What it's like to have freckles being Japanese.

In Japan, pale, clear, freckle-free skin is admired and is thought to be beautiful. This is communicated through mass media & general culture.

When it comes to freckles, I grew up thinking that freckles are only "cute" on non-Japanese women. 

I have not met many Japanese girls with freckles either.

When I lived in Japan, I got numerous comments on my Japanese freckles; never positive. Usually something like: "Oh, wow, you're Japanese and you have freckles?". Being young, I took such comments negatively. 

Additionally, being influenced by the Japanese media beautifying clear spot-free skin, I had learnt to hide my freckles as much as I can using concealer, foundation, powder and blush.

Now after moving to the US, things have changed. 

All I have heard are positive comments (Thank you!), not a single negative remark or feeling. Once upon a time, a young man walking towards me on Valencia Street in the Mission (San Francisco), walked up to me and complimented my freckles. My friends and I giggled, but my initial reaction was "What? You can notice these freckles from that far away? Yikes...."

I recently have been seeing articles where girls draw "Faux Freckles" using Freckle Pencils to look younger, haha! So maybe it's not such a horrible thing?

It's hard to switch to liking something when you are born and raised in a culture where it is thought to be "not beautiful", but I hope slowly & surely, that I will learn to accept it - not hide it. Masking freckles is too difficult anyway!



日本人のそばかすって
珍しいっていっつも言われる。
日本に住んでいた頃は
嫌で仕方なかった。
だって
日本では透き通って透明肌が一番美しいと思われている。
でもアメリカきてから
褒め言葉をよく聞くように...
ありがたいです。