Some people go to incredible lengths for the perfect picture, but girls in Japan have been polishing their posing skills for centuries to look their cutest with just a simple gesture of the hand. With the help of J-pop idol group Tokyo Performance Doll, we can now see the most popular photo poses in Japan throughout the generations starting from all the way back in 1684.

The iconic poses range from the familiar peace signs and duck faces to the bad girl style of the ‘70s. While it’s clear that modern poses accentuate the kawaii-ness of each of the girls, older styles seem to focus more on their soft, feminine side.

Source: YouTube

Source: YouTube

This quick look into the history of picture poses in Japan was created as an ad for a collaboration between mobile operator DoCoMo and the Snow app. They describe that Japanese girls have always invented new poses to look their cutest in pictures, and that the act of posing eventually became known as “moru” (盛る) in Japanese. Especially in our current world dominated by social media, it has become a huge part of Japanese culture.

Source: YouTube

Source: YouTube

Source: YouTube

The video ends on the year 2016, but we wonder what kind of poses will reign this year and years to come. Who knows, some of these past poses might even make a comeback!


By - grape Japan editorial staff.