What does
a Japanese person look like? From what I
have seen, they generally have dark brown to black semi-straight hair. Pale to average tinted skin and almond shaped
eyes. Of course that’s just what Japanese
people are born with, that’s not including the people with dyed hair or who wear
colored contacts. In a country where
everyone is born with generally the same features, the amount of diversity that
actually exists is surprising. For example, within Japanese society as a whole
there are several sub-cultures of people that look and act a certain way. For example the “gyaru” and “gyaruo” that exist
mostly in largely populated areas. They
have a tendency to dye their hair a ridiculous shade of orange-blonde, wear incredibly
fierce heels or overly large jeans and shoes in the male case, and wear colored
contacts. In my opinion this genre of Japanese
is closely related and intertwined with the “yanki” and “yakuza” genre of
people. Even though this sort of extreme
type of self expression exists in Japanese society, it is not as common as one
expects. For choosing a “portrait of a Japanese
person” I decided on someone who is a good friend of mine and who has a good
balance of individuality and Japanese.
This is
Kayo Ikoma, we have been friends for several years now and convincing her to
participate in this exercise was not difficult at all. For the first portrait I chose, it not only
shows off the physical characteristics of a Japanese person, (dark hair, almond
brown eyes) but it also has a taste of what a “Japanese” lifestyle is. By showing her standing at a bus stop in the
morning the viewer gets an idea on how much Japanese people value public
transportation. However she personally asked me to not show
the specific bus stop sign for privacy reasons.
The second
picture, I chose to express a more personal version of Kayo by showing her
participation on two very important things in her life: sweets and work. In the picture she is eating a large candy
bar and wearing a suit. By showing her
eating a candy bar the viewer understands that sweets or indulging in things
that one enjoys are important to this person.
Also by her wearing a suit it
shows that she also actively participates in Japanese society by going to work every
day.