VerveEarth


Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Pocket Tissues

Hello, everyone~!


Today, my parents and I went to Tachikawa after my mom's work finished. Tachikawa is the west side of Tokyo, and a kind of suburban area compared to the cities such as Shinjuku and Shibuya. After getting off the car, we walked a bit from the parking lot to the store we'd hoped to go. While I was walking down the road, I saw a person who had a pocket tissue coming towards me. I just can't help but be predictable about what would happen next... He handed out the packet of pocket tissue to me just like I'd imagined on my mind. And since we walked down the same road to go back to the parking lot, I got another one! If it's round-trip, the number of pocket tissues you'll be given will be doubled!! Every time this happens, it reminds me of the remark made by a foreigner when he came to Japan for the first time, "Japan must be a good country because you can get tissues for free."

Interestingly, even though I walked down the road with my parents, they seemed to care only about my presence. My parents were surprised at the things happened while they were walking with me! Hahaha... I'm sure that I was their target consumer because what the information inside the packets said was about so-called "mizu-shoubai" in Japanese, which refers to the job at drinking places especially for men. In specific, girls are paid by men to enjoy drinking alcohol with them. Hmmmmm.... that's not something I'm interested in. Anyway, whatever they'd hoped to achieve, I got plenty of pocket tissues! Yaay. ^^

Then, I happened to find the article("Pocket Tissues") about pocket tissues handed out in Japan, and how it's become popular as a way to advertise. It was quite fascinating for me to read the article like this not only because I'd just received plenty of them(Hahaha...), but also because there was a lot of the things I didn't know about the industry of pocket tissues! (I didn't even know it existed!) Moreover, I think I'll be able to explain this to the people from foreign countries. I once was asked about this, and she also asked me why some girls refused to be given. Though I did answered the questions, but I don't think I explained why in a way she could fully understand. (I guess some girls don't receive pocket tissues because they regard accepting as a kind of insult.)

Alright, why don't you come to Japan and see it happen before your eyes?
Hahaha.... At least, I hope the article and my post will help you imagine what's happening here. ^^

That's all for today!
See you soon. ^^

2 comments:

Ai said...

Hello, Hiromi!

I'm Ai, the member of Maryland2007! I visited your blog today as I found you have your own blog ^^

Pocket tissues... I always recieve them, hahaha!
Now, Do you live in near Tachikawa? Tachikawa is my hometown and I live in here now!!
We're neighboehood ^^??

Ai

Nina Liakos said...

Hi Hiromi,
Free pocket tissues...hmmm. I wonder if they are made by the company my former student Mutsumi works for--Daio? (Mutsumi was my student in 1992!)