It's a universal rule that women around the world are nitpicky about some part of their body but the Japanese quest for "Western" style facial features is a beauty trend that won't go away.
While in the West, many women aren't happy with their weight, breast size and hair colour (etc.) thanks to an abundance of popular media which classify the "ideal woman," in Japan, the women are fixated on "fixing" their noses with some unconventional methods.
One such method comes from the Japan Trend Shop, a gadget & lifestyle online store based in Toyko, which sells the Hana Twin Nose Straightener, a plastic clip which they claim will give people a straighter nose if the wearer uses it for twenty minutes a day.
The website explains that their product is a cheaper alternative to plastic surgery (which is on the rise throughout Asia) and less painful.
"'Hana' means nose in Japanese, while 'tsun' means to perk or stick up, just like a nose should (physically, not metaphorically!). After slipping this clip gently into your nostrils, the supports on either side will help balance and push up the bones and contours of your nose, so it has an overall sharper, straighter shape, less round and more graceful."
Straighter noses aren't the only features that the Japanese and other Asian women are coveting; double eyelid surgery is increasing in popularity in South Korea and a dangerous new surgery to create a so-called "double jaw" is also sparking concern.
While Asians' desire to look more like Westerners is nothing new, we think that a nose clip isn't going to fix the deeper cultural and societal roots to why these women are trying to change their unique features. And we doubt it will make your nose straight either.
The nose clip in question:
