(BrightPress.org) – Some Japanese people have forgotten how to smile. The pandemic saw near universal mask-wearing in Japan, whereas it was more contested in Western countries. Masking already had precedence in the country prior to the pandemic, making their use more ubiquitous and normalized in their culture. A huge drawback to wearing masks is that we cut off our emotional cues from being transmitted and received by other people, they’re also dehumanizing, and now some frequent mask wearers have literally forgotten how to smile casually to their fellow citizens.
Keiko Kawano is a Japanese Instructor who offers classes on helping people relearn skills while training their facial muscles in order to be able to smile again. She told Reuters writers that her business is booming. Egaoki means “smile education” in Japanese. Kawano said that smiling is a safety signal that tells other people around you that they can relax and that you are not a threat to their physical safety.
One of her students is only 20 years old and he reported having not used his ability to smile during the year of lockdowns and while wearing a mask in public during the pandemic. He called the classes “a good workout for my face.”
The classes consist of students holding small mirrors while manipulating their facial muscles. They can form a smile with their hands on their faces and then hold the posture in order to relearn which muscles do what and how they can manipulate their own face. Students can also use a biofeedback app on a tablet that photographs their smile attempts and give them a score.
Kwano told the German outlet DW that she suspected many people simply failed to use their facial muscles at all during the pandemic due to spending much of the time in isolation or behind the screen of a face mask.
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