Bihaku
Bihaku
Bihaku is a Japanese fashion style where one aims to have white skin, or a general lack of pigment, to achieve the ideal irojiro or fair skin.
Although skin tone differs based on a person's race, in general, skin color is based on the amount of melanin in the skin. Skin color is affected by the amount of hemoglobin in the red blood cells that flow through the capillaries under the skin. Because of this, having pure white skin is difficult, but bihaku aims to bring the skin color as close to white as possible.
In Japan, the preference for skin that is white and free of blemishes and spots has been around for a long time. There is a proverb that says "The color white will hide the Seven Misfortunes. (For fair-skinned girls, although they may have unattractive spots, they don't stand out.)"
The word "bihaku" was first proposed to be a fad in the mid-1990s by Sonoko Suzuki, a beauty researcher. Previously, skincare words that referred to melanin problems like "stain" and "freckles" were used.
Opposition to the term "bihaku" gradually grew amongst high school ganguro and gyaru.
Method
The popular method of bihaku is to use cosmetics that stop the production of melanin.
For skin whitening cosmetics for use by the public, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare has recognized a combination of active ingredients. These are mainly arbutin and kojic acid. Other ingredients include Vitamin C derivatives, tranexamic acid, and ten-odd other types. In many of these active ingredients, an important enzyme called catechol oxidase is present, and it works either directly or indirectly to stop the creation of melanin.
As for other methods of skin whitening, other decolorizing chemicals are used. Aesthetic skin decolorizing surgeries are performed, but excessive cleansings can cause a number of problems, such as facial inflammation, but in the 2000s this is in decline. Historically, the droppings of the Japanese bush-warbler (uguisu) have been used as an ingredient in face-washing for making the skin whiter.
Popularity
The Bihaku movement has been popular mainly among some middle-aged adult Japanese women while it is usually unpopular among young people such as teenagers. Among young people, it is often considered as a "nerdy culture", because of the stereotype that having pale skin means being a nerd.
Bijinga
Bijinga is a generic term for pictures of beautiful women in Japanese art, especially in woodblock printing of the ukiyo-e genre, which predates photography. The term can also be used for modern media, provided the image conforms to a somewhat classic representation of a woman, usually depicted a wearing kimono.
Nearly all ukiyo-e artists produced bijinga, it being one of the central themes of the genre. However, a few, including Utamaro, Suzuki Harunobu, Toyohara Chikanobu, and Torii Kiyonaga are widely regarded as the greatest innovators and masters of the form.
- Further reading
- Hamanoka, Shinji. Female Image: 20th Century Prints of Japanese Beauties. Hotei Publishing 2000. isbn 90-74822-20-7
Ganguro
Ganguro (lit. "face black") is an alternative fashion trend of blonde or orange hair and tanned skin among young Japanese women that peaked in popularity around the year 2000 but remains evident today. The Shibuya and Ikebukuro districts of Tokyo are the center of ganguro fashion.
Characteristics
Ganguro appeared as a new fashion style in Japan in the early 1990s and to date is prevalent mostly among young women. In ganguro fashion, a deep tan is combined with hair dyed in shades of orange to blonde, or a silver grey known as "high bleached". Black ink is used as an eye-liner and white concealer is used as lipstick and eyeshadow. False eyelashes, plastic facial gems, and pearl powder are often added to this. Platform shoes and brightly colored outfits complete the ganguro look. Also typical of ganguro fashion are tie-dyed sarongs, miniskirts, stickers on the face, and many bracelets, rings, and necklaces.
Ganguro falls into the larger subculture of gyaru (from English "gal"), a slang term used for various groups of young women, usually referring to overly childish or rebellious girls. Researchers in the field of Japanese studies believe that ganguro is a form of revenge against traditional Japanese society due to resentment of neglect, isolation, and constraint of Japanese society. This is their attempt at individuality, self-expression, and freedom, in open defiance of school standards and regulations. Fashion magazines like Egg and Kawaii magazine have had a direct influence on the ganguro. Other popular ganguro magazines include Popteen and Ego System. The ganguro culture is often linked with para para, a Japanese dance style. However, most para para dancers are not ganguro, and most ganguro are not para para dancers, though there are many who are ganguro or gal and dance para para.
One of the most famous early ganguro girls was known as Buriteri, nicknamed after the black soy sauce used to flavor yellowtail fish in teriyaki cooking. Egg made her a star by frequently featuring her in its pages during the height of the ganguro craze. After modeling and advertising for the Shibuya tanning salon "Blacky", social pressure and negative press convinced Buriteri to retire from the ganguro lifestyle.
Yamanba and manba
ManbaYamanba (ヤマン"?) and manba (マン"?) are terms often used to describe extreme practitioners of ganguro fashion. Old school Yamanba and Manba (particularly known as 2004 Manba); featured dark tans and white lipstick, pastel eye make-up, tiny metallic or glittery adhesives below the eyes, brightly-colored circle lenses, plastic dayglo-colored clothing, and incongruous accessories, such as Hawaiian Leis (often the Alba Rosa brand). Stickers on the face died out shortly after 2004, and for a while, Manba died. Yamanba is now more extreme, and hair is often multicolored, and usually synthetic. 2008's Manba has seen a darker tan, and no facial decoration (stickers). Hair is usually neon/bright colors, with pink being a favorite. Wool ("dreadlocks"), extensions, and clips are worn to make the hair appear longer. Clothing remains the same, although Leis are worn less frequently now. Manba and Yamanba are not to be confused. Yamanba has white make-up only above the eye, while Manba has makeup below the eye also. Stuffed animals, bracelets, bells, and hibiscuses are worn. The male equivalent is called a "center guy" (センター街, Sent"gai?, Center Street), a pun on the name of a pedestrian shopping street near Shibuya Station in Tokyo where yamanba and center guys are often seen.
Worldwide reception
The style is usually copied from Anime conventions. Gal is not associated with cosplay. Girls who follow the Gyaru fashion in the Western world have also taken it upon themselves to create "Gal Circles" (ギャルサー, Gyarusa?); a circle of girls who all enjoy the Gal fashion, whichever style, that hang out together, much like a sisterhood. They are popular in Japan, to the point that a TV program called "Gyarusa", featuring Morning Musume's Yaguchi Mari, was made. There are currently circles in the UK, America, and other European countries that are brought together via the internet. Most recently, two British manba from a UK Gal Circle were interviewed for BBC World Services in a bid to make Japanese Fashion more accessible and understood to the Western world.[4] Other notable Western gyaru appearances can be found on Tokyo Kawaii TV, NHK's popular television program about current youth trends in Japan. A UK Gal Circle were featured in the "Himegyaru" (姫ギャル, Princess gal?) episode, which aired in March 2008, and more recently, a Spanish Gal Circle have been featured, with the episode due to air in late August of this year.
Etymology
Ganguro practitioners say that the term derives from the phrase gangankuro (ガンガン黒?, exceptionally dark). The term yamanba derives from Yama-uba, the name of a mountain hag in Japanese folklore whom the fashion is thought to resemble. Ganguro is now used to describe girls, or gals, with tan, lightened hair and some brand clothing. This can often be confused with Oneegyaru (Big Sister Gal) and Serebu (Celeb), although Oneegyaru is usually associated with a lot of expensive gal brands and Serebu focuses on expensive western fashions.
Gyaru
Gyaru (ギャル?) is a Japanese transliteration of the American English word gal. The name originated from a 1970s brand of jeans called "gals", with the advertising slogan: "I can't live without men", and was applied to fashion- and peer-conscious girls in their teens and early twenties. Its usage peaked in the 1980s and has gradually declined. The term gradually drifted to apply to a younger group, whose seeming lack of interest in work or marriage gained the word a "childish" image. It is now used almost interchangeably with kogyaru and younger generations may consider it clichéd or even archaic.
Varieties of gyaru
There are various subcategories of "gals" depending on the choice of fashion, and also gender.
- Ganguro gyaru (ガング�ギャル): a gal with an artificial deep tan and bleached hair. This style was popular in the late 1990's and early 2000, and while that is no longer the case, there are still quite a few people who wear this fashion.
- Kogyaru: generally a high school student (高校生 k"k"sei).
- Mago gyaruo a middle school gal. (��校 chūgakk").
- Oyajigyaru (オヤジギャル): from oyaji and gyaru. A gyaru who behaves in a masculine way, drinks beer, and uses rough language.
- Oneegyaru ("�姉ギャル): a gyaru who has graduated from high school, and thus become a more mature onee-san (literally "elder sister" but, here, "young lady"). The style is more sophisticated.
- Ogyaru (汚ギャル): a dirty or disheveled gyaru who may forsake daily baths or takes little care in her behavior and dress, even by gyaru standards.
- Gyaruo (ギャル男): the gyaru's male counterpart. See Gyaruo.
- Manba (マン"): deep tan and contrasting white make-up. Their hair is usually pastel-coloured or blonde, and very long and back-combed. Their clothes are neon and layered.
- Kigurumin*: wear kigurumi, a type of pajama-suit that resembles an animal and sometimes cartoon characters.
- Bibinba (ビビン"): this look usually includes a lot of gold and jewellery. Similar to b-gal.
- Banba ("ン"): Can also be seen as a lighter, brighter form of manba, though they are distinct styles. Banba wear less of the white makeup than manba and wear brighter clothes. Club wear is popular. They also use more glitter, and have a neon touch to their hair. They use more extreme-looking types of false eyelashes and coloured contact lenses. The most respected Gal-cir is Angeleek; there are 22 members in their Tokyo group, and they have many other groups throughout the country.
- Kyoba bo-i: the male banba. The make-up is similar to Sentaa-gai's, but the eyes can be made up to look bigger. They accessorize excessively and commonly don bangs.
- Himegyaru (姫ギャル): girls who dress as princesses. Hair colours vary from blonde to black and is usually very big and teased. They wear expensive clothing from brands such as Liz Lisa and Jesus Diamante.
- Gyaru-kei (ギャル系): Is the modern general gyaru style. It has many substyles such as Amekaji(American Casual), Saike（Psyche), Bohemian, Rokku(Rock), and Haady, which a creation of Egg magazine that includes bright, wild prints tied in with a punk style fashion.
Kogal
Kogal (コギャル, Kogyaru?) is a fashion that involves wearing an outfit based on a Japanese school uniform, but with a shortened skirt, loose socks, and often dyed hair and a scarf as well. The phenomenon was prominent in the 1990s, but has since declined. The word "kogal" is anglicized from kogyaru, a contraction of kôkôsei gyaru (high school gal). The girls refer to themselves as gyaru (gals), although this word is applied to several other fashion looks as well.
Aside from the pinned-up skirt and the loose socks, or rusu sokusu, kogals favor platform boots, makeup, and Burberry scarves. They may also dye their hair brown and get artificial suntans. They have a distinctive slang peppered with English words. They are often, but not necessarily, enrolled students. Centers of kogal culture include the Harajuku and Shibuya districts of Tokyo, in particular Shibuya's 109 Building. J-pop singer Namie Amuro promoted the style. Kogals are avid users of photo booths, with most visiting a least once a week, according to non-scientific polls. While critics condemned the gyaru as shallow, materialistic, and devoted to conspicuous consumption, admirers describe them as, "kindhearted, active young women in exuberant health, the women of today."
Etymology
The word "kogal" is anglicized from コギャル (kogyaru?), a contraction of (kôkôsei gyaru?) (high school gal). It originated as a code used by disco bouncers to distinguish adults from minors. The term is not used by the girls it refers to. They call themselves ギャル (gyaru?), a Japanese pronunciation of the English word "gal." The term gyaru was first popularized in 1972 by a television ad for a brand of jeans. In the 1980s, a gyaru was a fashionably dressed woman. When written ", ko means "young woman," so kogyaru is sometimes understood in the sense of "young gal." However, if this was the meaning originally intended, 若"�ギャル (wakai gyaru?) (young gal) would be more logical.
Character
Kogals have been accused of conspicuous consumption, living off their parents and enjo kosai (amateur prostitution/commonly dating service). Critics decry their materialism as reflecting a larger psychological or spiritual emptiness in modern Japanese life. Some kogals support their lifestyle with allowances from wealthy parents, living a "parasite single" existence that grates against traditional principles of duty and industry. "The modern school girls' uniform, embellished with loose socks and a cellular phone, has come to be perceived as the dress code for promiscuity, easiness, greed, and stupidity," according to one commentator.
Others have charged that the kogal phenomenon is less about the girls and their fashions than a media practice to fetishize school uniforms and blame those required to wear them. "I wish that I were in high school at a different time," said one schoolgirl. "Now, with kogal being such an issue in Japan, nobody can see me for me. They only see me as kogal, like the ones they see on TV." As for the accusation of conspicuous consumption, careful gal shoppers may know a thing or two about fashion that the male journalists and movie directors who accuse them do not. For every high-priced brand-name accessory, there is an off-brand version that goes for a fraction of the price. These are sold at stalls in back-alley markets like ura Harajuku.
History
Kogals were far from the first generation of Japanese girls who oya o nakaseru (made their parents weep) and inspired salacious media exposés. The daraku jogakusei (degenerate schoolgirls) of the early 1900s violated taboos against dating, while the moga, or modern girl, of the 1920s, adopted Western fashions. The hard-partying "Mambo girl" arose in the late 1950s.
These schoolgirls wear the regulation version of their uniform. Japanese fashion began to divide by age in the 1970s with the appearance of gyaru magazines aimed at teens. Popteen, the most widely read of these magazines, has been publishing monthly since 1980. While mainstream fashion in the 1980s and early 1990s emphasized girlish and cute (kawaii), gyaru publications promoted a sexy aesthetic. Top gyaru magazines, including Popteen, Street Jam and Happie, were produced by editors previously involved in creating pornography for men.
Also in the 1980s, a male-and-female motorcycle-oriented slacker culture emerged in the form of the "Yankiis". The original kogals were dropouts from private school who, instead of lengthening their skirts like androgynous Yankii girls, created a new form of teen rebellion by shortening them. These middle school dropouts were thus taking their cues from high school students and attempting to justify their independence by looking and acting older. The gals added their own touches like loose socks and a cellular phone. Amateurs can create fashion in Japan by dressing up and hanging around places like Harajuku and Shibuya, where magazine photographers may take their pictures.
The 1993 television special Za kogyaru naito (The Kogal Night) introduced the kogal to a mass audience and provided a model for aspiring kogals to follow. Platform shoes were popularized by singer Namie Amuro in 1994. Egg, a fashion magazine for kogals, was established in 1995.
In the mid-1990s, the Japanese media gave a great deal of attention to the phenomenon of enjo kosai (amateur prostitution) supposedly engaged in by bored housewives and high school students, thus linking kogals to prostitutes. The movie Baunsu ko gaurusu (Bounce Kogal) (1997) by Masato Harada depicts kogals prostituting themselves to buy trendy fashion accessories.
Kogal culture peaked in 1998. Kogals were then displaced by ganguro, a gal culture that first appeared in 1999 and used blackface makeup (as opposed to tanning). The deliberate ugliness of the look may reflect a desire to discourage chikan (subway perverts) and men seeking enjo kosai. Ganguro evolved into an even more extreme look called yamanba (mountain hag). As looks grew more extreme, fewer girls were attracted to gal culture. Although there are still female students who sexualize their uniforms, the kogal is no longer a focus of fashion or media attention.
Gal fashion recently reemerged in the form of the skin-whitening shiro gyaru, associated with Popteen. The hime gyaru (literally "lady gal," also translated as "princess girl") first appeared in 2008 and wears a print dress and sports curly brown hair.
Gal with a tan.[edit] Language Kogals are identified primarily by looks, but their speech, called コギャル語 (kogyarugo?), is also distinctive. Her boyfriend is an イケ"� (ikemen?) (cool dude) who is naturally 超"�""�"� (chou-kawaii?) (totally cute). She, meanwhile, will gyaru-yatte (do the gal thing) by buying her gyaru-furu (gal clothes) at a gyaru-kei shoppu (gal-style shop) thereby gyaru-do appu no tame ni (increasing her degree of galness), unless of course she simply cannot find anything that isn't 超マジ"�む"�"�"? (chou maji de mukatsuku?)(real super nauseating). In a land obsessed with self-sacrifice and group identity, the gals proclaim, biba jibun (long live the self).
Gals words are often created by contracting Japanese phrases or by literal translation of an English phrase, i.e. without reordering to follow Japanese grammar. Gal words may also be created by adding the suffix -ingu (from English "-ing") to verbs, for example ゲッティング (gettingu?)(getting). Roman script abbreviations are popular, for example "MM" stands for maji de mukatsuku (really disgusting). "MK5" stands for マジ"��レる５秒" (maji de kireru 5 byoumae?), meaning "on the verge of [lit. five seconds away from] going ballistic." Another feature of gal speech is the suffix -ra, meaning "like" or "learned from," as in アムラー (Amura?) (like singer Namie Amuro).
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