8 More Weird Asian Trends That Might Surprise You

What's up everybody? It's OTGWS Mike. It's Dan. Before we had a video about bizarre trends that happen in Asia, right? Oh yeah, I still remember those. Yeah. That was kind of crazy. That was crazy. And the donut head. Oh my god. The donut head. But trends happen in Asia all the time. And a lot of times they are kind of strange. Not a lot of times. All the time. Yeah. And really strange. So we dug up some more for you. Yeah. So here are more bizarre Asian trends. Number one. Square dogs. We're going to start off with a trend that's really just too adorable. Square and sphere shaped haircuts for dogs. Okay. When you first said square dog, I thought you meant like a hot dog. I know. Except for it's a square. I thought they were going to make the dog into like a square mold. Like a real dog. That's weird. Like cut. Yeah. Well anyway, these dogs in Taiwan are getting their fur cut into perfect squares and circles. And I really don't think shapes have ever looked cuter. I mean, just come on. Look at them. Look at all of them. So why the haircuts? Well, the owners wanted their dogs to stand out more on social media and it definitely worked. This is kind of like a variation of, remember last time we were talking about how they make their animals look like other kinds of- Yeah, like lions and bears. What happened to just like a normal pet in Asia? Like you can't just get a normal pet anymore? It has to be special. Number two. Snail facials. So after a long day of work or whatever, you know, you kind of want to relax, right? Right. Maybe get a facial. Yeah. How about a snail facial? That's right, guys. A snail facial, where live snails are dropped onto your face and allowed to move at random, leaving nice slimy trails of mucus behind them. Sounds like a perfect spa day to me. Yeah. A perfect spa day where, you know, someone maybe sneezed on you. But anyway, a spa in central Tokyo debuted the snail facial in 2013, offering a 60 minute treatment, which also includes other facial massages and masks for a whopping $245. But now, these facials are now available at spas everywhere, like in Thailand, China, and even London, and for much cheaper. So why on earth would anyone in their right mind let snails slither all over their face? Well, snail slime, say that five times fast, is said to have anti-aging properties and However, there isn't any real significant scientific research on how these work when applied to the skin, but I guess people will pay about $300 for it, right? Well, come on. You gotta be honest. You're thinking about this. You gotta be thinking about this. All right. You know what? I will stop at the honey matcha face exfoliation mask, but I will not go this far. I don't know. Maybe. Anyway, spas claim that it does help skin retain moisture, reduces inflammation, and removes dead skin, leaving the face softer, firmer, and plumper. So that's why I sold you on that already. Wait a minute. This sounds pretty good. Snail slime is already a common ingredient in beauty creams already. I mean, it's not the same as getting like a live snail facial, right? I mean, you miss out on all the feeling of the snail's 14,000 microscopic teeth as they move. Or opening your eyes and seeing their little antenna wriggling. Anyways. But it is important to note that the snails used here aren't your common garden snails. They are raised from birth with regulated schedules and strict all-organic diets to prevent them from picking up bacteria that might irritate the skin. So you know, don't just go randomly to the backyard and pick up a snail and just let it crawl around your skin because that might not work. Number three, under eye blush. If you unfortunately don't have the time or money to get yourself a snail facial at the spa, well, there's makeup. But Asian makeup trends can get kind of interesting to say the least. The latest trend in Japanese makeup, well, under eye blush or minoshita chiku. Japanese girls following this trend apply blush super high on the cheekbones directly underneath the eyes, which is usually a big makeup no-no in other cultures. Some users claim that this makeup technique makes them look more youthful, innocent, and full of life, creating a sweet, endearing image for themselves. Next we have sparrow face. I don't know about you guys, but I'm personally a fan of showing my face in the photos. And I'll say it now. I'm not ashamed of taking selfies. Yeah, you gotta just own it, you know what I'm saying? You're a selfie taker. That's right. And the best way to own it, according to the latest in selfie culture, is the sparrow face. The duck face's proud successor. The sparrow face is a new selfie trend that started in Japan. Its basic features are wide eyes and lips slightly opened and puckered like a chirping sparrow, supposedly giving you a cute and goody-goody look. This is called chungo in Japanese, which literally translates to chirp face. Sounds attractive, doesn't it? But that's where the name sparrow face comes from, I guess. And here's another selfie trend about a year ago. This is pretty unique. The armpit hair selfie. And no, that doesn't really refer to your armpit hair becoming sentient and taking a selfie on its own, because that's weird, you know? Also, that really can't happen. It's basically you taking a selfie showing your armpit hair. Okay, but let me ask you a question, though. Is it, are you showing, are you raising your arm so you're taking it of your other arm? Or are you taking it at an angle? No, no, no. You're showing you and your arm. Okay, and the armpit hair right here. Right, right. So Chinese women are taking armpit hair selfies and posting them on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform, similar to Twitter, in an effort to start a conversation about body image and encourage women to have confidence that they are beautiful just the way they are, shaven armpit or unshaven armpit. Right. Due to societal norms, girls are usually expected to shave their armpits and have, you know, their armpits, of course. But these ladies are saying armpit hair don't care. In 2014, an informal competition named, quite literally, Girls Don't Pluck Their Armpit Hair Competition was held. And last May, the first Women's Armpit Hair Convention and photo contest launched both on Weibo. Apparently, hundreds of entries came in and winners were announced a month later. Even guys joined in. So we totally should have, you know, answered that one. You don't pluck your armpit hair. Of course not. You shave it. Yeah. Hey, let me ask you a question. Yeah. You shave your armpit? Nope. You've never done that? You've done that? Nah, I didn't do that. You've done that? I don't know. I think you've done it. Not like completely, but like, you know, like trim. You do that? You trim your armpit hair? No. I've never done that either, dude. You did. You just said you did. Let's move on to the next one. Next up, social media challenges. Speaking of Weibo, the hugely popular site is also responsible for China's latest two social media trends, the belly button and collarbone challenges. We just did a video discussion about this as well. I don't know if this already came out or maybe coming out after this video. But anyway, the belly button challenge involves telling people to wrap their arms around their waist and see if they can touch their belly button. It took the internet by storm starting about a week ago from when we recorded this video with a ton of people from celebrities to every other person in between posting their success and failure pictures on Weibo. The challenge claims to be a test of fitness. If you can touch it, you have a good figure. And if you can't, you need to lose weight. Which is ridiculous. And we talked about this in our discussion as well. Really? You're supposed to... It just doesn't look right. Yeah, pretty much. Either that or you use Photoshop to fake it or like, you know, both of us could do it. You know how? Well, I bet you can do it. You want to see me do it? Yeah. Yeah! I can do it! I'm fit! I'm skinny! But honestly though, it doesn't mean that you're skinny and I hope people don't take this seriously. It's just one of those challenges or fads that's going out. Yeah, and the trend has sparked outrage and controversy all over the world and is being heavily criticized for encouraging body shaming and unhealthy ideas about the body image. And of course, what followed was the collarbone challenge in the same light where you can... People are posting pictures of them putting coins on their collarbone. Which is... Come on. And the one girl had eight coins total. Right. Number seven. Makan Kosapo. All right. This photo-taking trend takes it a step above the selfie or mirror pic. A ton of steps above. Started with Japanese schoolgirls taking pictures of themselves using Makan Kosapo, a special attack used by the character Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z. That's what Piccolo does when he's doing the beam, but in this case, you're hitting the ground. Okay. It's like a shockwave. Okay. So one person is striking the ground or making a certain gesture and others around them are basically launched back and flying up the air, supposedly thrown back by the attack. Yeah, if you thought taking a jumping picture with your friends where everyone's actually in the air was difficult, try this. You've all seen the group pic where all the girls jump up and raise their legs, but this is just like the ultimate teamwork, right? Yeah. You got to have really good timing for this one. Yeah. But it's a pretty good picture. Ready? Try it. Kamehameha! Is that it? Yeah. Okay. And finally, this is one of my favorite trends and I would definitely get on it if I could. It's called mukbang, which translates to eating broadcasts and is becoming hugely popular in South Korea. These eating broadcasts are live streams of people eating enormous servings of food and by enormous, we mean enough food to easily feed one or several families. For example, four large pizzas in one sitting. So basically you're watching people binge eat. Who needs cooking shows when you can have eating shows? During and after their meals, live streamers chat in real time with their viewers who may ask questions about the food or ask them to move closer to the camera, do a little dance and so on. These people have actually gained an incredible amount of fans and pretty much became minor celebrities in Korean culture. Yep. Many viewers are dieters who eat vicariously through these live streamers. That's kind of weird. I don't know. Yeah. I think people would. Like, do people enjoy that? Like, I'm sitting there at a buffet and just like have 20 plates in front of me and just eating that. I mean, that's what I do when I'm with you. I literally watch you like a caged animal eating 35 plates of food and I'm like. All right, guys. Anyway, those are some additional trends for you. Let us know if we missed out on anything. Anyway, thank you so much for watching. See you later. Peace.