It's not me Japan....

And washing machines. Why does a nation that's so sensitive about dirt make washing machines that work so badly?

 

Mine doesn't. Maybe you have a crappy model? Believe it or not but Sanyo make very good washing machines. It seems that the company figured out it's TV's, stereos and so on were pretty poor so they concentrated on other electrical items. Sanyo aircons are shit though. We have one in the dining room which takes forever to start. Daikin are fantastic aircon makers though and we also have a Mitsubishi with that eye thing which tracks you around the room. That also works really well and good on power consumption.

 

I've always been impressed that gear posted from Japan manages to survive getting man-handled locally when stuff has come through, even the super slow (but cheap) surface mail stuff (recently had an LD player and some discs sent over, and it was completely perfect on arrival). I shouldn't rubbish Australia Post too much though - our local place is absolutely fantastic, friendly and closes at 6pm so I can normally grab packages on the way home from work. Our local delivery guy is also fantastic, never any issues with where we're living now.

And yes, we also noticed deodorant wasn't used as heavily as it should be while we were over there, but I think more amusing was watching gaijin tourists dressed like they were on safari when using the public transport system. I certainly didn't set any fashion standards while we were there, but I can proudly say we neglected the thought of throwing on a backpack with 2 bottles of water pouched on either side, safari hat and khaki shorts between stops on the Yamanote line in Tokyo. Perhaps he was being ironic, but his equally amusing traveling companions suggested otherwise. It would have been a perfect scenario if he started barking at people in English.

Though one of the funny things I noticed when we were running around Kyoto at night (Gion in particular) was this gumpy old Japanese guy having an animated discussion with his friend about how foreigners were ruining Gion at night. He may well be onto something, but it's funny that he was saying this without bothering to lower his voice, assuming that anyone who looks white doesn't understand Japanese. My command of the language is awful, but I understood enough of what he was saying!

 

Maybe things have changed - this was about 15 years ago. But it wasn't just the machine I had, since several of my friends were complaining about the same thing. It also seemed that nobody had worked out that you could connect a washing machine to hot water, since they were all cold-fill only.

 

My major complain is about not finding a trash can anywhere. You have to carry your trash with you all the way home (or get lucky and find somewhere to throw it).

Oh and why don't they have paper towels on the restrooms?

 

They still haven't in most cases but truth be told the washing machine I have in my house will clean everything I throw at it as long as it's not oil or blood. Never an issue which surprised me considering there's no hot water. My Mitsubishi dish washer blows away my parents Hot-point in the UK too. This Mitsubishi one never leaves a mark on anything! No dirty glasses, no stuck on crap left on plates, no manky forks. I was sceptical at first having used dish washers in the past but I can't complain at this one. It does get bloody hot in there. Even the steam that comes out of it is too hot to keep your hand over it.

There are some electrical appliances that the Japanese just kick ass at making and then there are others in which they are last. Kettles come to mind. I use a Te-fal myself since all the native brands were pretty cack.

Every convenience store has a bin which there are way too many of.

??? Because they have electric blow dryers. Why waste paper when you can blow your hands dry?

 

I've always thought it was the dryers that were awful... mainly that they would mangle your clothes. Shocker: I don't own one! My washing machine is fine but I hang dry. Sucks during rainy season though.

Tokyo has 8 trash bins in the whole city and they're all in Yoyogi Park. Conbinis all have bins but they're inside (for customers) so you can't just go dump all your shit there randomly. Obviously this changes a bit as you get out of the city. But yeah, the city itself will never have a trash bin on the sidewalk that just anyone can use.

 

It's just a cultural shock I think, here in Brazil we have trash bins everywhere (when they aren't broken). But that don't mean the population use them :\

I hate that electric blow dryers, you have to spend a lot of time to really dry your hands using it. And when there're two or three guys waiting to use it? it's a mess.

 

Normally the toilets / bathrooms here have more than one blow / air dryer so it's not too much of an issue I guess.

Just to touch upon the bin problem. GaijinPunch mentioned that in Tokyo the Convini stores have the bins inside. Where I live though, every store has them outside. Maybe in Tokyo the planning permission is different?

 

talking of public toilets, the amount of them were you can see the urinals from outside is shocking. There's been a few occasions over the years were I've been stood there doing my thing whilst some woman/kid/oap is stood outside watching me.

 

TV, yes. Toothpaste? Aquafresh is around and tastes the same and has the same active ingredents as western brands. Deodorants? Axe (aka Lynx) is sold in Japan too, it is more expensive and smaller and my favourite brand Kilo smells niecer then it does in the US formula and the UK one (called Africa, which smells slightly different to the US one too...)

Really? I know a lot that are near train and subway stations and places with narrow pavements do have them inside but lots of convience stores have bins on the outside, I know that most on the walk from Ueno station to Suehirocho have them outside.

 

Not a fan of Aquafresh... also haven't really seen it, but haven't looked. The Japanese brands are shit, and they dominate the shelves. I just bring home huge tubes of Colgate & Crest one each trip. I tried a bar of Axe. Again, not a fan. I've also not seen it anywhere but this is probably due to lack of looking. I stopped bothering with the deodorant shelf in Japan about 2 weeks after I arrived in 1998. If they hadn't figured it out by then, they weren't going to. Anyway, I stand by my claim. The J-versions of these products are laughable.

Part of that is sarcasm, but I've yet to see any type of bin on the street that is simply managed by the city (and isn't in a park). I'm almost never on that side of town, so can't comment on the Ueno area.

 

regarding the deodorant discussion, doesn't Japan have nivea? I've tried different brands: Axe, Adidas, Old Spice and they all suck compared to Nivea. I just use a deo roll on and I'm good to go for 24hrs without a single drop of sweat