{"id":1945268,"date":"2023-06-06T11:52:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T15:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/people-in-japan-are-signing-up-for-classes-to-teach-them-how-to-smile-after-wearing-masks-for-too-long\/"},"modified":"2023-06-06T11:53:24","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T15:53:24","slug":"people-in-japan-are-signing-up-for-classes-to-teach-them-how-to-smile-after-wearing-masks-for-too-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/people-in-japan-are-signing-up-for-classes-to-teach-them-how-to-smile-after-wearing-masks-for-too-long\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese people are taking smile classes due to prolonged mask-wearing."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpeople-in-japan-are-signing-up-for-classes-to-teach-them-how-to-smile-after-wearing-masks-for-too-long%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1945268&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Japanese Take Smile Classes to Relearn Facial Expressions After Pandemic<\/h2>\n<p>Wearing face masks during the COVID pandemic has become a norm in Japan. However, some people have become so used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-spike-in-florida-coronavirus-cases-despite-no-mask-mandate\/\" title=\"No Spike in Florida Coronavirus Cases Despite No Mask Mandate\">wearing masks<\/a> that they are taking classes to relearn how to smile again. Keiko Kawano, the instructor at Egaoiku, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/people-in-japan-are-signing-up-for-classes-to-teach-them-how-to-smile-after-wearing-masks-for-too-long\/\" title=\"Japanese people are taking smile classes due to prolonged mask-wearing.\">means \u201csmile education<\/a>,\u201d teaches her students how to stretch their mouths up and outward, forcing themselves to smile.<\/p>\n<p>According to Reuters, Kawano has seen an uptick in demand for her smile classes now that the pandemic is over. Mask use in Japan was nearly universal during the pandemic, the report said. \u201cCulturally, a smile signifies that I\u2019m not holding a gun and I\u2019m not a threat to you,\u201d she said. \u201cI think there\u2019s a growing need for people to smile.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Regaining Smiles with Apps and Mirrors<\/h3>\n<p>Students use tablets with apps installed that help them regain their smiles. The app captures their smile and gives them a score. A 20-year-old student who took the class said, \u201cI hadn\u2019t used my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-does-this-image-show-an-nhs-poster-linking-the-covid-19-vaccine-with-bells-palsy\/\" title=\"FACT CHECK: Does This Image Show An NHS Poster Linking The COVID-19 Vaccine With Bell\u2019s Palsy?\">facial muscles<\/a> much during COVID so it\u2019s good workout for my face.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When you are alone at home, it\u2019s normal not to be facially expressive,\u201d Kawano told German broadcaster DW News. \u201cIf this is the case, then not moving (parts of) your face becomes the norm. I think there were a lot more such cases during the COVID pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Did COVID mask restrictions make you forget how to smile? A course in Japan helps one rediscover that old pre-pandemic grin \ud83d\ude42 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HIlKuByfbe\">pic.twitter.com\/HIlKuByfbe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 DW News (@dwnews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dwnews\/status\/1665680760869625856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A 79-year-old who took the class said it has proven to be valuable. \u201cI didn\u2019t have opportunities to see people during the coronavirus crisis and didn\u2019t smile in public,\u201d she said. \u201cThis has reminded me of how important smiling is.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Conveying Smiles to the Audience<\/h3>\n<p>Kawano said that she tries to convey to students that it does not matter how they feel on the inside because \u201ca smile is only a smile if it\u2019s conveyed.\u201d \u201cEven if you\u2019re thinking about smiling or that you\u2019re happy, if you have no expression, it won\u2019t reach your audience,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Due to the COVID pandemic, some Japanese people have become accustomed to wearing face masks and are now taking classes to relearn how to smile. Keiko Kawano, an instructor, teaches students to hold mirrors up to their faces and use their hands to stretch their mouths up and outward to force a smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":1945269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[14094,24223,6013,4370,13230,20383],"class_list":["post-1945268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-classes","tag-japanese","tag-mask-wearing","tag-people","tag-prolonged","tag-smile"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1945268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1945269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1945268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1945268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1945268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}