Why do so few Japanese men have beards or mustaches?

Their companies and society at large I would imagine, don't allow it.

Was once told by a Japanese company to shave my beard because only criminals wear beards, that is the image in Japan she told me. But I don't think I've ever seen a mugshot on the Japanese news of a criminal with a beard, except for that Aum nutcase.

Wrong. Japanese men are the only East Asians with beard and mustache. They look mature, cool and handsome than Other Asian men. But they are weird, strange in a cool way.

Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Koji Yakusho, Tadanobu Asano and many.

Some companies won't allow it, not doubt.

Facial hair works on some people (Santa! Borat!), doesn't on others (hipsters).

Was once told by a Japanese company to shave my beard because only criminals wear beards, that is the image in Japan she told me. But I don't think I've ever seen a mugshot on the Japanese news of a criminal with a beard, except for that Aum nutcase

I don't think it's only in Japan, I grew up half of my life in the States and my parents both felt the same about beards. Never saw my father with facial hair, he just hated it and when I grew a beard, he wasn't exactly jumping with joy, but he later got used to it. My wife can't stand it, but she deals with it the same with the kids, I personally like it and now after having one for 6 years, I would be scared to shave it off, it's like running around naked for me without it. Some Japanese men really look cool with it, some can't even grow a hair, but I do see more Japanese men with beards than 20 years ago, just like tattoos, more and more people are getting them in this country.

....because most can't grow them.

...because most can't grow them.

That's what I was thinking.

Hmm. Several of my Japanese male friends sport beards, so I can't say it's something I've thought about before.

Wrong. Japanese men are the only East Asians with beard and mustache. 

Now that I am thinking of it - we have South Korea's Choi Min-sik, Jung Woo-sung in Oldboy and The Good, the Bad, The Weird, respectively. Plus several characters in various Wong Kar-wai movies, so that would be Hong Kong into the mix...

I think companies play a large part. There's a generally-held feeling that facial hair is a sign of a failure to groom properly.

My friend's husband had a very fine, well-trimmed moustache for years, then one day it was ...gone.

Turns out his new boss had told him to either get rid of the facial hair, or clear his desk.

On the other hand my son works for a well-known company most folk would expect to be very strait-laced and conservative, yet nothing has ever been said to him on the numerous occasions he grows himself a beard.

@Cleo

regarding your friend...maybe his boss was jealous that he couldn't grow a mustache as well as your friend and that was his motive. Some men feel emasculated in the company of other men who sport facial hair when they can't.

Nothing much (apart from unpolished shoes) makes a man look as disreputable as facial hair that is not a beard but is just whiskers indicating that he (she?) needs a shave. Unfortunately many males follow this fashion which makes them look like boys trying to be men. Beards should be left to men who can grow them properly.

Because they are not insufferable, woke hipsters.

Because they are not insufferable, woke hipsters

Comment of the day. Top drawer.

"My friend's husband had a very fine, well-trimmed moustache for years, then one day it was ...gone.

Turns out his new boss had told him to either get rid of the facial hair, or clear his desk."

This is depressing. He should have told his new boss to go ahead and try to fire him for failing to become a sheep.

I'm a bearded Japanese. My sense is that for Japanese males of my age 71, beards are at least as common as they are in Britain. I see moustaches fairly frequently on construction workers.

Facial hair is a personal choice, some people like it and others don’t. I have had a moustache and at other times a full set, and then got bored and shoved them off. The choice was mine and woe betide any jumped up little Hitler who tried to tell me whether I should have it or not! With the exception of my wife who can’t stand them, so I am now clean shaven :)

East Asians including Japanese, Chinese have neoteny trait, which means their body ages very slowly than whites etc.

Facial hair is unique to men, but it's also essentially a by-product of men's aging, facial hair growth is proportional to age, the elder you are, the more facial hair you have.

Since Japanese men age slowly, their facial hair will not grow until a certain old age, for example, in his 30s, 40s....then the elder you are, more facial hair will grow. In your 60s, you have much more facial hair than in your 30s.

That's why in East Asia, beard and mustache are always considered sexually unattractive due to people's perception that it's related to aging.

That's why everybody shave in Asia in order to look young, if you keep the beard and mustache, it's a sign that you are negative, lazy, withdraw from the society, dont care for your body etc.

To sum up, Why do so few Japanese/Chinese men have beards or mustaches?

No.1. their genetics determine their beard and mustache generally grow in their older age than whites. And due to their facial follicles are not sensitive to testosterone, their facial hair is less than whites whose facial follicles are very sensitive to testosterone.

That's why in young Japanese or Chinese, you dont see beard or mustache, because their age for facial growth has not come. Increase testosterone will not facilitate beard growth, nor it will make beard grow more. Facial hair growth is encoded in the genes of different individuals.

No.2. Japanese and Chinese associate beard and mustache with aging and negative things, they shave it when there is facial hair coming