Japan's beauty complexes and Kalafina

Varete

Varete

Typo Queen
I have recently come to realize a few things and would love a second though from anyone...

Asia is known for having very strict and high standards of beauty that doesn’t allow for much flexibility. It can be defined in very specific terms such as pale skin, thin legs, high cheekbones, and large eyes. But despite this seemingly localized beauty standard, Asians also seem to gravitate towards Western ideals and many will go to great lengths to achieve more Western-looking features.

One of the most, if not the most, desired traits in Asian society is thedouble eyelid, or eyelid crease. In Western societies, this is often overlooked because it is so blatantly commonplace. This is strikingly different in Asian countries, where only an estimated 50% of people born to parents of Asian ethnicity have natural eyelid creases. To be born with the double eyelid crease is considered very lucky, and girls with natural double eyelids are usually the envy among their peers.
Click to expand...


Skin-whitening
As many of you might know, Japanese and Asian people in general aren't really 'white'. I will post some examples of skin whitening before and afters to notice the differences well.
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Now, why do I think Kalafina does it too? Simply because they are in the Japanese media industry would be enough of a reason, but here's 'proof'.
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*link*
Yes, that is the Kalafina girls' hands. Those pale white hands above are definitely bleached. And every skin-whitening product, no matter how expensive and 'safe' is harmful for the skin.
Who I think that is? My first guess would be Hikaru. Why? I remember there were rumors/jokes/i can't remember well about Hikaru being afraid of getting tanned or of getting a sunburn regarding some Kalafina blog images where she was dressed from head to toe in white to avoid the sun.
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*from some blogpost*


Double eyelid surgery & eye bags

While there are some non-invasive ways, the Kalafina girls most-very likely had a surgery since they eyes always look European. (This is usually done to young girls, so they might not have given their consent)
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Shortly after the surgery 58905513e856d34f206e5cae4a4447b8_330.jpg

Regarding eye bags, please read this article. I am quite positive Keiko's eye bags are natural (or I hope so), but Hikaru's looks a bit overdone imo.
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What do you think? I am not saying any of this is bad (beside the skin, which leads to severe health problems *cough* SKIN CANCER) and neither do I want to criticize them or anything. Who knows, they might all have natural eye bags and double eyelids, or just fake them with makeup and tape+glue everyday. No surgery needs to be involved.
 
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about the hand skin color, i think it might be the lighting effect or some filter they use on the photos. the girls look normal, even quite tanned in their utage performances.

imo people need to stop overthink about whether their idols got surgery or not. it's their right to do so. might as well support them rather than gossip about them.
 
I think there are a lot of camera effects going on - I recall not just their skin but their hair colour being discussed a while back, because their hair looked lighter or darker in different photos. It led to a long thread debating about whether they dye their hair, but the real reason could just be the lighting at the time. Eye bags can come and go, depending on things like working hours and jet lag! Plus there are those notorious fan-photoshopped pics going around...

So yeah. If their skin or hair looks darker or paler, it could well be the lighting of the room they're in...or the handiwork of the makeup artist and/or hair stylist. That applies to public events, photo shoots, PVs and such I think.

However.

There's a lot of unfair pressure on people in the public eye to look, dress and act in a certain way and I've read numerous articles that tell stories of people in the film, TV and music industries being 'encouraged' to conform to a certain standard or image. It's not fair, I don't approve of it, but I know it does happen sadly.

Personally, I'm not bothered about whether they spent ages in the dressing room or whether they turn up on stage with bed hair and casual clothes, because their job is to sing. I like their voices and how they harmonise, and they're nice people. Their PR and record label people will I'm sure have a different agenda, but I'm okay with it as long as they're healthy and comfortable with what they're doing.

I do worry about them being overworked or feeling pressured to fit some image...I guess I've developed a sentimental attachment to them and get concerned about them in the same way I get concerned about family, friends and other people I know. Actually, my main concern right now is whether the record company/agents are trying to make them into an idol group now that they're gaining more widespread exposure than was originally planned. There are plenty of idol groups around so it's a market that's well catered for already, and Kala are an outfit that's a bit more 'individual' and harder to pigeonhole. I like the fact that they don't fall into any given category, because it makes their songs so interesting and refreshing.

So in case my reply is tl;dr to summarise: I worry about them in the same way I worry about anyone who has to deal with public attention on a regular basis, but as long as their privacy and wellbeing are being respected I'm fine with it.
 
I think it's possible that the paleness could be affected by their career. They likely spend a lot of time in venues, rehearsal rooms or recording studios and the like, all of which are designed in such a way that improves acoustics including the absence of certain things, like windows. As someone who doesn't go out that often and is at least partially nocturnal, spending little time outside in the sun has a tendency to make you pale.

But yes, as with Martin I do tend to worry about them, even though I've only spoken to them a handful of times within the same, short period. I guess all these interviews have given at least some insight into their lives and that makes me care a lot more than I would for anyone else I don't personally know.
 
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate their music. It would not matter how they look like. And lesser would I care if they had 100 surgeries or whatever. But if any of this is slightly true, then it can cause minor to major health problems.

What I'd like to discuss is how the Japanese standards might have influenced them.
For example a Japanese woman I know that lives in Europe did not have that surgery done to her daughter. Every time relatives ask the little girl when will she get it (it usually is a birthday gift) and accuse the mother she should have done it when the girl couldn't have said no because now the girl saw how that painful procedure is done and does absolutely not want it.
And like any other surgery it has certain risks associated with it (it's not always working right), and people that had it might experience eye dryness because, you know, what was supposed to produce the liquid for the eye on the upper eyelid was cut out and thrown away and it does not grow back.

I know how make-up and light make an image look, and I can pretty well spot photoshop in images. No light or make-up is making hands so pale. A strong light source must affect the hand right next to it a little bit, but that's not the case. Photoshop would make no sense. It's like those white hands didn't see the sun at all in two years (which is not healthy either).
And none of the girls seemed to have natural very very light skin when I saw them. People with such skin (I have never seen that extreme) even with powerful sun protection start getting pink (and have constant red cheecks no matter what) and get a sunburn after 30 minutes in the sun.
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Uhm... Hikaru is a self proclaimed Hikikomori. She hardly goes out of the house if she doesn't have work. Her shopping is all done via online sites. When the three of them go somewhere together for leisure, it's an event. When she heads somewhere on her own, like to a cafe, it's an adventure. That's how much of a Hikikomori she is according to her.

Keiko/Wakana's friends have said that Hikaru really looks like she had never bathed in sunlight before.

Why are we analysing this...
 
^ This is weird. Arent Hikikomori's afraid of crowd ? If she seeks loneliness so much how does she manage to sing in front of crowds ?
 
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Hikaru isn't a Hikikomori. She has a friends (e.g. Elisa), she is a singer - so she can't affraid about crowd... She is a person who like spent time in home - is it bad or weird?
 
This thread is giving me headaches and laughing fits at the same time.

Just LOL.

@Hatouchan GJ at always having to break down info /pats
 
Hikaru says she is still pretty bad at talking (Wakana and Keiko say that's not true), etc and is content to let the other two take over. Anyway, she has stated her hikikomori-ness multiple times across different shows. Her hobbies are .. puzzles and sleeping. All solitary activities that you do at home. She probably doesn't mean that she's a socially withdrawn recluse. Just the behavior in terms of not wanting to venture outside. Self deprecating humour.

The most recent mention would be the BayFM stage. Asked to submit a picture of an adventure, she submits one of herself going to a new cafe. This left the emcee going ??? while Hikaru explained that she doesn't go out much. Going to a cafe is an adventure.
 
I don't think the eyebag thing is popular in Japan though, it's mostly a Korean fixation from what I understand (I follow some K-pop idols so I know about some beauty trends in Korea). I don't think Hikaru has done a procedure to her eyebags because she seems to have them at least since she debuted. I also think she's naturally very pale, or at least it seems to be that way from concert/TV footage.

I don't necessarily think Yuriko Kaida and Kajiura (and I'm going to include Hikaru here because her teeth are pretty wonky) don't fix their teeth because they want to have yaeba, but because fixing your teeth in Japan isn't as common as it is in some parts of the western world. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding european people don't adhere to the blindingly white-ultra straight teeth ideal of the US either, so I think it's a cultural thing.

I don't think the Kalafina girls have had plastic surgery (maybe the eyelid thing, but I'd have to see pics of them as children to really know, I'm sure Keiko hasn't touched her eyes because she appeared in a movie when she was like 13 and she looked pretty much the same) but if they did, then that's their own thing, they're free to do as they please with their bodies.
 
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