Tokyo Women Spend More on Appearance

The amount of time, effort and money spent on appearance is higher in Tokyo in comparison to other major cities in Asia, according to a recent study by Kanebo. Tokyo women value being stylish more than counterparts living in metropolises like Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul and Taipei, who tend to be more career-conscious, according to a lifestyle survey released by the Japanese cosmetics company Tuesday. The survey of about 450 women from each city revealed that the ultimate compliment paid to a fair lady from Tokyo is for being “stylish” and having “good taste.” Meanwhile women in Beijing, Taipei and Seoul would blush most for comments praising their “work ability.”

Tokyo residents devote more of their budget to appearance-oriented costs than women in the other Asian capitals, spending about 46% of their money on fashion, cosmetics and beauty items. Beijing respondents were the second-highest spending group, devoting about 41.2% on image-related costs. Tokyo women allocated 11.1% of money to savings, whereas women in the other four cities put aside twice as much.

Japanese women aren’t only dressing and painting their faces to look good – or even sexy, or beautiful for that matter. Indeed, in a country where it’s uncommon for adults to outgrow Sanrio’s cuddly Hello Kitty character, their portrait of perfection is to look “kawaii,” the Japanese term for cute. About 33% of Tokyo respondents said they most ideally want to appear cute, a standout figure compared to women elsewhere. Fewer than 20% of women in China’s biggest cities and Taipei said they aim to look cute. Instead, Beijing women want to look “elegant,” Shanghai women “lady-like,” Taipei “refined” and almost 45% of women in Seoul strive to look “sophisticated.”

It was also found that Tokyo women were the least likely to value time spent on work and studying, the only group with less than 10% of respondents saying they were fond of it. And while women in Shanghai and Beijing prioritize high salaries and climbing the corporate ladder, Tokyo women were the only ones to largely shrug their shoulders at career advancement. Instead, they were considerably more preoccupied with cultivating work relationships than women from the other cities.