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.

Japanese "Finger Logo"

Here's some fodder for Body/Comm - a cute girl using gestures in a TV commercial. Photo and text borrowed from Japan Today.

AKB48 member Tomomi Itano, 19, popularly called Tomo-chan by fans, takes part in a promotional event for wireless mobile operator EMobile’s new commercial, “Finger Logo,” in Tokyo on Wednesday. The new commercial, which airs from Saturday, features Itano dancing to her new single “Wanna be now” and making an “E” and “M”’ (for EMobile) pose with her fingers. The pose, which is repeatedly used during the commercial, was “difficult to master,” Itano said.

I wonder how she would do with sign language... And here's the commercial:



Link to commercial video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljQYEHGXvuE

Link to making the commercial video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyZnZ_odg4M

Link to the photo/story at Japan Today: http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/tomobile

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.

Conferences and Calls for Papers: The Body, Religion and Film

Visual anthro related announcements from H-Asia:

1. Call for papers: The Body in the Cinemas of South Asia, University of Vilnius, Lithuania, June 30-July 2, 2011

For more information: http://www.oc.vu.lt/en/conferences.html

2. Call for papers: Buddhism and Film: Aspects and Perspectives of Media-Communicated Religion, Workshop at Freie Universitaet Berlin, June 2nd and 3rd, 2011

For more information: http://buddhismusberlin.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/call-for-papers-5/ 

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.

Female Body Presentation?

(Photo borrowed from Japan Today, 6/8/09.)

Today's Picture of the Day at Japan Today is rather spicy... Caption reads:

Participants take sweets served on a naked woman, known as Nyotaimori or female body presentation, during a fetish fashion event titled “Night of The Body,” organized by Libido M&J, in Tokyo, on Sunday. Hundreds of people gathered at the event, targeted at fetish fashion enthusiasts, which is a mixture of live performances by pole dancers, a fetish fashion show and other events as a showcase, the organizer said.

Libido M&J have a web site to promote their activities. From their "About" section:

How erotic are you?
How elegant are you?

"Libido”is
sexual drive;
creative force;
appetites.

Concept: Humans need sex, we need love (including self-love) and we have appetites.
All three of these needs can become fetishes.
This party, “Libido M&J,” will showcase fetish people as they express these three human desires in interaction with others in luxurious surroundings.

Details: The party will occur in Sabaku no Bara, in Ginza.
We want to bring the fetish world to Ginza: to show what fetish people are, and how we can get along.
There is no dress code for the party space as a whole, but people in fetish costumes will be allowed entry to the VIP space.
Ten hostesses and hosts, in fetish costumes, will distribute sweets to the VIP room audience, and encourage communication between fetish and non-fetish customers as they circulate around the room.

Link to the Libido web site:
http://www.libidomj.tv/index_e.html

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.