Paper short abstract:

Through analysis of preliminary fieldwork in Tokyo, this paper explores male beauty practices in Japan focusing primarily on salarymen, how they modify their bodies according to ideals of male beauty and the influence of increased bodily self-surveillance on everyday experience.

Paper long abstract:

Male beauty practices in many countries have been greatly increasing in recent years. Japan is one of the countries at the forefront of this phenomenon with a large and growing male beauty industry. There is accordingly increasing pressure on men in many, diverse spaces to beautify their bodies with a vast array of everyday practices such as plucking excess hair, moisturising skin, and wearing fragrances. Despite these growing social demands, a lack of research on this topic leaves one to ask what sort of impact and effects these expectations have on individuals' everyday experiences and how beautified men are embodying broader changes in masculinities and gender relations in contemporary Japan.

Through an analysis of self-help books targeted at salarymen in Japan and pilot fieldwork in Tokyo with salarymen who report frequent usage of beauty practices, this paper shall explore salarymen's everyday embodied experiences in relation to norms of male beauty. For many of these men, new bodily norms include maintaining a sense of cleanliness (seiketsukan), appearing youthful whilst avoiding aged (oyaji) and unkempt looks. I would suggest that achieving and maintaining these norms bestow upon men impressions of professional competence whilst also appealing to female desire. In addition to these body-proper practices and associated meanings, salarymen are being increasingly affected by feelings of close bodily surveillance. Their everyday behaviour and senses of self are becoming influenced by a constant female and self surveillance, such as constant checking of their skin and body odour, which affects confidence and ability to perform, especially when interacting with others. These salarymen moreover become increasingly sensitive to and judgmental of the appearances of those around them. It is here that avenues open up through which to better understand how one's senses of perception are learned through social demands of bodily appearance.

An analysis of Japanese salarymen's beauty practices offers insight into the relationship between bodily appearance and felt bodily experiences whilst contributing to a better understanding of changing masculinity and gender relations in contemporary Japan.