The ways in which beauty is formu­lated in Japan are complex, and there are at least four dimensions that take us beyond simplistic notions of uninvited homogeneity and avid imitation. One point to keep in mind is that some contemporary beauty prac­tices reflect indigenous ideas. Pale skin was valued during the premodern period among male and female nobility, but over time the white face be­came a marker of ideal womanhood for middle-class women (Ashikari 2003). Contemporary Japanese consumption of skin-lightening products is linked to ideas with their own local history, so to claim that a desire for pale skin is merely a new form of postwar deracialization brought about by hegemonic Euroamerican beauty ideology is a failed analysis based on a belief that the West is always in an ascendant position. Within the Japa­nese beauty industry, many products and services, including knowledge about skin care, are described as superior to foreign ones by virtue of their presumed status as natively Japanese.