Reading a post about restaurants banning customers wearing perfume I looked up perfume usage in Japan. Unsurprised that it's low; living in Japan has meant I've stopped using aftershave. The cultural reasons are sound eg interferes with enjoyment of food. Paradox? Smoking!
@japanauthor I've always undersrood it as there just not being that big of a perfume/cologne culture here historically. The rest (restaurants, crowded trains, etc..) just flows from that) (Unlike, say, France or North America where it was more of a necessity)
@japanauthor One can’t smoke in sushi restaurants, either. Scents are generally banned!
@japanauthor I liken it to an evil 邪気. Like in Inu Yasha. The sprits have a noxious aura like gas around them that weaken all those who dare get too close.
@japanauthor If you're banned for wearing perfume then you're using too much perfume. Perfumes are to be discovered not announced.
@japanauthor I remember a rep from j-scent ( Japanese brand scents sold in us ) saying that Japanese like a more subtle scent - ie they didn’t have strong ones like the European ones .
@japanauthor My wife teaches tea ceremony. She tells her students no perfume and no jewelry allowed in the tea house. Jewelry because it could chip the valuable bowls and implements. Perfume because it interferes with the smell of the tea and tatami and is generally considered meiwaku.
@japanauthor @mrjeffu Most East Asians don't use perfume or deodorant; it's a culture due to genetic differences of less body odor.
@japanauthor Don’t think smoking is a paradox. Places where you smell cigs are establishments you choose to go to, knowing they might have smokers. What shocks me in Europe is having to smell that cancer air in public streets, where I never had a choice in being subjected to it.
@japanauthor Not big on flavours either, other than, "sa-shi-su." But very big on colours. Wafuku and sushi are explosive. But then again, everyday clothes can be drab, and there's incense a plenty.
@japanauthor East Asians have a mutation that makes us sweat less (only downside is smaller breasted women). Ten years ago you’ll see foreigner complain online it’s extremely hard to find deodorant in China because people there don’t need any.