Eye Creases and Beauty in Japan

In Japan, there are often concepts that are difficult for Westerners to grasp. One measurement of beauty here is related to the number of creases in a persons eyelid when their eyes are open — one crease is called hitoe (hee-TOE-eh), two creases is futae (fu-TAH-eh). Single-creasers have slender, traditionally Asian eyes, while those with more creases have larger eyes that look European to the Japanese. Getting plastic surgery to change the appearance of your eyes is quite popular among TV stars and young Japanese people, and my wife likes to regularly report on which TV stars who have suddenly changed their faces. (There are even products that promise to make your eyes look larger and more “Western.”) I have to admit, I’d never considered that people had different numbers of creases in their eyelids until coming here — it was a totally alien concept to me. Another measure of beauty is having a “high nose” (hana ga takai), an important feature for anyone who wants to be considered one of the Beautiful People here; the opposite is a “low nose” (hana ga hikui). The rule is, if you can touch your chin and the tip of your nose with one extended finger without contacting your lips, you’ve got a “high nose.” I never really thought of schnozzes as anything other than “big” or “small” before coming to Japan, but apparently there is more to a person’s nose than meets the eye.