White skin and tanned skin

There is a very interesting phenomenon I noticed about skin color.

In Asia, especially many countires in east Aisa, people like to have very white skin color. In China, we have a saying that having a white skin is powerful enough to hide some faults.So in those countries, girls try to do a lot to have a whiter skin. We are holding unbrellas in a sunshine day with a lot of sunblock cream on. And usually in our concept, having white-colored skin is a big advantage for girls. There are all kinds of skin care or make up products in the market trying to help the girls look whiter and whiter.

Many of the opinions and phenomena might seem very unbelivable for westerners. I never see people holding umbrellas in the U.S in a sunny day. People here seem to enjoy the sunshine very much. Different from Asian girls like me who is always trying to avoid being exposed to the sun, people in the U.S. are very happy to embrace the sun and they even have something like sunbathe. As a result, very white skin is not always seen beautiful for them. I have a language partner who is originally fron Vietnan and was born and brought up in here is very in to tanned skin. She thinks that tanned skin makes her look healthy and beautiful.

I always find it very interesting to see how differently eastern people and western people view beauty.

White skin and tanned skin

Uniform Culture in China, Japan and the U.S.

I remember when I was in school, there were always discussions about whether students should wear uniform to school. Some say that dressing all the same shows no personality as a student but some argue that students can be less distracted with uniforms.

I am actually a supporter of the uniform culture. There were a lot of good memories about commenting on uniforms and cutting out the uniforms to make it better looking but not too much to be discovered by school officers.

In Asia, the uniform culture might be more prevalent. I seldom see students wearing the same in the U.S. In China, most schools have uniforms, some cities have their unified uniforms too. And we wear uniforms to school everyday to look trim. The same thing happen in Japan and Korea.

In China, the styles of uniforms are always pretty conservative and drab. Most of the time, uniforms are designed in a very sporty way. The color will most likely be blue, black and white. Here is a typical Chinese style uniform.

And although throughout the years, the uniforms in China still tend to be comparative more conservative, many students are getting very creative to make their uniforms more stylish.

It looks great, but you always have to be careful to wear like this to school because you might not be allowed to enter. Luckily, I have heard that many schools in China now are thinking about reform their uniforms and make them with more style. Great news. Hope to see some surprises.

Even though,  the uniform culture in Japan is still much more colorful. Japan is always very famous for its uniform culture. Every school in Japan has its own designed uniforms. Some of them are more beautiful and stylish. Many Japanese students even choose a school to attend based on the style of its uniform. So Japanese schools make a lot of efforts to design the uniforms beautiful.

 I think every girl would be very happy to wear uniforms like this. But are you brave enough to wear skirts this short even in very cold winter like the weather here in Boston? I know Japanese girls surely will!

However, here in the U.S. uniform culture is totally a different picture. Most public schools do not have uniforms. Students can basically wear whatever they like. Uniforms may exist in some private schools or mission schools.To be frank, altohugh I have been here in the U.S. for more than 6 months, I have never seen students wearing uniforms. I tried to google "American uniforms" and all I got were military uniforms. So like most of other Chinese people, my knowledge of American's uniform comes from TV. America is not really a country of fashion. Compared to Japan, France or Italy, people might be less likely to describe American as stylish. However, the uniforms in some TV series, for example Gossip Girl, are very enjoyable to watch.

But people usually say that dramas are the exaggeration of real life. So I guess I still have very limited ideas about the uniforms in American schools.

If you love your uniforms in school, tell me about it and share with me.

Uniform Culture in China, Japan and the U.S.

Brand obsession in Japan

This is my favourite video about Japan and some Japanese cultural phenomena. For those who do not have access to youtube, here is another link for this video: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTYxNjg0MDM2.html
When it was posted in youtube, many people criticisized it as a racism video. But actually it was made by a Japanese man. I personally don’t think it is that bad and it reveals a lot of interesting facts about Japan and Japanese people.
It actually reminds me a lot about the things I saw in Tokyo when I traveled to Japan in 2009 especially how Japapnese girls are obsessed with luxury brands. Here are more statistics.  In Japan, 94% of the women won LV handbangs in their 20s. 50% of the LV sales were achieved in Japan. I remembered when my friend fist visted Japan, she described to me that every girl in Ginza was holding a LV bag. This is a very interesting scene.


Most my Japanese friends in Japan have their part-time jobs after school. Most of the time, they can afford a LV bag after working for about a month. So money is not a very big deal. What makes it important is social recognition. Japan is a typical Asian country where people care very much about how they are viewed by others in the society. This psychology is especially notable in Japan as it is an island country where people are very insecure.
Anyway, Japan is indeed a strange and intesting country. There would be more to talk about next time.
If you are an Asian, do you have similar obsession about brands? If you are not Asian, how do you view this? Share with me.

Brand obsession in Japan