poster Workshop

Once again Body/Comm students are searching for beauty in contemporary Japan. In this semester's poster workshop, students cut and pasted images from fashion magazines to illustrate recent trends. Consistent themes included big eyes, skinny legs and bodies (and the diets, cremes and other methods to attain them), fair skin (and methods to attain it if you are not half Japanese), accessories and boots. See what each group came up with:






See posters from previous semesters here.

Body/Comm Fall 2009 Poster Workshop: Beauty in Contemporary Japan

It's that time of year again when Body/Comm students ponder the meaning of beauty in contemporary Japan. What are the criteria for beauty in Japan and how does one get and retain beauty (if not already naturally endowed)? We read Spievogel and Miller for an anthropological context of beauty. We explored cosmetic surgery and watched Beauty Coliseum. We discussed fashion and accessories. Putting all of our research and discussion into application, we made posters to illustrate beauty in Japan. What I found to be most interesting this semester was that more attention was paid to men than in the past. This is not to say that there have never been any beautiful/handsome men before. Perhaps the interest in men is a result of the latest trendy term, herbivore men. These are, apparently, men who aren't as interested in sex and female conquest as they are in their own fashion and looks. While there might be some truth to these claims, one needs to be careful not to jump to conclusions about sexual orientation and a lack of masculinity. Also, these herbivore men seem to be the latest to blame the ills of Japanese society on following the likes of parasite singles, freeters, NEETs and hikikomori. But I digress. Let's get back to beauty and see what the students came up with this semester. Click on the photos to see more details on the posters. Enjoy.







Click here to see photos from previous semesters' workshops.

Beauty in Contemporary Japan: Body/Comm Spring 2009 Workshop

This semester we once again explore the concept of ideal beauty in contemporary Japan. What characteristics are necessary to be considered beautiful? What do Japanese people do to become beautiful? These were the themes of this semester's poster workshop. Check out the posters below, as well as the students themselves, for some ideal Japanese beauty.








Common themes included youth, cuteness, big eyes, shapely legs, large (but not too large) breasts, good proportions, dyed hair, light skin and proper accessories. Is there anything missing from the list? What would you add?

Click here to see photos from previous semesters' workshops.

Beauty in Contemporary Japan: Fall 2008 Body/Comm Workshop

What is beauty in contemporary Japan? According to Fall 2008 Body/Comm students: big (enlarged) eyes; colored, curly hair; long, skinny legs; bone-thin body; large (proportioned) breasts; no body hair; whitened skin accessorized with make-up; painted, gem studded and pierced fingernails and an all encompassing cuteness that is non-threatening to the patriarchy...






Thanks to all participants (especially those who braved the Algorithm Exercise warm-up). Click here to see how previous Body/Comm students have dealt with Japanese beauty.