(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
an important phase of great upheaval and change, Japanese began with the destruction
of the centuries-old semifeudal Tokugawa military government and the reopening of
trade with the West. In the 1870s and 1880s, there are many liberal ideas promoted
into Japan, such as Western scientific, technological, social concepts and the freedom
of human rights. And the Republican mother image is also advocated in Japan: ‘Good
wife, wise mother’. Women publicly served her nation through her private and now
respected roles within the family (Lowy, 2007: 4). By industrialization, Japanese
gained recognition and territory in the international arena, economic condition
improve increases educational opportunities for both sex, and the growth of the media
and an urban middle class.
As Lowy’s research, Japanese new women begin to appear in novels as well, both as a
term in conversation and as independent, often sexual, characters. ‘In all these cases,
New Women were strongly connected with tings Western and modern (Lowy, 2007:
9)’.
So as Chinese women, historically, women with fat body shapes were considered as
fertile and health, while slender body shapes meant weakness (Seid, 1994), but now
fashion magazines and other media always represent those skinny bodies . Chinese
culture is effected by Western culture and Japanese culture, as Hung (2007) points out
that ‘Historical background gave rise to a national drive in China to modernize
agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology – in sum, to
develop the strengths of the foreign powers and become a member proper on the
world stage. Thus globalization in the Chinese context is associated with
modernization.’ Base on this globalization context, Hung finds that there is a
Creolizaion phenomenon when Chinese women read fashion magazines. That is,
Chinese women may try to learn those women image of Western and Japanese, but
they will change the original foreign stereotype to fit local culture.
Tu (2007) summarizes that international fashion texts influence local women at least
three aspects: First, there is a relationship between the use of thin models in media
and the increase to an unhealthy level in female consumer’s awareness and concern
over their physical appearance. Second, fashion magazines as certain criterion to
conduct a standardizing ‘Beauty image’ and influence people to evaluate others. Third,
many women take fashion magazines as the ultimate guide to choose fashion ideas
and to select popular fashion related commodities. And Hung (2007) infers that
fashion magazines provide a ‘modern women image’, not only ‘good wife, wise
mother’, women must better play their various role in family, workplace and private
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