In a long line of Japanese fads that strike the rest of the world as just plain bizarre--using cosmetic surgery to make yourself look like an anime character or over-the-top game shows, where contestants are mummified alive as they answer quiz questions, to name but two--here comes kissing strangers through a sheet of acrylic.

Saturday, May 23, is National Kiss Day in Japan, in commemoration of the first Japanese film with a kiss scene, which was released on May 23, 1946. You or I might honor that cinematic moment with, say, a special kiss of a loved one. The more adventurous might smooch a perfect stranger. In Japan this year, some people will take the adventurous route without actually getting intimate by placing an acrylic sheet between their lips.

This seems to be a thing. Comedian Yuki Himura of the comedy duo Bananaman has been featured on Japanese TV giving an acrylic kiss to pop singer Suzuran Yamauchi (pictured below), reports kotaku.com, a Japanese site for gamers. There is also an image floating around of two baseball players doing it. Yes, the acrylic kiss is LGBT friendly.

A Tokyo club is organizing an acrylic-mediated smooch fest on Saturday, but before you get any ideas, there are some rules: you need to pay a participation fee; there must be mutual consent; and you must be between the ages of 20 and 35.

Should this trend ever take off, that would be great news for suppliers of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) materials and processors, who could profit from a whole new application. Hey, stranger things have happened.