ganguro girls

According to this quirky, fascinating Salon.com article by Malena Watrous,

Ganguro want to look black and American, like their idols TLC and Lauryn Hill. In pursuit of a color that’s beyond tan, they frequent tanning salons, purchase sunlamps and smother their faces in brown makeup. It’s not uncommon for a girl of limited means to color her entire face with a brown magic marker. For those ganguro with the funds, however, Japan’s hippest hair stylists will coerce usually rail-straight Japanese locks into bulbous “afuro” (afro) perms that take half a day to set and cost about $400.