After wearing masks in public for three years，many Japanese are taking classes to learn how to smile again.
Smiling is meant to be a natural response，but it appears that hiding behind a mask for three years has left many Japanese unable to smile naturally. Some of the them now paying smiling trainers to teach them how to show their white teeth again in a natural way. They take special classes where they are taught how to exercise different parts of their faces and even their neck muscles（肌肉） to smile properly and express happiness without looking strange.
"A smile is a smile only when it is shown on your face，"Keiko Kawano，a successful businesswoman who used to be a radio host, told the Japan Times. "Even if you're thinking about smiling or that you're happy， if you have no expression ， it won't reach the person you communicate with. "
Kawano said that she has taught smiling classes to around 4，000 people since she started her work in 2017. However, requirements for her classes has rocketed recently after people stopped wearing masks.
"Some people say that even if they're able to take off their masks，they don't want to show the bottom half of their faces, or that they don't know how to smile anymore，" smile trainer Miho Kitano said. "Actually, improving your smile is just like training the other parts of your body. It's all about the muscles, so exercising the expressive facial muscles is the most important thing. "
Interestingly, smiling classes have been part of Japanese culture for several tens of years, and they have become popular again after the lockdown was ended.
