Selfies taken on smartphones are one of the must-dos for the young girls nowadays, and Japan is no exception. As popular Japanese pop icons or teen models post their selfies on social medias, Japanese young girls would fire up their camera apps and pose the similar way. They do this not just to be like the icons they admire, but also to figure out the best poses for looking good on Twitter or Instagram.

With this in mind, today we have listed 10 selfie poses that young Japanese girls are likely to do on Twitter and Instagram! Maybe you’ll learn a new move or two?

1.    The Peace Sign

The classic, “peace sign” pose is deep-rooted in Japanese society—you might have done it yourself once or twice!. This all began with the popularization of purikura (lit. “print club”) culture in Japan. Japanese teens would take purikura photos after school, and the “peace sign” would be most convenient pose. Little wonder the pose has become a selfie staple too.

2.    The “Tooth-Ache” Pose

These “tooth-ache” poses, where the girl puts her hand against her cheek almost as if she is suffering with tooth pain, became common from fashion magazine covers.

This pose came about when readers of magazines requesting that photographers make sure models’ nail designs were more visible. From there, more magazines started to incorporate the “tooth-ache” pose and girls started to imitate it. Young girls tend to use this pose very often because, by wrapping your hand around your cheek, it hides the roundness of your face.

https://twitter.com/gorikuro74/status/506210891952439297

3.    “Gao” pose; paw pose

In parallel to the “tooth-ache” pose, the “gao” pose or the paw pose as it’s also known, became similarly popular. It is thought to have started out with Harajuku pop icon, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, who posting selfies with her hands held like claws, showing her new nail designs. Others argue that the pose comes from Lady Gaga’s “paws up” pose.

“Gao”, incidentally, is the Japanese way of describing a roar. It’s playful as if the girl is like a little cute animal.

https://twitter.com/enako_cos/status/635720110221623297

4.    Hiding one eye

Covering one eye is another popular selfie pose, used both to show off one’s fingernails and eye-make. It has been said that the “imitation” make-up blogger, Zawachin, was the first person to start to do this pose in her selfies as a way of showing off just one part of her eye-make up.

https://instagram.com/p/61aXYxNl14/

https://instagram.com/p/6dy7Rhl7MZ/

5.    “Eliza” pose

The “Eliza” pose was named after the popular CanCam model, Eliza Ikeda. She posed in her selfies by lightly squeezing her cheeks to emphasize her lips. Little wonder Eliza was quickly crowned to be the “God of Selfies.”

https://twitter.com/elaiza_ikd/status/640505348751683584 https://twitter.com/kotoko_0518/status/640861276348899328

This pose has become hugely popular amongst teenage girls, and since bright and colorful lip colors are still in trend, the lip color spices up that selfie as well.

6.    “Hamu Hamu” pose

“Hamu” is the onomatopoeia of the action of lightly biting. Selfies where the subject gently bites her lower lip are now becoming more popular amongst the teenage girls, and they are also much more warmly received by young males than the previously popular “duck mouth (ahiru guchi)” poses, which come off as a bit sketchy somehow.

https://twitter.com/izizmmmm/status/612198940520222720

7.    Drinking pose (“near-chu” pose)

Another upcoming selfie pose is the “drinking-out-from-a-straw” pose, known in Japanese as the “near-chu” pose—not least with the guys as it gives the impression of kissing (“chu” is onomatopoeia of kissing). Rather than the actual “kiss” look, the “near-chu” look is more natural, not too sketchy, but still attractive.

https://twitter.com/Candy_pot_jp/status/640132471753953281

8.    Pinching-the-cheek pose

Pinching-the-cheek pose looks strange, but also cute as well. Apparently, it rose to popularity thanks to a smartphone app where the user can manipulate their taken image to stretch their cheek out a bit. It is still a mystery why this “pinching the cheek” selfie pose became popular amongst girls, but one of the hypotheses is that it helps to reduce laugh (or smile) lines around the mouth.

9.    Covering the mouth

Like the “covering-one-eye” pose, hiding your mouth to only show the top half of your face is also popular recently. Many girls use this selfie pose to show off their eye-make up, as well as the nail designs, together.

https://twitter.com/glgazo/status/638275574327185408 https://twitter.com/0608Yukiusagi/status/641829127041888256

Some also place a finger on their bottom lip, too, but where this one came from remains a mystery. Still, it’s cute!

10. “Pistol” pose

The “pistol” pose, finally, was popularized by Manami Enosawa, one of the more well-known models in Seventeen magazine. Like the “tooth-ache” pose, the “finger pistol” covers the chin and cheek areas to hide the roundness of one’s face, albeit with a dash off added fun. It’s like a pose from comedic anime, when a character is plotting something evil.

Have you found your favorite selfie posing? Let us know if you do these poses, or have other suggestions!

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