For some, a warm, golden tan is as vital as the sun itself, while for others, it's avoided at all costs. On the hottest weekend of the year, beauty writer, Emma Strenner explores the cultural, societal - and geographical - differences in our attitudes to tanning.

Here’s the thing. I tan very easily… I mean, I tan so easily that I merely need to sit beside a swimming pool and I will catch the sun from the reflection off the water.  I tan so easily that when my husband and I go away on holiday and see friends when we return, he’s always asked: ‘how come you didn’t go on holiday with Emma? Did you have to stay and work in the office?’ I tan so easily that I find myself quickly explaining this very fact to my fellow beauty editors, where a sun tan is the equivalent of chain-smoking ten Marlboro Reds while testing an anti-wrinkle cream on the back of my hand. You get the point.

Before you cast me off as some sort of tanning show off – I am in fact half Japanese, and have always had a somewhat darker complexion than my Caucasion friends. Type 3 skin, I think is the technical term. There were days of course, when I was young and foolish (around the same time that I would smoke Marlboro Lights when my parents weren’t looking). I’d go to bed after a gut-full of cut price cocktails on holiday without drinking any water and fall asleep with my make up on. I’d slather on a token application of SPF 15 and repeatedly check that tan mark that would be developing around my bikini bottoms. I would happily sunbathe and relish the admiring glances when I returned home to the grey skies of London. I wasn’t a tan-o-holic; I’ve never gone for sunbeds, but it made me feel good like most girls my age in the 1990s. 

My Japanese grandmother had other ideas. After I returned home to Tokyo one summer following a break in Bali, I remember listening to a conversation my mother was having on the phone. She asked if we (my sister and I) should come up to see my grandmother and grandfather for a visit, as were due back to London in just two weeks. My dear Nana’s response was, ‘Are they very tanned though?’ And as my mother told her we were, indeed, pretty bronzed after a week in the sun, my grandmother, who adores us, and has spoilt us rotten from the day we arrived in this world, replied: ‘No no, they better not come, let’s wait until they’re nice and pale again next time.’

Before you cast her off as a Tiger-Grandmother with a propensity for pageant-esque beauty regimes, let’s consider for a moment who we are dealing with. She was born before WW1 and WW2. Her – our - family has a lineage that can be traced back to noble samurais and revered Shinto priests, Holy Men. So rather than my sister and I ever reacting to her preference for our ‘ladylike pale complexion’, we came to expect an element of time travel when we saw or spoke to our grandmother.  A lady in her eyes, stayed in doors, and did ladylike things, like flower arranging, and calligraphy and painting. This is a woman who asked me the moment I was married, when I would be giving up my job to look after my husband. She lives in rather a different world.

"I’d slather on a token application of SPF 15 and repeatedly check that tan mark that would be developing around my bikini bottoms"

Tanning is generally a Western past time, however. Have you ever been on holiday to the Far East and seen Asian guests sunbathing with the same gusto as the Western ones? While I don’t speak for everyone, there is a certain desirability that comes with fair skin in Eastern cultures. Euromonitor reported that ‘almost 70% of total skin care growth over the next five years will derive from the Asia-Pacific region, equating to $11 billion in real terms’.

Go to any department store in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo or Seoul and whitening products take centre stage at most beauty counters. And though there are the factions of whitening skincare that are as morally corrupt as they are downright dangerous, it is still by far and wide the most prolific sector in skincare in the Asia Pacific market, with multiple luxury brands having created specific lines to cater to this demand in the Asian Market.

On the other hand, over in the UK, while the suncare market has seen a considerable dip over in recent years because of the gloomy weather, the self-tanning market saw a rise of 3% according to a report released by Companies and Markets last year. While it’s not staggering, it’s certainly indicative of the fact that we still like a glow. Though a deep mahogany or Tropicana-esque orange is certainly not de rigeuer for Caucasian women in fashion circles, you only need to look at this Spring Summer 14’s trends from the catwalks, the surfer girl inspired looks at Marc Jacobs and Chloe to see that sun-kissed is still chic, even if we’re faking it.

It may be that I feel a fraction more British than I do Japanese, but I’ll always consider a little bronzing (though I opt for faux now, Sisley Self-tanning Hydrating Facial Skincare, is THE best) as a conduit to looking like you have a healthy complexion. I know better than to sunbathe, but a little Vitamin D is a great tonic for the bones, but also the spirit, as long as you’re careful with plenty of decent sun protection. And while I’m not overly keen either on the thought of a super pale complexion for myself, the whitening products that I’ve brought back from a recent trip to Hong Kong, rather than “whiten” my skin, have great technologies for keeping pesky sun spots and pigmentation at bay. And of that, I’m quite sure that my Japanese Nana would approve.