Sun Phoebia

Finally! Here is the proof I've been waiting all year to get on camera of Japanese people's sun-phoebia. I remember mentioning the sun-phoebia once in an entry about Iriomote, but I'm not sure if I've ever really ranted about it. The deal is, it's cool to be white in Japan. It is everything other than cool to be darker skinned. It's a status and class issue, and it's constantly in your face. No one dares leave their home without an umbrella in the summer, I'm serious. It serves as a parasol. They avoid the beach altogether in the summer but if they're out there, they will be wearing large hats protecting their faces and will be huddling over in the concrete section's shade, watching their children play from afar. Japanese women seem to each carry around a small tube of sunscreen, which they are constantly applying to the back of their hands. If they aren't doing that, it's probably because they are wearing black arm gloves or long sleeves to shield them from a tan. At Beach Day I told Junko sensei that in America, our hands is a body part that we never apply sunscreen to, just to get a rise out of her. I wasn't disappointed, no siree! "EEEEHHHHHHHH?!!!!" She was absolutely flabbergasted. Yay cultural differences!

Now, to the left you can see a wonderful example of the Japanese sun-phoebia. This is a female jogger. THAT is her jogging outfit. She is jogging around 4pm, in the middle of summer on Okinawa. That means it's hot enough that I'm dripping sweat just sitting still. My favorite part of her outfit is the Darth Vader visor.