You will Give Up on Beautiful Girl at Third Sight

This is the picture of Ivy, the girl that did homestay at Kurusu family last month. As usual, this picture actually doesn't have direct relation with the content, however, there's a reason why I chose this picture for the illustration. Click here or on the picture, then you'll get an idea about it...
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I’m taking Japanese composition class this semester, and on the first day of the class we had to write a short introduction essay. After filling the first and second paragraph with standard detail (name, where I belong, what kind of thing that I like to do on free time, and the like), I was running out of idea for what to write next. Prof. Yoshizawa who saw me puzzled tried to give me some idea: “You can write why you want to join this class or what you like and don’t like about Japan. You can even write the type of girl that you like...”

And, as you all might have guessed it correctly, I choose the last one.

The following week professor Yoshizawa handed us back our work with some correction. For my work, she commented that the last sentence of my essay was sounded a little bit unnatural in Japanese. I was trying to write ‘I prefer a cute girl to a beautiful girl because you won’t get bored on the cute one even after time has passed’, and because I never heard my Japanese friends saying something like that, I was writing a more or less literal translation of that sentence (きれいな女性より、可愛い女性の方が好きだ。まぜなら、可愛い女性は時間が経ってもつまらなくならないから). Professor Yoshizawa told me that a more Japanese-like expression of what I wanted to say was 。。。可愛い女性は時間が経ってもあきらめないから, which more or less means ‘...because you won't give up on cute girl even after time has passed’. She also told me that she didn’t have problem in understanding what I wanted to say, because there’s an old saying in Japan that says 美人は三度目にあきらめた, that means ‘You will give up on beautiful girl at third sight’ (I’m not so sure about the Japanese sentence. I’ll ask Professor Yoshizawa again next week to confirm it...).

Because of that sentence, the topic of the class that day shifted a little bit to the meaning of the old saying. Professor Yoshizawa told us (even though she wasn’t 100% sure), that the meaning of that saying is that people will soon get bored with physical appearance. It is true that everyone would easily be attracted by beauty, but as soon as the person get used to it, s/he will get bored if there’s no other attractive ‘feature’. It is different with the case of cute girl, because Japanese consider a particular girl is cute not only from the physical appearance, but also from their behavior (at least that what Professor Yoshizawa told us. I cannot guarantee that this is valid for every single Japanese here). Thus, even after people get used with the beauty of the girl, they won’t likely become bored, for they also like her from her character too.

The story above reminds me of what my sister told me when we were kids. She told me that in the ending of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, may be the Beast didn’t actually turn into handsome prince. It is only because the Beauty had already known him well that the Beast look more handsome in her eyes. What my sister tried to say here was that inner character will give a lasting impact comparing to physical character. (And after thinking about it again, I just realize that my sister was quite a wise kid back there... :-) )

Anyway, this just another story that tell you character is better than just beauty (well, of course it is much more better if you could have both :-) ). You might find it true or not, however, most of the time, it is easier for me to get along with a warm and affable person (well, of course it will be much much more easier if the person is warm, affable, and also beautiful :-) ).