Arama They Didn't

I don't disagree with the articles you posted, but part of the reason white models are used in Japan (especially advertising) is to prevent Japanese insecurities affecting sales.

Things have been changing a little recently, but many lingerie catalogues still only feature caucasian women or mainly caucasian women. This is because if the model were Japanese, other Japanese women might feel compelled to compare their bodies to hers, and if they came to the conclusion they didn't measure up, they might feel strongly against buying the product. By using a foreign model, Japanese can feel safe about any differences being due to racial differences and it not affect their self-esteem. "Oh, (her boobs are bigger/her skin is whiter/etc.) than mine.... but that's just because she's a foreigner."

The same phenomenon occurs in music videos or photo shoots for popular idols or male artists... If the female role were played by a Japanese, other fans might feel jealous. To male fans, they may look at it as having "conquered" Western female sexuality, but to female fans the pairing seems to unrealistic to feel insecure about. Any relationship with a foreign woman would be only a sexual one and not love-based. (i.e. there's a kind of sentiment here that you can play with foreigners, but you settle down with Japanese at play.)

For women using Western models, there's a huge double standard. Like many other countries, men are given the pass to play around while women are not. Having a Caucasian male model would encourage that a Japanese female was playing around and open about her sexuality, and on top of that prefers the company of a Westerner male over a Japanese male. For idols like those in AKB and other similar groups, this is career suicide, since most of your image depends on pretending to be virginal and that essentially you are available to the Japanese male market you are catering/pandering to.

For pop stars like Koda Kumi, she's really going out of her way to assert her sexuality when her videos show her rubbing up on the foreign males in her video and break some of the general stereotypes placed on Japanese females. At the same time it echos the sentiments presented in the second article you posted, where it often gives off the message, "I'm woman enough to please the sexual needs of a Western guy, too." like a trophy, which is somewhat unfortunate.

Edited at 2012-08-14 03:52 am (UTC)