世論 What Japan Thinks

An interesting, I suppose, survey from Lucido, a brand of men’s toiletries, where they conducted a survey into women’s perceptions of the smell of men in their thirties and forties.

Demographics

During the month of December 2013 534 women aged between 25 and 49 years old completed a private (I think) internet-based questionnaire. No further demographics were provided.

This male age band was chosen because one’s youthful hormones are fading, but are yet to be overtaken by old person smell, a smell which Lucido have named “Middle Fat Smell”, with an associated web site, which no doubt explains that said smell can be countered by ample application of Lucido’s product.

Actually, my wife has recently started mentioning that I smell (in a good way, she assures me!), although I do worry that I am developing Old Person Smell. However, this Scientific American article assures me that in blind sniff tests, it was actually rated more pleasant than young folks!
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Following on from yesterday’s look at coping with the heat, I present a short report from Do House into failing to cope with the heat, in particular sweat and smells.

Demographics

Over the 14th and 15th of June 2013 1,047 members of the Moratame.net site completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample consisted of people of both sexes and aged between 20 and 59, but not further information than that.

I knew that spray is the most popular form of deodorant here, but I didn’t realise these sheets were so popular. I wonder where and when people use them, as I certainly don’t see people towelling themselves down on the train home! Although it is my favourite, stick deodorant is almost non-existant here – if any of my readers knows somewhere to get them, please leave a comment!
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With the Japanese summer comes Cool Biz (and Ultra Cool Biz), an energy-saving initiative where everyone is encouraged to turn their air conditioning to 28 degrees and wear lighter and more casual clothes in the office. Shiseido, a cosmetics company, conducted a survey into awareness of smells in the workplace to see, amongst other things, if sweat was a source of stress.

Demographics

Over the 27th and 28th of March 2013, 1,248 business persons living in Tokyo and Osaka and their surrounding areas were interviewed. The ages ranged from 20 to 59 years old, but no further information was provided.

I probably sweat the most in the office; my problem with commuting is usually far too cold a carriage!

This year I’m trying out Uniqlo’s AIRism underneath my work shirts. So far they feel great, and they stop my back sweat soaking into my shirt, but I’ll wait until it gets a lot hotter before delivering my final verdict. Its odour neutralising properties, however, are no match for my underarms!
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goo Ranking took a look at what awful in-car smells would you be unable to tell the driver about.

Demographics

Over the 7th and 8th of December 2012 1,059 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 61.4% of the sample were female, 10.8% in their teens, 14.4% in their twenties, 24.9% in their thirties, 28.8% in their forties, 11.5% in their fifties, and 9.6% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

It’s got to be ciggie smells for me too, followed closely by too much Magic Tree (are they still popular?), usually used to mask said ciggies! Here’s a car that probably manages to avoid number 12 only…

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iShare recently asked their survey panel about what food smells get their juices flowing.

Demographics

Between the 6th and 12th of January 2010 588 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.6% of the sample were male, 32.1% in their twenties, 32.8% in their thirties, and 35.0% in their forties.

I love depachika on the whole, although I stay away from the meat counter. My least favourite food smell is buta-man, Chinese pork steamed bun, which is sold at a couple of stations on the way home, and anyone bringing it into my carriage really turns my stomach.
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Following on, I suppose, from the recent survey on bowel movements, MyVoice performed another survey, this time on perhaps one of the aftermaths of bowel movements, smells.

Demographics

Over the first five days of November 2007 19,910 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online survey. 54% of the sample was female, 1% in their teens, 16% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 28% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

In Q4 surely there must be a degree of respect for elders going on! Three or four of my bosses at work have spent many years perfecting that exquisite combination of stale beer, ciggies, coffee, natto, and general mouth rancidness that make my eyes water at twenty paces!

It might be interesting to cross-reference this against another MyVoice survey from a year and a half ago on deodorants.

Oh, and I haven’t a clue in Q5 and Q6 what a table is supposed to smell of!
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…of in the summer, just to finish off the dangling headline. I’m back from my holidays, and back to stupidly hot temperatures around double of what I left back in the UK and Germany, so to tie in with the hot and humid weather right now (and it’s going to get a lot hotter and more humid before it’s done) let’s look with goo Ranking at what summer smells people hate. As usual for these ranking surveys, demographic information is not available, just that on the 22nd and 23rd of May a number of members of the goo Research monitor group completed an online survey on this topic.

One may notice that the top pong, body odour, relates to one of these things that foreigners hear (perhaps only from other foreigners?) about how the Japanese don’t sweat.

Finally, the kanji used in the headline, 悪臭, akushuu, consists of two kanji for bad and smell, and means exactly that.
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DIMSDRIVE Research recently released the results of a poll into the use of commercial odour reduction or elimination chemicals. They interviewed 5,453 members of their monitor pool in the middle of October by means of a private internet-based opinion poll. 56.9% of the sample was female, 67.0% married, and 53.4% of the whole sample had children. 13.8% lived alone, 24.2% with one other person, 48.4% with two or three others, and 13.6% with four or more people. The age profile was 0.9% in their teens, 14.5% in their twenties, 33.5% in their thirties, 30.8% in their forties, 15.0% in their fifties, and 5.3% aged sixty or older.

With only 7.0% of people noticing that their house smells, this compares favourably with those who don’t worry about their own smell. I’m surprised at cooking smells being so low, as it tends to be what I notice most often in other people’s houses, but perhaps it is just down to my unfamiliarity with Japanese cooking smells, especially as we run an almost vegetarian kitchen with very little deep frying or grilling.
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Having looked at healing sounds earlier this month, this time goo Ranking looked at what smells evoked images of summer. As usual with goo Rankings, we have absolutely no demographic information whatsoever, so take these numbers with the usual pinch of salt.

For me, if I were being cynical, I would say the smell of fetid sewers and rubbish bins are the most notable summer perfumes of Japan, but to be non-cynical it would be either the smoke of fireworks or newly-cut grass.

The scores are, as usual, 100 points for the top answer and all the others rated as a percentage of the top vote-getter.
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Just in time for the start of the real summer season (two months or more of 30°C and more days and nights), at the start of July MyVoice looked at the use of deodorants. They got 12,473 valid responses from their private internet-based questionnaire to their monitor group. 54% of the responses were from women, 3% were in their teens, 21% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 25% in their forties, and 12% in their fifties.

If anyone asks me what to buy before they come to Japan, my first recommendation is always anti-perspirant; it is, in fact, the only product I get shipped from abroad. Other foreigners suggest that Japanese brands are not so strong, but I suspect it might just be a combination of unfamiliarity with brands ,and that stick or gel type deodorants are almost non-existant here. I have personally only seen tiny almost lipstick-sized tubes that I presume would be pretty useless for any serious application; most of the sales here are, as you can see, of sprays.

There is a belief (or is it a meme? Or nihonjinron) that the Japanese don’t sweat much; whilst I can’t point you to any international surveys or literature to confirm or dismiss that idea, my personal experience is that they do sweat, and often profusely, as on the rush hour train I will often see people with huge beads of sweat even though they have done nothing more than a light stroll to the station. I suspect one contributor to this is the stupidly over-cooled trains (and buildings, etc), as the constant changing from cold to hot to cold mustn’t be kind to the body’s internal temperature regulators. The headline figure indicates that regardless of quantity of sweat produced, the smell of it is a concern to most. Of course, all Japanese could smell but a quarter just don’t care…
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