Haaiiii Cheezzu!

According to a recent USA Today article, Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada, and Virginia do not allow drivers to smile for their license photos, and more states are expected to follow suit. (from the USA Today article):

The serious poses are urged by DMVs that have installed high-tech software that compares a new license photo with others that have already been shot. When a new photo seems to match an existing one, the software sends alarms that someone may be trying to assume another driver's identity.

But there's a wrinkle in the technology: a person's grin. Face-recognition software can fail to match two photos of the same person if facial expressions differ in each photo, says Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor Takeo Kanade.

Here in Japan smiling for government or business-related photos also seems to be discouraged. I first noticed this when a few of my co-workers commented on my id badge during the first few weeks working here. When they snickered at my smile in my photo I started noticing that everyone has a rather serious look on their face for their id badge.

When I got my Japanese driver's license I had to go through the process of getting my photo taken three times. After the first time, it was explained to me that, you guessed it, smiling was prohibited. I was shocked and tried to smirk during the second attempt - a hidden smile out of protest I thought. Not to be. I was caught and finally gave in on the third attempt. So now, I have a plain, ordinary, dull face on my Japanese id. It was later explained to me that you just aren't supposed to smile for 'official' photos - work, school, government, etc.

Truth be told, nobody ever really seems happy with their driver's license photo. It's true in the States, and I'm sure it can be said for most places. I just don't like the idea of taking smiling out of anything.