It is a thin paper called “Aburatori Gami”, which means a shot of paper that removes oil on our face.　 Many Japanese women use this as one of the cosmetics because it’s very useful to correct their makeup.

At first this paper was invented for professional actors and actresses to absorb oil on their faces in Meiji era.　 At that time, Japanese performer used “greasepaint” as foundation and it was made in Germany.　 So it did agree with Japanese skin on the point that oil oozed their faces.　 Now many young women use it on a daily basis but it was not so popular.　 In the 1990s it was featured on TV and magazines and it became popular among young people.　　

But, don’t you think “why don’t you use a handkerchief or a tissue??” In my opinion, Japanese don’t want to carry things which are used for wipe the liquid discharged from our bodies. But in spite of we sweat and use a handkerchief many times and it’s not disposable.

　 I said “Aburatori Gami” is very popular now among even high school students.　 I guess since the price is cheap enough for young girls to get (it usually costs about from 100yen to 500yen) and number of forward girls increased compared to Meiji era. Now many girls as well as actresses are conscientious about “in what way they can make themselves beautiful”.