I’m sure she deserves to win and I always agree with whatever Marie Mockett says, but am I wrong here? Surely “with her knowledge of English, and her time spent in the West, Miss Japan was in a much better position to appeal to western judges and their sense of what is ‘beautiful’ and accomplished” just means she has won at a Western game by being as Western as possible, as Japan usually can, be it violin playing or snowboarding or baseball or anything they see and want to be better at? I don’t think managing to look like Barbie and hoodwinking Western judges into thinking you’re almost white or a reasonable facsimile is any victory for Asian beauty?

Tangential but actor James Kyson Lee was one of the celebrity judges. Very cool! (He plays Ando, Hiro’s sidekick in Heroes, and apparently devotes a lot of time and effort to learning his Japanese lines for his role. In other words, he doesn’t merely learn his lines phonetically.)
Based purely on appearance in the photos I’ve seen of her, the new Miss Universe looks like what I imagine a Japanese woman from the sixties or seventies might have looked like. Just saying….

Tigger: “I never really think these are the most beautiful girls from their countries, or the winner, the most beautiful in the world. When I lived in Sydney in 1986, there was a girl who owned a ice-cream shop I used to walk past, who was literally as beautiful as a goddess. And she was never Miss Australia. Miyori-san is pretty, but is she THE prettiest Japanese woman?.I don’t think so.”

I have to agree with you there wholeheartedly. Same goes for actresses who are supposedly the hottest in Hollywood and, of course, the vast majority of runway models.

I agree she’s far from the most beautiful Japanese woman, or in the “universe” for that matter. But, that’s really not what the pageant is based on entirely. If these “beauty” pageants were only based on beauty and beauty alone they wouldn’t interview the contestants and wouldn’t bother looking at their various accomplishments. You could get the most beautiful dufus airhead who doesn’t know how to finish a sentence and they would not win a pageant. It’s the whole “package” that they’re looking for.

Michelle Kwan was a judge too, for anyone who cares.

“I don’t think managing to look like Barbie and hoodwinking Western judges into thinking you’re almost white or a reasonable facsimile is any victory for Asian beauty?”

It’s a good question and I was thinking about it this morning.

I’m not sure what exactly would ever count as a complete victory for Asian Beauty. Actually, what is ever a victory for beauty? Probably nothing. Who cares? Certainly not most men. What does it all mean and matter? Nothing again. This is my problem with pagents and with the inadvertent pagent in which all women suddenly find themselves once they pass adolesence. Which is not to say I think pagents should be banned/ended/outlawed or anything extreme like that. I understand why they exist and what their appeal is. I just don’t know how relevant they really are in the long run.

And as others have pointed out over and over again, who the hell cares what the west thinks of the east. Is it some kind of accomplishment if a Japanese pop star manages to break into the west? Does it really matter? Does it matter that Ken Watanabe seems to be getting closer and closer to an Oscar? Does it change the course of history or world peace?

In the grand scheme of things, probably not too much.

Then again, on a somewhat personal and shallow note, I’d like to see Asian beauty as something just accepted as “normal,” instead of a wierd “fetishistic” like fascination as it often is in the west. Will a Miss Universe crown or two help? On the one hand, it would be nice if it didn’t. On the other hand, these kinds of media images seem to make some kind of difference, particularly once you see actresses of different ethnicities finally start to get interesting and meaty roles.

For years it was just silly to have anyone other than white women competing in these beauty competitions. Then, somewhere along the way, Latin American women started doing well, as “exotic” beauties were accepted. I’m pleased to see some Asians in the mix. The late 90s saw two black women win back to back. Interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Universe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFK1zyux2Kc&mode=related&search=

Bonus points for anoyne who can identify the music to the video above. Really, really wierd to hear it orchestrated like that.

I also don’t think that the Asian contestants convinced the judges that they were “white”; rather, they were able to play up their beauty in a way that the western judges could understand, ie walking with confidence, tossing their heads, looking strong, instead of simpering and apologetic and therefore “weak” and “submissive,” the negative judgments most often (and mistakenly) thrown at Asian women in general. Not for nothing, but Miss Korea did very well in the pagent too.

Click here for a collection of Ryo Mori images.

“Michelle Kwan was a judge, too”. Now I’m convinced why Miss Riyo Mori won. She is definitely not so cute in Japanese standard. Like other guys, I find Miss Japan 2006 Kurara Chibana(Runner Up of Miss Universe 2006) much prettier.

Michelle Kwan is a Chinese American. I think Chinese have quite different beauty standard compared with Japanese, so does Ms Kwan. Chinese prefer “beautiful women” than “pretty or cute women”. On contrary Japanese prefer “cute or pretty women” than “beautiful women”. This comes from cultural, social and political differences. (Maybe Korean are placed in the middle.)

For me, Riyo Mori looks beautiful like Chinese women who are often not so feminine like most Japanese women . And she should have superior quality in entire personality and accomplishments.

TofuUnion, you pretty much proved my point.

To win this pagent, Japan was going to have to put forward a woman who appealed to a different aesthetic sense than what is traditionally considered attractive in Japan–aka a non-kawaii type. They did and they won.

As a side note, there is some controvery surrounding Kurara Chibana’s non-win. Some feel her interpreter botched the interpretation and thus cost her the crown.

Does your computor, Marie Mockett, allow you to look at other sites with many pictures of pagent winners on it?. I know that software exists that decides whats “Porn” by doing a calculation where photographs with human faces in, then get graded as to the percentage of “Flesh” coloured pixels in the shot. Too many photos on a page, with too “high” a number awarded, = porn to the software.

That’s a good point you make about how “they were able to play up their beauty in a way that the western judges could understand”. The whole competition itself is slanted inexorably towards “western” standards, and I think it will never change. A lady that Tongan or Samoan people would consider the acme of beauty, is never going to get a look in, because she would be too “Fat” and “Subserviant”, and so on.

Could we even as an academic exersize, design a truly International Beauty Competition ?. How would one go about setting the judgement standard, use a computor model? Couldn’t set up a voting base, Mis China would always win, but maybe scientific measurements of beauty, and poise might work.

The whole thing is redundant for any real sane purpose, doesn’t actually serve the greater good at all. A “Win” there for Japanese or anyone, well the only thing I can think that proves, that is good for the species, is you can say “Well, we are steadily getting more tolerant of our superficial differences, look, a Japanese lady jumped through all those artificial hoops in that archaic display-and-style competition, and the western judges have rewarded her with their approval”.

It’s okay. I confuse Betty Woo with myself quite regularly.

It’s okay. I confuse Marie Mockett with myself quite regularly.

heh heh.

Tigger: “I know that software exists that decides whats “Porn” by doing a calculation where photographs with human faces in, then get graded as to the percentage of “Flesh” coloured pixels in the shot. Too many photos on a page, with too “high” a number awarded, = porn to the software.”

A serious question (but only in a dry academic sort of way): Does this function work effectively with dark-skinned subjects? I suppose this wouldn’t work with models who have a layer of paint applied to their nude bodies.

RYO – the great thing about Canada is that if an African-Canadian contestant appeared, it would be perfectly natural since, really, the only ‘native’ Canadians are Aboriginals who don’t seem all that interested in this superficial fluff.

Although, more study on what makes a ‘man’ look like a handsome/pretty/boy ‘man’ (along with many examples) is always welcome. With pictures, please. In tighty-whiteys, if possible.

Would that be Betty Mockett or Marie Woo?

RYO, A Taste of Honey songs! And painted men in San Francisco. The Government seems to OK that. Beauty contestants? Non. I think there’s a profound point in there (just don’t look to me to decipher it).

Japanese want women to be “cute?” Ugh. “Cute” is for puppies and kittens, not women.

I think there is a fairly accurate correlation between the quality and diversity of national costumes and the quality and diversity of national cuisines. When my wife and I had our first child in Ontario, there was a public health nurse’s assistant who came over to provide assistance and advice on various matters related to baby care. She was from Jamaica and was trying to explain what Canadian food was and her example was pasta. I am also a recent newcomer to Quebec but I refuse to eat poutine. Does beef jerky count as Canadian?

RYO – don’t worry. I *am* a Quebecer and I’ve always refused to eat poutine. However, you really should give tourtière (meat pie) a try. And pudding chômeur (a cakey-pudding with some maple syrup sauce) as a dessert. Oh, geeze: steamies-all-dress (hot dog and bun both steamed, slaw and onions as a garnish), a greasy bag of frites, pâté chinois (basically, shepherd’s pie), pets de soeurs (literally ‘nuns’ farts’ but actually more like a cinnamon roll), oreilles-de-crisse (literally, ‘Christ’s ears’ that are really crispy, deep-fried pork skin), maple syrup and, of course, bagels, smoked meat and Liberty brand cream cheese.

Great. Now I’m homesick.

Swinging this back on topic: I’m sure the new Miss Universe couldn’t eat any of this without loosing her ‘cute’ figure… . OK. I *tried* to swing this back on topic.

chonko, did you ever think about the fact that there are many millions of Koreans, so the few sad individuals you have seen post a comment, represent .00000001 percent of them?. Most Koreans, indeed most PEOPLE, are not petty or small minded like that.
So what you are doing is noticing the few twisted individuals and letting that upset you. Try thinking instead about the millions of Koreans that buy Japanese cultural offerings, clothing, etc, visit Japan on holiday, have friends that are Japanese.
To even notice the ratbag few, is to pay them too much respect, what a person like that says, doesn’t count for anything of importance. You certainly shouldn’t respond in kind yourself.

Betty Woo: Thanks for the culinary recommendations. I’ve tried the grocery store versions of tourtière and pâté chinois (Wikipedia outlines interesting theories as to the origins of this name – but unfortunately, not for the farting nuns). I get the sense that the local cuisine is not very arterially friendly.

Betty Woo: Thanks! This is what’s great about the Internet. If I remember correctly, you’re on the West Coast. And here I am receiving detailed recommendations on where I can go to sample local cuisine.

[...] Riyo Mori’s win in the Miss Universe pagent, and our subsequent discussion on Japundit, I became curious about the “behind the scenes” efforts that contributed to [...]

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