ABSTRACT
Some commonalities of beauty ideals exist in Westernized societies. In particular, people internalize and strive for certain body shapes glorified in the media. However, the pursuit of certain physiques often results in various medical and psychological problems including body dissatisfaction. As the idealized physiques are assumed to have spread from the West to non-Western cultures, the process is often referred to as Westernization. However, to conclude that non-Western nations blindly adapt Western appearance ideals is too simplistic. Though some features such as thinness and muscularity idealized in the West are indeed accepted, Western appearance ideals are often merged with traditional cultural values and emerge differently. How the integration and emergence have occurred in Japan is explored in this chapter.
