A facial direction detecting apparatus (12) includes a nostril extracting unit (24) for extracting the nostrils (124) of a person (100) from among multiple characteristic portions (120, 122, 124, 126, 128) that are extracted by a characteristic portion extracting unit (24). The nostril extracting unit (24) extracts the nostrils (124) as the characteristic portion having a greatest amount of movement from among all of the multiple characteristic portions (120, 122, 124, 126, 128).
Facial direction detecting apparatus