Japanese individuals are now paying professionals to teach them how to smile again after spending three years wearing masks as a result of Covid.
Japan has lifted pandemic restrictions, abolishing lingering border inspections last week and lifting mask bans in March.
Japan has lifted pandemic restrictions, abolishing lingering border inspections last week and lifting mask bans in March.
According to Mail Online, some people are still wearing their surgical masks outside, while others fear they’ve been wearing the mask for so long that they’ve lost how to grin.
The report said others worry that smiling now won’t come across as authentic, while others are simply anxious about showing the world the lower portion of their face again.
To help them beam again, many are turning to experts to rediscover their cheerful expressions.
Speaking to the Japan Times, ‘smile trainer’ Miho Kitano said: ‘I’ve heard from people who say that even if they’re able to remove their masks, they don’t want to show the bottom half of their faces, or that they don’t know how to smile anymore.
‘Some say that they see more wrinkles around their eyes after using them more to smile, or they feel like their face is drooping because they haven’t been using it as much as before.’
Kitano said her company Smile Facial Muscle Association has seen business skyrocket with people wanting to rediscover their pre-pandemic cheer.
The ‘smile expert’ gives her students exercises to help them with their smiles. Her pupils are given straws to bite down on with the aim that it elevates their cheek muscles to help show their teeth.
‘I meet many people who say they aren’t good at smiling, but it’s all about the muscles, and we have to use and train them in order to get good at it,’ she told the Japanese publication.
‘Just as you might exercise your arms, exercising your expressive muscles is so important.’