If ever you need a pick-me-up

For a cheap thrills, just wander over to your nearest store selling Japanese beauty products. Without fail, I find myself in a fit of giggles soon after I browsing the Japanese beauty products aisle. Why, you ask?

They've got stuff to correct things you didn't know needed correcting, like a little plastic clip to place on the bridge of your nose to lift the height of your nose bridge, a little plastic clip to correct the size of your nostrils, plastic rods that stretch out your lips to correct your smile, and even sheets of little slivers of shaped sticky tape for your eyelids! They've kicked the usual beauty gadgets up a notch. There are electronic eyelash curlers, tiny eyebrow razors, and a plastic "Y" shaped tool to help you make sure your new newly plucked/shaved/waxed eyebrows are even (actually, this might be one tool that is marginally practical).

It is the most disgusting fad, but so many people are walking around with ridiculously fake eyelashes. I've had to put these on once, for Halloween, and the pain of pulling them off at the end of the evening makes me never ever want to put on another pair of fake eyelashes. These fake eyelashes puts the U.S.'s eyelash fad in the 60's and 70's to shame. The eyelashes come in all different styles, some have straight lashes, others are cross-hatched at the base, some are sparkly, and all are curled to touch the sky.

It really makes me wonder why Japanese women think there is so much wrong with them? I mean, sure women in practically every country pit themselves against impossible standards, but to say that your smile needs to be corrected takes this insecurity to a whole new level. The fact that these items are being sold in Taiwan makes me wonder too.