This engaging introduction to Japan's burgeoning beauty culture investigates a wide range of phenomenonaesthetic salons, dieting products, male beauty activities, and beauty languageto find out why Japanese women and men are paying so much attention to their bodies. Laura Miller uses social science and popular culture sources to connect breast enhancements, eyelid surgery, body hair removal, nipple bleaching, and other beauty work to larger issues of gender ideology, the culturally-constructed nature of beauty ideals, and the globalization of beauty technologies and standards. Her...