According to Amy Chavez, anyway. Add this to the pile of stereotypes I threw out long ago. While it's true that I haven't encountered as many smelly, sweaty people in this country as you might expect during a hot, humid, Japanese summer, to say that they don't sweat or smell is just absurd.
Anyone else care to weigh in?
この記事によると、日本人は汗かかなくてぜんぜんくさくない。まぁ、多分日本人より西洋人、でも基本的にはステレオタイプじゃない？
I have come across plenty of stinky Japanese people on trains and for some reason particularly in convenience stores. I've encountered some especially putrid clerks at Lawson 100. Part of the problem is that Japanese people think they don't need deodorant and that only foreigners smell when they sweat so a lot of them don't even consider wearing it.
ReplyDeleteAmy Chavez is a horrible writer who writes things which are highly unrepresentative of life in Japan. She writes the worst ridiculous pap about Japan and pretends it is humor.
Yeah, I remember your entry a while ago on deodorant.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly sure why some Japanese people believe their entire race is immune to the stink of perspiration, but articles like Ms. Chavez's don't help anything
Well, my Japanese friend is always sending me messages saying 'I was sweating so much today' and 'I hate summer, I don't like sweating' etc.
ReplyDeleteSo no.
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ReplyDeleteThe few times I got on the Bus in Hawaii I dreaded the stop infront of Ala Moana shopping center. 40 Japanese sweating their asses off in long sleeves (in Hawaii?) during the peak of the afternoon sun which is not nearly as hot as it is over here right now (Yamaguchi pref) but I remember clearly that they smelled so bad it made my eyes water. If they were wearin deoderant it wasn't makin' it.
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