10 Weird Asian Trends That Might Surprise You

Hey guys, what's going on? It's Mikey Chen here. Dan Chen. Hey, Dan. So you know, no matter where you go, there's always some trends that are just plain weird. Yeah. For example, people outside of the US find that we are overly obsessed with teeth. Right. Braces seem very normal to those of us who live in the US. I mean, we so willingly bind our teeth, go through months of pain, and rub like teeth whitening chemicals into our mouths just so that we have the perfect smile. It's all for the purpose of achieving them straight, pearly whites. Asia, in particular, has some weird trends that you might not know about. For example, in Japan, people want the complete opposite of straight teeth. The recent trend among the younger generation is to, believe it or not, have crooked, fang-like teeth. This trend is called yeba, or more directly translated to double tooth. It's supposedly considered cute and youthful. Really? The double tooth look is achieved by temporarily or permanently capping the upper canines through a dental procedure. On the other hand, in China, Thailand, and Indonesia, fake braces are now the new fad. They sell DIY kits that help you achieve your perfect braces look. Yeah, and this is a sign of wealth and status. Why, you may ask? In these countries, only those who have money are able to afford the luxury of beautifying their teeth. And so having braces means that you have money. I don't know, man. Braces are not that attractive. I mean, we spend years like complaining and hoping our braces will come off. Luckily for me, I never have braces. Same here. Beautiful, straight teeth. And also in the US, when I was growing up, we kind of saw people that wore glasses or have braces as, oh, you're kind of nerdy. And everyone kind of went through that phase before they all of a sudden became beautiful and not awkward and awesome. Are you saying nerds aren't cool? Because, dude, have you seen the recent fashion trends? Nerd glasses, nerd glasses, and more nerd glasses. Nerdy is the new cool. More like hipster is the new cool. All right, anyway, so what I was trying to say is that wearing nerdy glasses is universally trendy. But in many parts of Asia, they have their own twist to it. People wear just the frames of the glasses, like no lens, nothing. I can poke my eyes out, nerd glasses. Man, times have changed. I remember when people actually tried to avoid wearing glasses at all cost. Right, I have friends who used to always wear contacts, but now they always wear their glasses. Okay, but they tend to wear those hipster-looking glasses or else you're still gonna be kind of a nerd. Asians are obsessed with eyes. Most of us know about the common eye enlarging tricks using double eyelid tape or glue, circle lenses, and several pairs of false lashes. I don't really know how you know about all that, but yeah, it's you, so whatever. But anyway, recently popular in South Korea is the aegyosal or eye smile. They're basically fake eye bags achieved through surgery or special tape. Dude, you would look like such a zombie. But aegyosal supposedly makes you look younger and cuter. Because eye bags make you look younger and cuter? When did that happen? I should be freaking gorgeous right now. The aegyosal are not considered to be eye bags in Korea, but a cute puff under your eye. It's also supposed to make your eyes look larger. And make you look more sickly. But when you are actually sick, I automatically think of doctors in surgical masks. Wearing surgical masks is extremely popular in Asia. Originally, they were used in densely populated areas to stop the spreading of germs, but has now become part of popular fashion, of course. I can't believe this, because when I was four, I wore surgical masks to prevent people from spreading their germs in China. Right. Not for fashion. Right, and then whenever you see people wearing surgical masks, you're like, are they sick? I should keep away from them. Yeah, is there like an outbreak around here that I need to know about? Exactly. Anyways, now you can buy color printed surgical masks and even fake designer surgical masks to match your outfit. Western culture is all about getting that tanned, healthy glow in the summer. You know that. Oh yeah. Right here. Exactly. Yeah, I mean, beat the blue, tanned and glow. Asia wants the complete opposite, from wide visor hats to excessive skin whitening beauty products. Pale is the right way to go. You would think they'd never go to the beach with that much sun beaming down on their precious white skin. Wrong. In China, some take it to a whole new level. They wear a full body swimsuit. When you think about a full body swimsuit, I don't just mean like a one piece swimsuit. They actually cover their entire head and face with something called the facekini. I'm totally gonna walk up to one of them and be like, hey, Jen, oh, whoa, sorry, wrong person. I mean, how do you identify your friends or your family when they're wearing these things? Because we're guys, right? I mean, you could possibly remember the style of facekini they're wearing. So you could be like, oh, hey, honey, you went down to the ocean, had a nice swim, and now you're back. I'd be like, what color was she wearing again? They all look the same. But seriously, these things could possibly give you nightmares. I mean, imagine going to the beach to chill and all of a sudden you see like groups, groups of people that look like this. At least they're not modifying the shape of their head, right? Well, recently, bagel heads have been popular in Japan. Okay, so what that is is a saline solution is injected into your forehead and then the center is pushed in so that you literally look like you have a bagel implanted in your forehead. So we're in New York, I'm a bagel lover, so whenever I see that, I'm gonna be like hungry. That was like the Halloween episode in Simpsons when Homer had a donut growing out of his, no, his head became a donut. And he started eating his head. Anyway, this may sound also like a super crazy thing to do, but the effects are temporary, thank goodness, and the modifications only last 1,624 hours. That's it. Doesn't change the fact that it's still super weird. Another odd trend in Japan are the virtual dating games. It's a role-playing game where the player has a relationship with a virtual anime-style boyfriend or girlfriend. Your virtual girlfriend or boyfriend will never argue with you, are always loving, and they will never break up with you. So those are the positives, I guess. I guess sometimes people find it too difficult or annoying to date real-life people, right? You know what would be bad about this? Let's say you're going on a date with your 2D or 3D video game girlfriend, virtual girlfriend, whatever, and then you're in the middle of your date, and it runs out of batteries. Oh. And it was just going so well. Date over! Okay, check this out. This one's really cool. It's called dekotora, or decorated trucks. This is a popular subculture on the outskirts of big cities in Japan. They're basically super blinged-out trucks with an abundance of accessories, flashing lights and colorful paintings. And it's not only on the outside. Besides lights, accessories, and paintings, there are also chandeliers and comfortable sofa chairs inside the truck. Fellow dekotorists often gather together in groups and flaunt their trucks to one another. It's kind of like the, you know, it's kind of like in America, they have motorcycle culture, like Hells Angels. Yeah. Or like in America, with Fast and Furious, you like to modify your cars, but this is a whole nother level. Can you imagine a scene from Fast and the Furious? They're all like there, all the tough guys, and then they're like, check out my chandelier in my truck! Wow. And finally, for our last weird trend in China, some owners dye and groom their dogs to look like other wild animals. Yeah, for example, here's a tiger dog, and here's a panda dog. Now, at first glance, they actually look kind of legit, but then you look a little closer, and it's a dog. Yeah, actually, those are pretty convincing. I'm like, oh, look at the little tiger! Oh, it's a dog. There's actually a recent news article in China that said some guy who was trying to buy a fox. Yeah. It didn't turn out to be a dog. They got ripped! Gotcha! You wanted a fox, it turned out to be a dog. You gotta look closer, man. All right, so anyways, guys, we hope you liked that. Let us know if there's other weird subcultures or trends that you know of that we didn't mention, and let us know of any of these you would be interested in. And no offense to any nerds out there. We're both nerds, and we both went through the really awkward phases back in the school. But I ain't about to just go get fake braces to show that I'm rich. How does it even be like something that could look cool here? I don't know. Only in Asia. All right, guys, thanks for watching. See ya! Later!