While Japan has lowered its level of vigilance vis-à-vis the Covid, this “school of smiles” organizes sessions to encourage the population to remove the mask by relearning how to use their zygomatics.
More than three years after the start of the epidemic, Japan has officially lowered its level of vigilance vis-à-vis the Covid. The government hopes that this will encourage the population to return to a normal life and in particular to remove the mask. To help them discover themselves, a company even gives smile lessons. It is called “Egaoiku”, which literally translates to “Smile School”.
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This company is based in Zushi, near Tokyo. His classes should, for example, help the elderly to finally remove their masks because, in Japan, the vast majority of people still have their faces covered. It’s not necessarily out of fear of the virus but a lot out of fear of what people will say. There is very strong social pressure and people who would like to remove their mask are afraid of being noticed in their neighborhood or by their colleague. Hiding behind the mask has become reassuring, young people sometimes say that it has become the “facial panties”.
Work on your zygomatics, mirror in hand
With these courses, the teachers want to help the refractory to relax and prepare to display their best smile for their loved ones, their friends or their clients. In class, everyone is seated on a chair, a mirror in their hand and gently they remove their mask, in public, and they work their zygomatics. In particular, the students put a straw in their mouth, between their teeth, to try to wake up their faces.
The teachers show diagrams with the muscles involved according to the types of smile. The idea is really to restore the confidence of people who will try to unmask themselves in the coming weeks.
600 euros to become a smile teacher
This school of smiles is not likely to close after the epidemic and the end of the masks because it continues to grow, with several activities, in addition to the removal of the mask. She does training for companies to help employees who are in direct contact with customers. And in companies, there are courses for employees to smile more at each other, which would be good for productivity.
Egaoiku also trains smile specialists, with a dedicated diploma. To become a smile teacher, it takes several weeks of training and a tuition budget of 88,000 yen, ie 600 euros.