Japanese paying experts to teach them to SMILE because they forgot that after three years of Covid masks
Many fear that they have forgotten how to smile after wearing a mask for three years
To help them shine again, many turn to experts to find their smile again
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The Japanese are paying experts to teach them how to smile again after hiding their faces behind masks for three years during the Covid pandemic.
Japan has only just ended pandemic restrictions, lifting remaining border controls last week and ending mask restrictions in March.
While many still choose to wear their surgical mask outside, others fear they’ve been wearing the mask for so long they’ve forgotten how to smile.
Others are afraid that their smiles won’t come across as authentic now, while others are just afraid to show the world the bottom of their face again.
To make them shine again, many turn to experts to rediscover their cheerful expressions.
Many in Japan fear that they have been wearing the mask for so long that they have forgotten how to smile (file image)
Talking to the Japanese timessaid “smile trainer” Miho Kitano: “I’ve heard of people who say that even if they can take off their masks, they don’t want to show the lower half of their face, or they don’t know how to smile anymore.”
“Some say they see more wrinkles around their eyes after using them more to smile, or feel their face droops because they haven’t used it as much as before.”
Kitano said her company Smile Facial Muscle Association has seen business skyrocket with people looking to rediscover their pre-pandemic glee.
The ‘smile expert’ gives her students exercises to help them with their smile. Her students are given straws to bite on with the goal that it raises their cheek muscles to show their teeth.
“I meet a lot of people who say they can’t smile very well, but it’s all about the muscles, and we have to use them and train them to get good at it,” she told the Japanese publication.
“Just as you train your arms, training your expressive muscles is so important.”
The Japanese population was very supportive of the mask policy during the pandemic. The number of infections and deaths in the country was much lower than in Western countries.
Face coverings are now optional in Japan following the end of official rules earlier this year.
Many in Japan are afraid that their smiles will now come across as inauthentic, while others are simply afraid to show the world the bottom of their face again (file image)
The end of Japan’s Covid restrictions also means those who contract the virus will no longer have to quarantine.
But while many are trying to learn to smile again, showing one’s teeth is not always seen as the custom in Japan.
“Culturally speaking, smiling and doing so with teeth is not always appropriate in Japan, and you can speak Japanese without moving your mouth too much,” Keiko Kawano of the Smile Education Trainer Association told the Japanese times.
“When the pandemic started, it felt like the laughter just dwindled. There was only a feeling of disappointment.’
She says she has now taught 4,000 Japanese how to smile again.