Twist And Shout

I’ve recently been using the classic game Twister a lot at my elementary school English clubs as it seems like a good way to teach words like “left,” “right,” “foot” and “hand”. Plus the kids love it, so I never have to coerce them into playing. Well, I’ve been meaning to share the box artwork from the Japanese version with you for some time now and having to use it last week jogged my famously spotty memory.

So take a glance at the cover artwork above, if you will. Let’s see, four Japanese twenty-somethings having some good clean fun with a healthy dose of sexual tension-nothing amiss, right? Look closer.
Now whose decision was it to put this dentist’s nightmare on the front of the box? Did they really think that this would help them sell more games? Quite frankly, if I were a parent at the store, I would take one look at this box and think to myself, “I had better not buy this game, it might cause my child’s teeth to become horribly misshapen and fall out”.

Oddly enough, this Twister box is actually somewhat indicative of the state of oral health in these parts. Anyone who has been to Japan can probably tell you that the archipelago is full of crooked, yellow and misshapen teeth-surprising considering Japan’s status as a major economic power. While there are certainly exceptions to this rule, most Japanese adults’ chompers would probably be considered less than healthy, at least by American dental standards. I’ve heard any number of explanations for this phenomenon: an overall poor dental care system, dentists who stress quantity of patients over quality, a lack of fluoride in toothpaste, a belief that regular checkups aren't necessary and different aesthetic values from the west (i.e. considering overlapping or crooked teeth “cute”) are all to blame, according to various sources.

Honestly though, it is a little difficult to qualify something like a set of teeth, especially when considering the average American pearly whites standard. After all, American dentistry has long been accused of being excessively cosmetic by much of the rest of the world (especially by the Brits, who are obviously sore about all of those hilarious quips we make). For what it’s worth though, I can almost guarantee that the next generation of Japanese will have ivories on par with their American counterparts. Japanese schools now require that classes brush en mass after lunch and one elementary school that I visit even screens a video, demonstrating how to brush properly, during this period. Whatever they’re doing, it seems to be working, as most of my students have beautiful teeth-much unlike their parents. After all, who wants to be the country that Great Britain looks to for a boost in self-esteem?