A glut of GIFs chronicle our reporter’s journey as he makes himself look weird in an effort to also make himself look handsome.

Look, we realize that with some of the antics we get up to here at SoraNews24, we occasionally leave ourselves open to accusations of being “immature.” But as much as we like to think of our professional-grade hijinks as keeping us young at heart, we have to employ different tactics to keep us looking young at face, which brings us to our Japanese-language reporter Go Hatori.

Recently, Go has been looking for a way to recapture the fresh-faced good looks of his younger days. However, he doesn’t want to be just young. He wants to be young and rich, and so he needs to find the cheapest way possible to look his best, and that search took him to Daiso, Japan’s most popular 100 yen store chain.

At Daiso, Go found something called the Face Trainer. In Japan, the word “training” is often used to mean muscular exercise, and the Face Trainer is supposed to make your face look more beautiful by exercising and developing the set of mouth and face muscles the device targets.

Like all of Daiso’s regular items, the Face Trainer is priced at just 100 yen (U$0.93), and so Go didn’t hesitate to pick one up. The device itself is a simple design, consisting of a two-piece shaft with a spring inside.

Each end of the Face Trainer has a curved section that you lodge in the corners of your mouth, after which you bring the corners closer together, as if you’re pronouncing the “u” in Uber.

Multiple spring strengths are available, but Go opted for a Level 2 model, since that’s the “regular” type and, according to the package, recommended for first-time users. The package also says you’re supposed to repeatedly perform the Face Trainer motion for two to three minutes a day.

Showing the same sort of fiery determination that took him almost to the top of the SoraNews24 intra-office wrestling league, Go diligently performed his face training exercises every day, no matter how busy or tired he was.

▼ Never skip mouth day.

When starting any new fitness regimen, though, it takes time for visible results to appear, so Go didn’t worry about checking his day-to-day progress. Instead, he just kept at it.

Finally, after three solid weeks of Face Trainer work, Go decided to see if he’d really become more handsome. First, he pulled up his “before” picture, taken before he’d had even a single Face Trainer session.

Then he whipped out his camera, snapped an “after” pic, and was happy to see just how much of an improvement it was!

Seriously, look how the shape of Go’s mouth has been completely changed, with his lips now angling upwards at the edges. We dare say his skin looks more radiant too, with a bright glow that’s not present in the “before” picture. Wow, the Face Trainer really is amazing, isn’t it?

Oh, wait. Now that we look again, the muscular structure of Go’s face hasn’t really changed at all. He’s just smiling in the “after” shot, and also turned on the light in his apartment before he took it.

▼ Before (left) and non-smiling after (right)

So is the Face Trainer worthless? Not exactly. While it doesn’t seem to have had any direct effect on Go’s face, sticking to a routine of conscious action in an effort to improve his appearance changed his mindset and got him looking for other ways to work towards that goal, such as being more conscientious about skin care, as demonstrated by the facial masks he started wearing during the Face Trainer experiment.

On the other hand, though, if you don’t need any extra reminders about consistently trying to look your best, you might be better off spending your 100 yen on something with more discernible benefits, like Daiso’s light-up poop stick.

Images ©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]