The word for “eye” in Japanese is me (pronounced “meh”), although there’s a more poetic-sounding alternative word, hitomi, which is used in songs and other romantic settings. (Useless trivia: Humphrey Bogart’s famous line from Casablanca in Japanese is kimi no hitomi ni kampai, “I raise a glass and toast to your beautiful eyes.”) All Japanese have brown eyes, although they’ll always tell you their eyes are “black” if asked because they think you’re asking about the center part of the eye rather than the iris. Eye color is something the Japanese are quite fascinated with when it comes to gaijin, and I’ve had many students who wanted to talk about my eyes, ask what color my parents’ eyes were or see if I perceived the world through a blue tint. One of the more interesting aspects of Japanese animation is how characters are portrayed with a veritable rainbow of eye (and hair) colors despite being 100% Japanese ethnically. Essentially, the designers are using the medium of animation to create characters that go beyond the perceived limitations of “Japanese” facial features, incorporating colors and styles without limitation. While anime characters might be perceived as looking “Caucasian” by some, they actually surpass even the most flamboyant Western features, creating an idealized world in which any type of beautiful facial attribute can be expressed.
