Amanda Quinn
May 12, 2009
Debated Perspective on Japanese eyelid surgery
When it was suggested to me to analyze the Japanese double eyelid surgery, otherwise known as blepharoplasty, I had no idea what to expect. When I attempted to explain to others what this surgery was, hardly anyone even knew what I was talking about. I believe this reaction properly expresses how little non-Asian people understand about this sort of cosmetic surgery. Thus, I was curious as to what I would find and was pleasantly surprised. The basis of my paper turned out to focus on what Laura Miller observed from the Japanese population regarding this surgery, comparing that to some of the articles I have been finding on the internet concerning this same matter in the American culture and analyzing the extent to which this is a Western construction of beauty.
First a disclaimer, this paper will mostly discuss the surgery from the perspective of Japanese women. In this discourse of study, it seems to be primarily women who get the surgery done and who are willing to talk about it. Also, I believe a lot of it has to do with the fact that Miller is a woman and thus it was easier for her to talk to other women and obtain women’s perspectives on the situation. So although many men also get this surgery, the focus will be on women.
Also, although this surgery is popular among all Asians, my main focus is on the Japanese population.
After somehow surviving my Capstone last semester and somewhat successfully read Edward Said’s Orientalism, I now understand the history of the rather racist nature of past discourses on East Asian Countries. Though there has been much modernization and much progress since Western militaries forced their way into Asian countries, many of these orientalist tendencies still exist in cultural discourses today. Laura Miller however, is attempting to, as much as she possibly can, break this orientalist patter and find out from the Japanese perspective why their culture is the way it is. Though I think she did a fantastic job analyzing from multiple angles the issues laden within the Japanese culture, anyone who engages in anthropology or cultural studies understands that there is no such thing as objectivity. Much of this paper will focus on what Miller had said about eyelid surgery and explain all of the issues she addressed and compare that to what is being said about this topic on the internet. The main debate within this small discourse will be to attempt to identify whether or not this surgery is a result of Western influence.
Laura Miller is an anthropology professor at Loyota University in Chicago and has written numerous books on the Japanese culture. Though I have heard of many of her books, I have only read the one called Beauty UP: Exploring Contemporary Japanese Body Aesthetics for the sake of this paper. Though in this paper I will specifically focus on Asian double eyelid surgery, I feel I must discuss what she explained in her introduction as to what she was studying beauty culture so as to perhaps understand the perspective from which she is coming from.
This book essentially takes place from the mid 1990’s until the early 2000’s. Though it is at this point over ten years after this study has taken place, I still feel it is a valid study of society. Miller agrees whole-heartedly and openly tells the story of how she was mocked by her colleagues for engaging in this study as a serious observation of another culture’s society (Miller 12). Though many said that her project idea was a waste, she thought it relevant because to her, logically, it makes sense that a billion dollar industry would have some influence on the society. She states her purpose by saying, "In this book I present the voices of Japanese advertisers and consumers, but I also use myself as the object of beauty services in order to understand them as cultural and consumption activities" (2).
Of course, those who have studied other cultures can understand how problematic it is to impose oneself onto another, and this brings up the question of her legitimacy in making claims for objectivity. However, she makes a very interesting claim that her study of this topic as an American woman did not affect her studies like many said it would. In fact, she asserts that her being an American woman did not grant her any privileges because she does not at all resemble the Japanese stereotype for an American woman. She is shorter than many Japanese women, stocky, and has dark hair. Her work was in fact affected differently because she was instead viewed negatively by the Japanese beauty standard (12). Being the opposite of a blonde haired, blue eyed Westerner, she would receive different treatment from the beauticians than perhaps others deemed more “beautiful” would. It seems to me that in her perspective, the negative treatment she received might seem more genuine since it can show how they really view their ideals of beauty and what it means for the Japanese to be beautiful. However I feel also that since she had this sort of experience, it simply gave her a different idea of what the beauty standard is. Had she been a blonde haired, blue eyed babe, I believe this book would have taken on a completely different tone. Hence while reading her book and reading her different points, the reader must keep in mind what Miller’s mindset could be which could explain why she had the opinions that she did.
I of course say these things expecting most readers to view Miller’s assessments from a White-Western Americanized point of view. This view would most likely be of the stereotypical sort which in the realm of beauty discourse, would mean that the analyst is asserting that much of the Japanese beauty culture today is a result of Western influence. I will analyze this argument in more detail later however for the moment, I am simply looking for reasons as to why Miller so vehemently denies that Japanese beauty culture is from a direct result of Westernization and why her point of view is so different from that which may be expected of her. In addition to her wanting to perhaps color outside the lines intellectually, I believe that much of the reason why she thinks the way she does is as a result of her heritage. Please forgive me if this observation is a little rude.
I have already stated that she does not fit the standard mode of beauty in either Japanese or American social norms, however her state of mind can be taken a step further when it is discovered that she is not a White-American but rather what people call a “Californio,” which is a Spanish term for "Californian" and is used to identify people of Hispanic decent. This term came about in the mid 19th century. While she does not mention this in her book, it is one of the first things mentioned about her when I did a search for her on the internet. Even if she did not find this fact important, certainly others did. Her perspective is not simply that of a Westerner, but of a Hispanic-White American who is both a minority in America and in Japan. Whether she sees this difference or not and whether she is aware of the perspective her heritage can give her may not be that significant, but I find it possible that it helped her formulate the opinions that she did. Keeping this is mind, let us now delve into what her arguments actually were.
The first and most obvious thing Miller had to do when discussing eyelid surgery is address the argument that Japanese women are doing it in order to look more Western. The scholars who assert this issue of Westernization insist that the Japanese have "internalize White-woman beauty ideal" (119). She can not outwardly deny this claim because it is a fact that Japan has become vastly Westernized ever since Commodore Perry force Japan to open its borders. Since then and especially after World War II, Japan has been dominated by the West. Many women in Japan that are against the surgery feel that way because they do in fact think that it is just an emulation of the West. Miller says that, "This suggests that Euroamerican beauty ideals have indeed played a role in promoting this feature" (120).
While it is true that some women are getting this surgery because they do want to look more Western, Miller knows that there are other reasons for people to want this surgery and in her book she pleads with her readers to look at the different perspectives and to look at the reason women are giving for having this surgery. She feels their testimonies will prove that it is not simply a means to be Western (119).
Miller asserts that the majority of women getting this surgery in fact make sure that it is done in a way so as not to look Western at all. In fact, surgeries that make the eyes look too Western are “disliked” because it is obviously artificial. The vast majority of people who receive this surgery do so because they want what they call “patchiri” eyes, which means “big,” “bright,” and “clear.” Most Japanese desire non-Western, big bright eyes that are still inherently Japanese. Some of the main reasons Miller found that women want this surgery is because:
- They want to be patchiri and more attractive
- They were born with one double eyelid and one single eyelid
- Tired of using glues and tapes
- Tired of not being able to go to the beach or into the pool because of glues and tapes
- Fear of being discovered that they were using glues and tapes
- It is easier to apply makeup
- They want to look “cuter”
- They have a complex about having “small eyes” (for example, one women was made of so horribly for having small eyes that she developed a psychological disorder because of it) (120)
Miller suggests that these stories indicate normalization of this double eyelid practice, meaning that this double eyelid ideal is “average” for Japanese people. Miller explicitly insists that "The normalization of the double eyelid has occurred within the context of Japanese culture and is not simply a comparison of an individual's self to the Euroamerican media" (121). Her primary reason or asserting this is that Japanese women look at Japanese fashion models for the fashion norms and not at the American or European models. In this way they are looking only at what is occurring socially in Japan and not the West. However I find this argument very problematic and this is primarily out of my own experiences while living in Japan last year.
While I was living there it seemed normal to me that many Japanese did look to both Western and Japanese ideas of what is in fashion. I know also that many pop stars are influenced by the West. This seemed apparent to me by the advertisements I was seeing on the television, by what the pop stars were saying on T.V., etc. I wondered then where the models themselves turned for influence and ideas about what to portray as fashionable and thus wonder the extent to which these models’ ideas are intrinsically Japanese. However I believe that this is also straying from the discourse and would mold this paper into something else so I will refrain from attempting to explore that issue. I however, find this to be a slight weak spot in Miller’s argument.
Miller has other rationalizations for and against the idea of this being a Westernized concept of beauty. One of which is an idea presented by a person named Kawazoe who suggests that Asians and Asian Americans are under pressure to conform to the “global standard of beauty.” Miller believes this would be especially true in American where Asians are the minority in a sea of Western faces that dominate the media. Miller seems to think this is not so prominent in Japan but rather they receive pressures from themselves to look a certain way.
Very far back in Japan’s history, there was a vast immigration of people into Japan so that now much of the Japanese population is derived from the Southeast Asians called the Jōmon people that mixed with the Korean ancestry called the Yayoi. As a result of this blending of ethnicities, 80% of the Japanese population today is born with a double eyelid whereas the rest are born with a single eyelid (116). She does not explicitly explain what her point is about these statistics, most likely because it is not necessary. What she is implying here as that since most of the population have the double eyelid eyes, those with the single eyelids would feel abnormal by comparison. They construct certain ideas of beauty and pressures to conform to it simply by looking at each other.
If it is true that most Japanese are not acquiring this idea to have this surgery from the West, then why do so many Western scholars assert that they do? Miller blames the bulk of this type of discourse on Euroamerican ethnocentrism. Euroamericans have a certain idea of how Japanese should look and to change that is to make them a different race. Deviating from what is understood and recognizable seems to make many Western scholars uncomfortable. Miller identifies the hypocrisy in Americans when they say that the Japanese, by getting this surgery, are trying to be White but when the Americans adapt a new style that they stole from another culture, (such as dreadlocks), they are just expressing their creativity (123). This then makes it very apparent that orientalist tendencies are still very prevalent in the West’s analysis of the East.
Miller’s arguments make a great deal of sense to me. They were ideas I most likely would not have thought of on my own and it is interesting to obtain a different perspective on this issue. To complete my project , I then began looking on the internet for visuals of this surgery, since this project was for a visual culture class. I wanted to look at Japanese websites and look at their advertisements and their articles regarding this surgery, but my Japanese is very bad and I would not have had enough time to complete this project if I began looking at Japanese website concerning this issue. For this reason, I must, against my better intellectual judgment, view Miller’s opinion as the authority on the Japanese perspective of this issue. Therefore, I began looking at English and what seems to me primarily American websites to find pictures of this surgery. As I began searching, I found many arguments for and against this surgery. Curious, I read many of them and noticed that most of the arguments against it declare that it is a surgery pushed upon Asian women to make them look more Western. I then saw an opportunity to compare what Miller said about the Japanese perspectives against what the English speaking Western society is saying about it.
Perhaps it is because bad news is popular news, but it was easier for me to find articles protesting against this surgery rather than arguments for it. Dr. Charles Lee, a surgeon in Los Angles who had been conducting the operation for years, explains that there is a lot more resistance towards this surgery in America than there is in Asia because it is seen as ethnic altering. This idea solidifies Miller’s suggestion that the practice has become somewhat normalized in Japan whereas here it is not as easily understood and accepted. He as a doctor views this surgery as simply making a “prettier Asian eye, not a Western eye.” But he still thinks the increase has to do with exposure to Western goods and fashion yet he does not specify how. Despite this doctor’s testament, the author of this article illustrates that in California there have been numerous ethnicities that undergo surgery in an attempt to appear more White. Jewish women get smaller noses and Black women get their skin lightened. The existence of these procedures indicates that being racially different from the majority presents a problem in need of fixing (Korbin).
Many Asian Americans who speak out against this surgery blame it mostly on the peer pressure they receive to change. Most of this pressure some might be surprised to find originates from the young Asian American’s parents. Martin Wong, the editor of the magazine Giant Robot, suggests that the pressure comes from the older generation who push their children to assimilate. He says that the surgery is unnatural and therefore those that do it are only “buying into a beauty myth that is not Asian-based.” He considers it a form of self mutilation. Ellen Hwang, editor of Jade Magazine, blames this desire for big eyes on Hollywood stars. There are very few Asian models and actors in the States so the models young women look up to most are Westerners. A student named Shin-Yu Wang, who attends Irvine University which has a large Asian population, spoke on their behalf when she stated that many Asians are called “Twinkies;” yellow on the outside and white on the inside. She said that many Asian Americans find this to be a compliment, while she finds it to be offensive. She thinks Asian’s should learn to embrace their culture and be themselves. I feel the need to indicate that she was born with double eyelids (Korbin).
I believe that Laura Miller would wholeheartedly agree with the suggestion that many women are getting this surgery as a result of the pressure they receive from their parents. I think she would also agree that many women want to get this surgery in order to fit in better within the American society. She herself brought up the idea of the “global standard of White beauty” in which Asian women receive pressure from Western influences to change their appearance. I however believe she would have issues with what Wong said about a “beauty myth that is not Asian-based.” I would argue that to a certain extent Asian Americans who want the surgery do not just want to emulate the Western stars they see constantly. It is possible for Asian and Asian Americans to want the surgery for their own personal reasons.
Jean Scheidnes boldly begins her essay by stating, “Asian Americans are identified by their eyes more than any other feature” (Scheidnes). This is problematic for many reasons, none of which I will delve into. However this statement clarifies perfectly the arguments that Miller was making concerning how Westerners view the Asian eye. Because this surgery physically changes the eye, the eye afterward can not be considered strictly Asian and that is the reason why this surgery is seen as a racial change. They no longer have their clearly distinct Asian eye and instead added a feature that Westerners have naturally. However, the counter arguments from the Asian Americans that receive this surgery argue that they wanted this surgery because they wanted the double eyelid that most Asians are already have. They assert that the Asian fold above the eye is shaped differently than that of Westerners. When Asians want this surgery, they want it to mimic the Asian fold, not the Caucasian fold. Dr. John McCurdy who has been performing this surgery for over 20 years, said that in years past, many Asian women wanted the surgery to look more Western, but now things are different and the women are requesting eyes that have the fold but still maintain the Asian qualities. It may have been true that in the past, Asian women wanted to look White, but now they want to retain their Asian heritage (Scheidnes).
So then why are Asian women, in particular Asian American women, being criticized? Are they being chastised for the decisions of the women who did want the surgery to look White years ago? Are they being mocked because of Westerner’s inability to accept the change in what they recognize to be Asian? Are the Asian women really being criticized for wanting to look like other Asians? How is it, when so many Asians say they get the surgery to look prettier, more awake, or like the other Asians who have the double eyelid, are accused of doing so in order to look Caucasian? When they offer these other reasons, is it simply in order to mask their secret desire to look white? In the few articles I have read on the internet, all of the doctors interviewed who perform this surgery, assert that their patients never ask for a Western eye. Dr. Marc Yune said, “In fact, they specifically say, ‘I don’t want an American eye, I don’t want a round eye’” (Valhouli). Despite what the Asian people who get this surgery say about their reasons for doing it, most seem to assert that the desire for change is stemmed from the desire to look like the Western stars that dominate the media and to assimilate into Caucasian culture. Miller then seems to have been wrong. She said that in order to realize that the surgery was not a result of Western influence was to listen to the testimonies of the patients. That clearly did not work.
I think it is completely unrealistic to deny the Western influence on Japan. Japan would not be the Japan it is today if it were not for the Western dominance present for the past century or so. It is undeniable that much of what Japan has originated from the West. However, once those Western concepts enter into Japan, the society soaks it up and makes it something unique to Japan. Japan adds their own qualities to these concepts to make it something Japanese and thus no longer Western.
It can not be refuted that Japanese people get this eyelid surgery in order to look Western because there have been cases where that is the exact reason why they get it. However, for the majority of Japanese people, they get this eyelid surgery for reasons that have nothing to do with being Caucasian. They get the surgery to have patchiri eyes, to look more awake, to stop using the glues, or just because it is easier to put makeup on. In fact, most people who receive this surgery specify that they do not want their eyes to look like a Caucasian’s eyes. The fold that Asians have vs. the kind that Westerners have is different, and the patients make sure to get the fold that keeps their Asian qualities intact. In Japan, to have Western looking eyes just looks unnatural and therefore quite terrible. For these reasons, the surgery seems to be somewhat normalized in Japan and it does not receive the same amount of criticism it receives in America. Asian Americans, who get this surgery, despite their protests otherwise, are accused of doing it only to assimilate into American culture. Although it is true that many girls get the surgery done in order to fit into the American society and because they receive pressure from their parents, most seem to get it done in order to make their eyes bigger and look awake. Yet in America, the blame is placed on Hollywood and the media. It is said that the girls want to get this surgery as a result of wanting to look like the Western models with big eyes that they see on a constant basis.
The blame however, should be placed on the individual. They get this surgery as a result of not being able to properly deal with their own insecurities within themselves. However, I do not believe there is anything wrong with a person wanting to change what they are unhappy about with themselves. In America it is perfectly fine and acceptable for people to receive breast enlargements, penile implants, gastric bypass surgery, and cosmetic surgery of all sorts. Perhaps eventually in America this eyelid surgery will become an acceptable form of self improvement as it is revered in Japan. Until then all that can be done is to find a way to accept yourself while fighting for the right to be the best you can be.
Word Count, Body only: 4070
Bibliography
Kobrin, Sandy. “Asian-Americans Criticize Eyelid Surgery Craze.” Women’s News. 15 August. 2004.
13 May. 2009. < http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1950/context/cover/ >. Miller, Laura. Beauty Up: Exploring Contemporary Japanese Body Aesthetics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
Scheidnes, Jean Lee. “Asian Community Has Double Vision of Eyelid Surgery.” Fashion Windows. 6 March. 2000. 13 May. 2009. < http://www.fashionwindows.com/ fashion_ review/ 2000 /eyelid_surgery.asp >.
Valhouli, Christina. :Asian Eyes: Some Turn to Glue or Surgery for a New “Look.” Salon.com. 13 May. 2009. < http://dir.salon.com/health/feature/2000/02/16/asian_eyes/index.html >.
