Asian Blepharoplasty

While I was studying at Waseda University, I wrote a paper and did a presentation on Asian Blepharoplasty, or the surgery used to create a double eyelid, and the social commentary surrounding body image. I created the above image thanks to the help of my classmates in a language class I was taking to illustrate the diversity of eye shapes and eye color and how the double eyelid, or lack there of, was perceived in an Asian society.

When I presented this image to my mostly Japanese classmates, I also asked for descriptive words that they could associate with the images of eyes. The most common descriptor for the eyes possessing a double eyelid was "awake", which is also one of the top reasons patients who elect for the double eyelid surgery give for wanting the procedure. For more information about plastic surgery in Asia, take a look at this article in Time Magazine, Changing Faces.

Social commentary aside, I found this image while organizing my files, thought it was interesting, and wanted to share.

Knitting is postponed until I finish packing up for my move back home tomorrow.

one cup Harry Potter, one cup Japan, a pinch of Ravelry and a dash of knitting

So I've been keeping a bit of a secret from you all (well, most of you already know ) but I was accepted into the JET Programme in April, and I'll be living and teaching in Yamanashi prefecture come the beginning of August.

I am very excited and not at all done packing yet! It's been a hectic past couple weeks, and I can only expect things to get a little crazier as my departure date gets closer. I've been working almost full time at a summer conference job at my university, and while things have been fun, it hasn't left me with a lot of time for packing and preparing to move to Japan.

On the knitting front, I've been working on my Earth Squared Blanket

I finished my first brown square, and started right into the next white (beige? tan? toasted pine nut?) square. I had to order more yarn for this blanket, because I mistakenly thought 6 balls of Patons Classic Merino would be enough. Only after I finished one square and realized I had used almost half of one ball, did I finally come out of my delusional state.
I think I would have progressed much faster on the blanket if I had not received an invite to Ravelry a couple days ago and spent the better part of my online time looking at other people's projects. Feel free to add me as a friend. (just search for my blog)

With this :
Hopefully arriving in my mail box tomorrow, I don't see my knitting getting any faster, since I haven't quite figured out how to knit and read at the same time. Though I might try and learn :)