DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Smile coach Keiko Kawano teaches students at a smile training course at Sokei Art School in Tokyo, Japan, on 30th May, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
• In one of Keiko Kawano’s recent classes, more than a dozen Tokyo art school students held mirrors to their faces, stretching the sides of their mouths upward with their fingers: they were practising how to smile. It’s not something most people would think to pay for but Kawano’s services as a smile instructor are seeing a surge in demand in Japan, where mask-wearing was near universal during the pandemic. Himawari Yoshida, 20, one of the students taking the class as part of her school’s courses to prepare them for the job market, says she needed to work on her smile. “I hadn’t used my facial muscles much during COVID so it’s good exercise,” she said. Kawano’s company Egaoiku – literally “Smile Education” – has seen a more than four-fold jump in demand from last year, with customers ranging from companies seeking more approachable salespeople and local governments looking to improve their residents’ well-being. An hour-long one-on-one lesson costs 7,700 yen ($US55). The former radio host who started giving lessons in 2017 has also trained 23 others as smiling coaches to spread the virtues and technique of crafting the perfect smile around Japan. 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. Students can try out their technique on a tablet to get scored on their smile.Kawano believes that culturally, Japanese people may be less inclined to smile than Westerners because of their sense of security as an island nation and as a unitary state. To hear her tell it, the threat of guns might, ironically, encourage more smiling. “Culturally, a smile signifies that I’m not holding a gun and I’m not a threat to you,” she said. With a surge in inbound tourists, Japanese people need to communicate with foreigners with more than just their eyes, she added. “I think there’s a growing need for people to smile.” – ANTON BRIDGE and TOM BATEMAN, Tokyo, Japan/Reuters
• Ever considered being laid to rest in a coffin that reflected your taste in food, beer or favorite film franchise? Edinburgh-based firm Go As You Please are offering clients the chance to choose bespoke caskets decorated with imagery that reflects their personality. Designs shown on the firm’s website include a giant Gregg’s sausage roll, a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale, a Tardis from the Dr Who TV series, and, of course, designs showing support for a favourite sports team or film or TV franchise. General manager Scott Purvis told Sky News that most designs come as a result of having “honest conversations” with clients before they die and allowing them to “have exactly the funeral they want”.
Austria’s Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil addresses a news conference in Vienna, Austria, on 26th September, 2017. PICTURE: Reuters/Heinz-Peter Bader/File photo
• Austria’s Social Democrats celebrated Hans Peter Doskozil as their new leader at a party conference on Saturday after a ballot of delegates – only for faces to turn red two days later when it emerged that his opponent had actually won. The party’s electoral commission head Michaela Grubesa said on Monday the results had been attributed to the wrong candidates and the winner was in fact Andreas Babler. “Unfortunately, the paper ballots did not match the result that was announced digitally,” she told a news conference. “Due to a colleague’s technical error in the Excel list, the result was mixed up.” The correct count was 280 votes for Doskozil and 317 votes for Babler, or about 47 per cent to 53 per cent. Grubesa said she had ordered a recount after one ballot was missing. It was later found and ruled invalid. Doskozil, a former police chief and now Governor of the province of Burgenland who shot to fame during the 2015-2016 migration crisis, conceded defeat at a news conference and congratulated Babler, who is from the party’s left wing. “Nothing can justify…what happened here,” Babler said in a statement. – FRANCOIS MURPHY, Vienna, Austria/Reuters
