“I hadn’t used my facial muscles much during COVID so it’s good exercise,” says 20-year-old Japanese student Himawari Yoshida in a country whose government recently lifted its recommendation to wear masks and where some people have forgotten how to smile.

Consumers are shelling out as much as ¥7,700 (~$80) an hour to learn smile instructor Keiko Kawano’s trademarked ‘Hollywood Style Smiling Technique’ which incorporates ‘crescent eyes, ‘round cheeks’ and shaping the mouth to show the eight teeth in the upper jaw.

Ms Keiko, a former radio host, started giving smiling lessons in 2017 with the intent to help the people of Japan brandish their inner Julia Robertses and Tom Cruises. Her company Egaoiku, or ‘Smile Education’, has seen a four-fold increase in demand from a year ago.

Ms Himawari signed up with Egaoiku to prepare herself for the job market while companies have sought out the service to make their salespeople look friendlier. Even local governments approached the business to improve the wellbeing of their residents.

“Young people have, perhaps, become used to life with masks,” Ms Keiko said, adding that women could afford to ditch their makeup routines and men their shaving habits under the cover of what was originally intended to help end a global health emergency.

Students can be seen making faces at handheld mirrors and stretching their facial muscles while Ms Keiko coaches them through the process. After a few practice rounds, their smiles are evaluated via face mapping on a tablet. “Anything over 80 points is a good smile,” she says.

“I think you could absolutely put this to good use when job hunting,’ says another student Ryu Ishii. “With job hunting there are going to be a lot of people coming and going, so that first impression is extremely important.”

Ms Keiko also believes that Japanese culture inhibits its people from smiling as much as Westerners do and that the ideology stems from their sense of security as an island nation and as a unitary state.

“Culturally, a smile signifies that I’m not holding a gun and I’m not a threat to you,” she said, adding that with a surge in inbound tourists, Japanese people need to communicate with foreigners with more than just their eyes.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.