Barbie Girl in a Japanese World.

When I stumbled upon these Japanese Barbies, I just had to steal a photo. I was in a rush to get to the Kobe Education Center, but it looked like they were prepearing for some sort of street performance, applying make-up by the pound and practicing dance steps straight out of the "Jingle Bell Rock" scene in "Mean Girls" (major props if you understand and appreciate that reference). But it's really incredible the way in which certain Japanese girls imitate notions of Western beauty, curling and bleaching their hair, widening their eyes with make-up, tape, surgery, and so forth. Girls (and even grown women) go bonkers over my friend Hannah's blond hair all the time, and it's not unusual for them to touch it and exclaim, "Kawaiiiiii!" (Cuuuuute!).