A public debate over cosmetic surgery was sparked when a woman died during a cosmetic surgery operation in Nagoya City, this February. Japan has been influenced by Confucianism, so cosmetic surgery, which “does damage to the body inherited from parents,” is not openly accepted. However, in a survey carried out by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in 2014, Japan came third after the USA and Brazil, in a list of countries in which cosmetic surgery was most popular. In a survey about appearances carried out in 22 countries and regions in 2015 by a German marketing firm, only 26% of Japanese people responded that they were satisfied with their own face – the lowest rate of any of the countries surveyed. In Japan over the past few years, many surveys on whether “cosmetic surgery should be accepted or not” have been conducted mostly by private companies. To summarize these; approximately 10% of women have had cosmetic surgery and over 50% do not intend to have it done. In terms of facial surgery, nearly 60% favored “creating a double eyelid,” followed by 20% who wanted to “lengthen the nose.” While only 30% of respondents own up to their partner or husband about having had an operation, generally, friends and acquaintances are quite accepting of cosmetic operations. Written by TAKEUCHI Ichirou and published in 2005, over one million copies were sold of the book “Appearance is 90%.” However, the “appearance” in the book’s title does not refer to the beauty of a face, but to non-verbal means of communication, including facial expressions and physical gestures. Japanese women, once called “Yamato-nadeshiko,” charmed men the world over, but it is said that their beauty came from their hearts.