Japanese get trained in 'Hollywood' smiles as masks slowly come off

FILE PHOTO: A student practices smiling with a mirror at a smile training course at Sokei Art School in Tokyo, Japan, May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

TOKYO (Reuters) - 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.