Japanese Women Are Now Taller, More Shapely

Press, Volume C, Issue 29501, 1 May 1961, Page 2

Japanese Women Are Now Taller, More Shapely

IBy

a Reuter Correspondent)

TOKYO. Meat, butter, cheese, milk, eggs, and chairs are some of the ingredients that are producing taller and more shapely Japanese women. Diet and living habits have helped in the transformation of the Japanese “doll,” swathed in a kimono, to a tall, leggy, bust-conscious young miss who measures up to the world’s top beauties. Miss Akiko Kojima proved that point when she won the “Miss Universe” contest in 1959. Thousands of other young beauties can now be seen walking about Tokyo, or appearing in chorus lines at dance-revues, who are living evidence that Miss Kojima’s figure was no exception. Miss Kinuko Ito was the first Japanese beauty to test her looks and figure in a world competition in 1954. She was placed third in the “Miss Universe” contest at Long Beach, California. Her achievement made the Japanese word “Hattoshin” or “eight heads tail” popularmeaning that the head should be one eighth the length of the body. Young Japanese women, encouraged by Miss Ito’s success, became fashionconscious. The term “glamour girl” was incorporated into the Japanese language. Other women set off overseas to try for international beauty titles.

In 1955, Miss Keiko Takahahi won fifth place in the Miss Universe contest Miss Midoriko Tokura won fourth place in London’s "Miss World” contest. Local beauty magazines and newspapers altered their adoration of Japan’s cute, dainty “tran-sistor-size” girls to a “kingsize” variety that had appeal overseas. Bigger Children

The Welfare Ministry said Japanese children were growing so fast that officials had been forced to prepare a new growth table for babies up to six years of age. The statistics were to be included

in a revised edition of a mothers’ handbook and would replace figures issued in 1950 that were meant to show mothers whether or not their children were growing normally. Japanese children at 12 months now weigh what the average 15-months-old baby weighed ten years ago—--9.1 kilogrames (about 20 pounds). Statistics showed that children in the 14 to 15-year-old age group were becoming taller.

A change in diet has been the main cause for the rapid growth. Children now sit on chairs more often where before they sat cross-legged on the floor. Sport is another factor. More Sport

The emancipation of women after the war and their greater freedom enabled them to enter sports and professions their mothers would never have contemplated. Girls accompany boys on the tennis courts, on mountaineering trips, to the seaside, at handball, table tennis, and motor-cycle riding.

The addiction to sport which had increased in reeent years is likely to develop further with the 1964 Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Tokyo. The pigeon-toed walk of the young Japanese girls in kimonos, the clip-clopping along in their geta (wooden shoes) has given way to an unrestricted stride by the post-war misses who prefer skirts, slacks, toreador pants or jeans. Kimonos The change in fashions, to meet the young women’s desire to feel “free,” has left the kimono for use on special occasions only, while Western clothes are used for every-day wear. While many Japanese girls still prefer the kimono, some who wear it admit wistfully they do so because their figures are not suited to the more form-revealing Western clothes. Kimonos are uncomfortable. The tight obi (sash) restricts breathing and eating. Professor Yoshitaka Yangi, of the Women’s University of Fine Arts, defended the kimono and said. “The kimono has its own place in

our life. It provides the wearer with comparatively free activity. The only problem is that the women do not know how to wear them as working clothes.” A fashion critic, Mr Nohuhiko Murakami, said the kimono developed as an accessory to make women beautiful as "playthings for men.” In the process its original purpose as “clothing” was lost. In an attempt to recapture the popularity of the kimono with younger Japanese, department stores now feature washable kimonos. The traditional kimono had to be taken apart and washed piece by piece. One department salesman, said: “We advertise washable synthetic kimonos for business girls. If they learn how to wear them and discover their beauty they will eventually develop the desire to buy better and perhaps expensive ones.” In some parts of Kyoto, a former capital of Japan, local authorities designated the traditional styles of kimono worn there as cultural assets to preserve them. One designer said women would Soon regard the kimono only as something to look at—an accessory of social life aimed at emphasising the traditional style of Japanese beauty.