The Dark Side of Japan

Japanese Mouth Etiquette

When you live in Japan for awhile, you start to notice something. People in Japan have for some reason reputation of being clean because they take bath everyday. Maybe it's true and they care how they look, appearance wise and for women put lots of make up and for both sexes, they try to dress well even if they are going out for a short period of time.

However, despite all the effort, there's one thing that bothers me. When Japanese people smile, even though their make up and dress are perfect, their teeth are always f*cked up. Sometimes I think they don't even brush their teeth and not only for men but also for women. It's disgusting to see f*cked up teeth and this is I believe Japan only phenomenon. People here have unevenly distributed teeth with gaps, which make it harder for them to brush? I believe.

But Japanese people don't seem to realize it and they don't even know proper way to brush their teeth. Dental floss, tongue brush, and electric toothbrush are must items for everyday care but in Japan electric toothbrush is still a rare thing. Not to mention tongue brush and dental floss. I don't know why they are reluctant of taking care of their mouths. It's not only for them, it's an etiquette to keep it clean so that they won't disgust anyone.

Maybe this is why Japanese women have a tradition of doing "Ohaguro", black teeth when they borne their children. 

 Before modern period of time, when women give birth to children, it was hard for them to keep their health condition and teeth often broke. That's the reason why they painted their teeth black with some kind of iron. Modern day Japanese probably have to do this in order to hide their ugly horrendous teeth. 

Why don't they get braces then? Braces aren't included with national insurance, therefore we must pay something of 1000 Euros for the braces. People in Japan are poor, so they won't afford to get their teeth straightened.