[1/5] A student practices smiling with a mirror at a smile training course at Sokei Art School in Tokyo, Japan, May 30, 2023.
Only 8% said they had stopped wearing masks altogether.
Tellingly, roughly a quarter of the art school students who took the class kept their masks on during the lesson.
Her trademarked "Hollywood Style Smiling Technique" method comprises "crescent eyes", "round cheeks" and shaping the edges of the mouth to bare eight pearly whites in the upper row.
With a surge in inbound tourists, Japanese people need to communicate with foreigners with more than just their eyes, she added.
Persons:
Kim Kyung, Hoon TOKYO, Keiko Kawano's, Himawari Yoshida, Young, Kawano, Anton Bridge, Tom Bateman, Chang, Ran Kim, Edwina Gibbs
Organizations:
Sokei Art School, REUTERS, NHK, Thomson
Locations:
Tokyo, Japan