What do you think of this weird trend in Japan?

As long as they’re just doing it by adding plastic fronts to their teeth and not actually mis-aligning their teeth, I see nothing wrong it. It’s no different from any other body modification like brands or tattoos or dyeing your hair.

However, actually misaligning their teeth could could dental complications later in life.

it may be weird to you but to them it could be not. . . this is no different from body piercings that other people have done on themselves. The article cited the reason that the Japanese believe that Japanese men find the feature attractive. In other cultures, such as western, women have noses lifted, breast and butts enlarged, jaw lines re-shaped with the primary reason of enhancing their attractiveness. It may not even be a cultural thing, it could be more of a fad.

Having long and sharp canines are great for slashing and tearing sushi!

njnyjobs I am pretty open minded about peircings and tattoos and all. But the thing that makes me somewhat critical of this is the idea that youth is being fetishized. It’s not that youth is not valued and admired everywhere, not that there is anything wrong with appreciating youth in itself. What bothers me is a full grown woman needing to make herself appear childish to be more SEXUALLY attractive to a man.

@Earthgirl The women are still adults. One trivial aspect such as teeth isn’t going “full child”. They aren’t wearing child pajamas, or going as far as speaking like a child (one would hope). Patricia Arquette and Kirsten Dunst will still be attractive when they are 40, in my opinion.

The article mentions it and I think the seed of attraction truly is what’s recognized as “youthful”, the looks of baby teeth.

I think to each their own but it will probably end up being something they regret ever doing when they are older and not look back upon it with pride. Its like getting a bad hairdo that is all the craze only, instead of just ending up with some photos you regret you get to keep looking at it in the mirror for most of your life.
When it comes to fads. A person should only do those things that can be changed easily enough by either taking a shower or purchasing new clothes or getting a new cut and doesn’t cost a lot to change.

I often wondered why Japanese people could not pronounce their L’s :-/ ( JK )
How silly…....

I would have considered having crooked teeth to fall into the category of “first-world problems”. That leaves me at a loss for how to classify the “problem” of straight teeth. We need a whole new level of “world” to account for these problems of excessive perfection.

Wow, now I’ve heard it all. Oh well, any trend that tries to undo society’s obsession with perfection is a step in the right direction lol.

Doesn’t seem weird to me. All trends should be placed within their cultural contexts. Japanese women respond to what the ‘Western beauty ideal’ is all the time whether by accepting it or rejecting it – here you see the latter happen.

Do you have curly hair that you want to straighten, or straight hair that you want to curl? Do you color your hair? Do you wear makeup to change the natural appearance of your face? Do you wear padded shoulders on jackets to give your shoulders more of a “squared” look? Do you wear a girdle, a push-up bra, or other type of “foundation garment” to make your body appear other than it does when you get out of the shower?

For that matter, have you had your teeth unnaturally “straightened” simply for cosmetic reasons?

Fashion comes in all kinds of ways. This was one that I hadn’t heard of before, but I guess it’s better than the tooth-filing into points that people still do in some parts of the world.

I think it’s weird . . . but that’s where the saying “to each his own” comes in.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir – Wow! I actually agree with you on something :-p

But let’s not let it happen again…

@HungryGuy You got it.

keep on running Agreed that society needs to let go of of this obsession with perfection. But isn’t this imperfection masquerading as being more perfect? It is sort of ironic I think. It’s not like the “imperfection” naturally occurred is it? If that were the case and people were appreciating it as being attractive it would be different. Instead it is reforming yourself to get someone else’s attention and or approval. Do these girls/women do it for themselves because it makes them feel attractive? Does this show positive self esteem and self acceptance? Sorry to be so serious. I appreciate that you meant it to be humorous. :)

@Earthgirl ”...to get someone else’s attention and or approval.” . . . it probably is, just like some people would have a facelift, nose or boob job or liposuction, to enhance themselves and get (more) attention. Do you find those procedures/enhancements weird?

The orthodontists are laughing all the way to the bank.
Clearly, PT Barnum was right. There’s a sucker born every minute.

Apparently these type of “double teeth” are more common in Japan because of the prevalance of smaller jaws which can cause overcrowding. So it’s like anything else that can be looked at as either ugly or attractive. It is attractive due to a different aesthetic in Japan as Simone De Beauvoir says. They consider it cute.

Very interesting. I find all of it (cosmetic surgery, etc) kind of absurd, but yeah… to each her own.

My son, who is very into Japanese culture, thinks this may have connections to Furries.

@filmfann: I agree with that too. Seems like stuff that is childlike and/or cute baby animal is also attractive in Japanese humans. Great big seal eyes, super long fawnlike eyelashes, slim but not hard-muscled bodies.

Fashion sounds weird when it’s the first time. When more and more do it it just becomes familiar. For instance a few years ago I saw a documentary about some people in a US jail that started a weird thing. They were coloring their eyes [somewhat of a tattoo].
here
and here
Might sound weird but I wanted to get one too [though they didn’t want to share how they did it .. they were in prison and they didn’t had access to every thing so it must have been an “easy” operation.

I’d trade them my snaggle teeth (from crowding) for a set of straight ones in a heartbeat.

Actually, it’s not a new thing really. The fangs are actually wisdom teeth that have no room to grow, so they come out from the top. I know that quite a few Japanese girls have this, naturally, because of their smaller jaws that cannot adequately fit the teeth they have. Personally, I don’t really care. If it makes them happy and they can afford to do it, let them. You gotta excuse Japanese men anyways——they’re weird! Lol….oops….sorry Grandpa.

Here in the West, women pay thousands of dollars and make companies rich buying hair extensions, piercing themselves all over their bodies, tanning themselves at salons, and having plastic surgery to get fuller lips like Angelina Jolie, because they think it makes them look sexy. It’s all relative. What people do in one culture may be disagreeable to people in another, and vice versa. But it’s acceptable for them.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I agree with you too! :D

I love crooked teeth, so I think it is kind of neat that it is growing in popularity to a point where people are deliberately trying to make it appear as though their teeth are crooked.
That’s a purely superficial answer, and it’s all I’ve got. I like it.

I don’t see it as any different from wanting to have very straight ‘perfect’ teeth.

@martianspringtime Or breasts that stick straight out of your chest like a couple of highway cones that somehow got glued onto your body.

For women, beauty is very important. It is how they, for better or for worse, see themselves attaining higher social status. Few manage to buck that trend. So many mouth the cliches that beauty is only skin deep and we shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, or that it’s what’s in your mind that matters. People say a lot of things. But watch their behavior to see what they really think matters.

Beauty is culturally dependent. Some cultures like women who are stick thin. Some like women with meat on their bones. Some like fat asses. Some like thick lips. Some like big breasts. Some like small breasts. Some like fat people and some like crooked teeth (they should go to England, right?)

Personally, I think people who are more natural are more beautiful. But I am susceptible to the lures of painted eyes and colored hair and enhanced breasts, I suppose. I like clothes that make a woman look like she’s about to jump out of her pants for me. If you’ve got it, flaunt it! If you don’t have it, get it.

It’s an attitude that bothers me no matter what culture a person is from. I understand it, though. It provides a competitive advantage. After years of feeling guilty for asking a woman to try to look nice for me, I’ve given in. If she thinks I’m worth trying to look extra good for, then go for it! But you can’t get away just with a fancy outside. You also have to sell it for me. And to sell it, you need to be smart and creative.