The display holding them in thrall is the centerpiece of the most talked-about show in town: the “Grand Face Exhibition.” Since it opened in late July, the show has attracted more than 120,000 visitors with its colorful and interactive exhibits on the human face. In addition to creating their ideal look, visitors can study facial musculature, see life and death masks of famous leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Napoleon Bonaparte, learn how Japanese faces have evolved over the centuries and even get a few makeup tips.
The show’s popularity taps into a growing Japanese obsession with facial expressiveness. Talking about faces, especially among men, used to be taboo in Japan. “What counts is the mind, not the face,” goes an old saying. But recently facial studies have been the subject of dozens of new books, TV shows and magazine articles. The world’s only Academy of Facial Studies was founded in Japan four years ago, and now boasts more than 700 active members, including dentists, psychologists, anthropologists, computer scientists and makeup artists. “Japanese now think that a face is an important communications tool they have traditionally not been trained to use,” says Hiroshi Harashima, a University of Tokyo professor and director of the academy.
Indeed, the image of the poker-faced Japanese stoic is as outdated as the all-mighty Japanese economy. To compete in the global marketplace, more and more Japanese are recognizing that they must learn to communicate better. One section of the exhibition illustrates how an actor in noh, classical Japanese theater, can show a wide range of emotions by tilting or lifting his expressionless mask ever so slightly. But that is too subtle for most cultures, says Harashima, an expert in multimedia studies: “Westerners complain that it’s hard to see what we really think.” He also insists it is no accident that the current face fetish comes at a time when society is growing increasingly dependent on “faceless communications,” like e-mail, chat rooms and cell phones; people are desperate to look at real faces.
These days, appearance in general is more important than ever in Japan. With unemployment rising, making a good impression has become a top priority. “You have more chances in which you need to present yourself the best way you can, like for job interviews,” says Hiroto Murasawa, a senior researcher at the Pola Research Institute of Beauty and Culture in Tokyo. To that end, the men’s cosmetics market grew 34 percent last year, and TBC, a national chain of beauty salons, recently opened a Men’s Only salon in Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya district.
No one looking for a job should miss the “Grand Face Exhibition.” In what is perhaps its most humorous and provocative display, the show proves that each profession has its own “look”: by morphing computer images of real-life bankers, wrestlers, actors, flight attendants and politicians, the display demonstrates that, for instance, wrestlers appear tough and menacing while bankers definitely look more studious. But politicians beware: the most striking look was the one on the composite face of 10 former Liberal Democratic Party leaders. It showed sheer cunning.
