Light skin in Japanese culture

[1] There is an old proverb "white skin covers the seven flaws" (色の白いは七難隠す, iro no shiroi wa shichinan kakusu), which refers to a white-skinned woman being beautiful even if her features are not attractive.

Mainland China has also become a large market for bihaku products from companies like Shiseido, Shu Uemura and SK-II in the 21st century.

They are also popular with teenage girls and those in their twenties who desire to look like pop singers, such as Ayumi Hamasaki, and are promoted in numerous youth fashion magazines such as Popteen and S Cawaii!.

An opposition to the idea of fair skin beauty grew with the gyaru subculture called ganguro in the 1990s which later died out by the end of the 2000s.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has approved a specific combination of active ingredients for skin whitening cosmetics used by the general Japanese public.