Japanese railway workers face enforced "smile scans" every morning

[GRiM]

Workers have daily smile scans
Japanese railway workers face enforced "smile scans" every morning in a bid to boost their customer services, it has been claimed.


By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo
Published: 1:23PM BST 06 Jul 2009

More than 500 staff at Keihin Electric Express Railway are expected to be subjected to daily face scans by "smile police" bosses.

The "smile scan" software, developed by the Japanese company Omron, produces a sweeping analysis of a smile based on facial characteristics, from lip curves and eye movements to wrinkles.

After scanning a face, the device produces a rating between zero to 100 depending on the estimated value of the fulfilled potential of a person's biggest smile.

For those with a below-par grin, one of an array of smile-boosting messages will op up on the computer screen ranging from "you still look too serious" to "lift up your mouth corners", according to the Mainichi Daily News.

A growing number of service industries are reportedly using the new Omron Smile Scan system for "smile training" among its staff.

Workers at Keihin Electric Express Railway will receive a print out of their daily smile which they will be expected to keep with then throughout the day to inspire them to smile at all times, the report added.

 

[Nawd]

Just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger.....

 

[gotogo]

I checked original Japanese information.

from Keikyu
_http://www.keikyu.co.jp/corporate/press/mk_auto/20090630.shtml

- an usage

from Omron
_http://omron-idfusion.jp/products/004000/004002/

- "OKAO Vision" pattern match technology

- a system spec

 

[GRiM]

I'm sure the railway workers will be very happy, nothing like enforcing a smile on someone!

" :D"

 

[Gimpy]

Gotogo, isn't smiling a sign of embarrassment or submission in Japanese culture? Its been a few years, and I could be mixing too many cultural points up in my head.

 

[gotogo]

Gotogo, isn't smiling a sign of embarrassment or submission in Japanese culture?

I think I can answer "yes" to your question if we are talking about "current" Japanese culture.

Of course Japanese smile when they are happy too. :)
But "strangely" we smile when we feel embarrassed (even just being uncomfortable) in public or when we try to show submission (to authority or business acquaintance, in this case "customers"). I realized this strange "programming" in me when I first stayed in U.S.A. around 1993. I needed to learn to express myself when I feel uncomfortable instead of just smiling...

I am curious why and how this "programming" is introduced in Japanese history.
When "samurai" spirit is in our culture, I believe it was not like that at least in "samurai" rank and its culture.