So I've been in Asia for the last 4 months. A bunch of different countries, currently Tokyo.
One of the things that has been shocking to me is how much importance skin colour has here. Especially for women, but also for men. Almost every cosmetic store (or even convenience store with a small makeup area) is full of skin whitening products. There's so many umbrellas being used during a sunny day which I never saw before to protect skin. I met a girl that does modelling and she basically said that the first consideration for models is what your skin colour is. The next will be your physical attributes. It was a different perspective for me.
But unfortunately it doesn't seem to just be a beauty thing either. People's impression there can be based on your skin colour.
It's almost like a class system based on your skin, because according to what I was told by some people if your skin is darker it means your family may have come from a farming or low socioeconomic background, so you are considered a lower class then a someone with a whiter skin.
And it does seem to match with what you normally see. Especially in countries like Thailand where the people in formal clothing going into office buildings tended to all be whiter skinned while people in the lower socio-economic jobs tended to be darker skinned. So maybe it is a class system, which is so silly as how can you control your skin genetics.
I am a pale guy. I'm 1 step above vampire lol. I hate wasting time tanning when I can be working or socializing and I'm also worried about skin cancer, so try to use sunblock whenever I'm at the beach. I got constant compliments on my skin colour more then anything else here, it's a weird thing to be complimented on, especially coming from the West where a good tan tends to be more sought after.
What are your thoughts on this?
Also I'm not sure if this is a thing in every Asian country, but it was in Japan, Hong Kong, China, and Thailand. I wasn't looking for it in Singapore so not sure there.