Japanese Women on Display

I have only been an unregistered alien in Japan for a couple of weeks, thus my visual anthropological collection is not yet extensive enough to where I can assign a theme to my photos. For my first entry, I have chosen to feature two photos of Japanese women, a broad enough "theme" to allow me to go in any direction, but also specific enough to make this post somewhat interesting.


This woman works in a candy shop in Kyoto. I found her and this shop, colorfully decorated, on a hill bustling with the flow of temple tourists and their cash. Women workers in such uniforms are plentiful in Japan, I have noticed, and thought it should be captured by film. The uniform suggests conformity and equality among coworkers, and yet the vivid colors of most of the uniforms draw attention to the women. The relationship between buyer and seller is obviously an important one in a capitalist society such as Japan, but why are female sellers the only ones usually dressed in such a way?



Today I went to Himeji Castle, a beautiful historical monument in Himeji City, and met these two lovely ladies enjoying their afternoon. Believe it or not, they are not real. Believe it or not, neither is the cat. I was attracted to the actual visual representation of the people who once lived in the castle, as most of it is dark and bare. Apparently one of these women is Princess Sen who lived "the happiest 10 years of her life" there with her husband. The emphasis given on her harmonious marriage and joyful stay at the castle rings some bells for me--one who's always skeptical of how history is presented--and I wonder how accurate this scene (pictured above) is.