JAPAN The Takeya supermarket in Tokyo has its employees wear masks with smiley faces to bring joy to customers between Covid-19.

“Since wearing masks has become normal in the midst of a pandemic, we are organizing the Smile Campaign to bring you smiles through the masks,” the Takeya supermarket representative said on Twitter.

The staff of the Tokyo supermarket Takeya wearing smile masks. Photo: Twitter / Takeya

The masks are tailored into two categories for male and female employees, making every customer entering the supermarket always greeted with a smile. Even if customers can’t see it, their staff members laugh while wearing masks, Takeya said.

Although some customers thought the mask looked a bit intimidating, most responded positively and even expressed gratitude to the supermarket for taking care of their feelings.

“If I go into a store after all day meeting only people wearing masks, when I see someone happily smiling at me, my mood will definitely be happier,” said one.

A male employee at a Tokyo supermarket Takeya wearing a mask laughs. Photo: Twitter / Takeya

The smile mask campaign was so successful that Takeya started selling this unique mask to anyone who wanted to buy it. Women’s masks quickly sold out, while men’s masks were also very popular.

Japan currently records more than 64,700 nCoV infections, of which more than 1,200 deaths. The Tokyo metropolitan area continues to report a 3-digit increase in new infections with 250 cases, bringing the total number of cases here to more than 20,000.