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What it's like to have freckles being Japanese.

5/7/2015

2 Comments

 
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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。



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2 Comments
Ziba link
5/7/2015 01:43:32 pm

I think your freckles are super cute! I have my own hangups about how look (like my nose!) which I am trying to look at differently and try to appreciate. Thanks for sharing your perspective with us :)

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ZD
7/26/2022 08:04:30 pm

somehing opposite of this happens to me. in my country, a specific region i live people are known for big noses with bump. it may not look as pretty on a female, but in that region it was common so it was okay! come to america, and you see a lot of people making fun of it. americans are kinder than many countries, so it was rather rare but i must say give you a hard time with relationships (not that i was looking for! so even if you didnt say anything, you would get stared at you big nose haha. anyways, i dont care! and i live with my nose, so i have to get used to it. if you want to not feel bad then just dont think bad!!

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