New Japan Airlines Calendar Emphasizes Nature Over Women’s Bodies

New Japan Airlines Calendar Emphasizes Nature Over Women’s Bodies

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World of Beauty 2021
Picture: Japan Airlines Official Web Site
The latest edition of the air carrier's "World of Beauty" calendar zooms out from its models in a sign of growing gender consciousness.

Sometimes, social change can be seen in the smallest actions. That’s certainly the case with Japanese air carrier Japan Airlines (JAL). In recent years, the company has taken steps to ensure its services and products treat all customers with dignity and respect. This year, JAL took another step in that direction by radically altering one of its most famous calendars to

From Feminine Beauty to Natural Beauty

Asahi Shinbun reports on the changes to JAL’s A World of Beauty calendar. The company has published the calendar since 1967 as part of a set of calendars that each focus on a different them.

In previous versions of the JAL World of Beauty calendar, the “beauty” of the title was clearly feminine beauty. Each month featured a different female model of a different country and nationality. The photos weren’t particularly sexualized or Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition-y. However, they were clearly intended to appeal to heterosexual male consumers.

A sample from JAL’s 2018 “World of Beauty” calendar, still available for sale on its Web site.

With the 2021 calendar, Asahi reports, JAL is taking a different approach. The new calendar removes the focus from the models and places it instead on the beauty of the model’s natural surroundings. The pictures still contain models – nine female and three male – but the models are clearly no longer the focus of the shot.

A sample from the 2021 JAL World of Beauty calendar.

In addition, JAL has also brought back its Cabin Attendants calendar – but, for the first time, the calendar depicts male cabin attendants at work alongside their female colleagues. JAL told Asahi that it made the changes out of respect for “the changing times” and the changing perception of women in Japanese society.

Another Move Towards Gender Equality

As late as 1991, workers reported how, as salespeople, they would be forced to distribute calendars and playing cards featuring nudes. Click To Tweet

The calendars aren’t the only change that JAL has made lately. Earlier this year, the company said that it would eliminate the English language phrase “ladies and gentlemen” from its English language announcements and stick with more gender-neutral phrasing such as “good evening” or “good morning”. JAL also extends spousal benefits to same-sex partners.

In addition, JAL’s recent uniform redesign introduced a pants style for female employees for the first time. (However, JAL didn’t revisit its rules around pumps – an issue which feminist activist Ishikawa Yumi brought to international attention in 2019.)

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JAL’s move can be seen as yet another step in Japan towards recognizing how today’s modern workforce differs substantially from the Japanese workforce of just 30 years ago. As late as 1991, workers reported how, as salespeople, they would be forced to distribute calendars and playing cards featuring nudes. It was a clear signal that the Japanese workplace was a space for men and men alone.

Those days, of course, are long gone. In today’s Japan, half of all women graduate college – and close to 70% of all households are dual-income. This shift has led to an increased awareness in Japan as to how women are treated in the workplace as well as depicted in media.

No doubt JAL will receive some backlash from male businessmen over its shift. But history is on JAL’s side – and, given current trends, are unlikely to reverse any time soon.

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Jay Allen

Jay is a resident of Tokyo where he works as a reporter for Unseen Japan and as a technial writer. A lifelong geek, wordsmith, and language fanatic, he has level N1 certification in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) and is fervently working on his Kanji Kentei Level 2 certification.

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