Superficial: The narrow focus on surface-level attributes, like appearance, status, wealth, and career over things that are more internal like morals, values, and ethics.   This episode, we cover:

• 3 golden rules of Asian households
• Superficiality in Asian culture and potential causes
• Generational trauma
• Racism, colorism, and body-shaming in Asian and gay advertisements
• Plastic surgery in Korea
• Purikura machines in Japan
• Augmented reality apps in China
• Gay-dating apps
• Dangers of circuit parties (gay "raves")
• Performance enhancers
• And a whole lot more

  How to combat superficial culture

1. Understand it: ask yourself what are you ultimately looking for?
2. Reframe it: you are in control of how you perceive yourself
3. Change your environment: read books, watch videos, listen to podcasts to expand your thinking
4. Call it out: call out authority figures when permitted

  References:

• Racist Chinese detergent commercial
• 2017 ISAPS global survey on plastic surgery
• Meitu
• BeautyCam
• Camera360
• Sephora Virtual Artist
• Grindr May 2016 homepage
• Tara Brach - Radical Acceptance
• Dalai Lama - The Art of Happiness
• Robert Greene - Laws of Human Nature

  You can follow me at: Instagram (instagram.com/stevenwakabayashi) YouTube (youtube.com/stevenwakabayashi) Weekly Newsletter (mindfulmoments.substack.com)