Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Priorities

Funny - this is the first sign of any deviance from normal behavior I've seen here in Kansai. Everything else in the store was normally stocked, including the bottled water. But as for the toilet paper, only a little of this fancy stuff on the top shelf and a couple of cheap packs on the bottom that looked like they would be none too gentle where softness is greatly appreciated. Hey, I have no problem wiping my butt with Sistie (though the brand name is disconcertingly close to "sister").

I doubt there will be any major panic buying or hoarding down here, but I guess this is what to look out for. As the Ikedas and the Salaryman family would probably tell you, toilet paper is an important commodity.
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8 comments:

  1. RiMarch 22, 2011 at 8:18 AM

    Interesting!
    when I was cruising my local supermarket yesterday I noticed 3/4 of the large water bottles were gone, as were all the cardboard boxes (prob sending stuff up north!)... but toilet paper appears to be in abundance. (^^)b

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  2. Blue ShoeMarch 22, 2011 at 8:20 AM

    Gotcha. I wonder how the general mood is in Miyazaki now. Saw there was a little flooding during the tsunami, which is more than we had here.

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  3. ChrisMarch 22, 2011 at 9:49 AM

    Toilet paper companies are gonna have a hefty profit margin next quarter. Unless they were based in the Sendai area of course.

    I appreciate my T.P. a little more than before :)

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  4. Blue ShoeMarch 22, 2011 at 9:51 AM

    Seriously, man. I think for a lot of people it's probably not the first emergency supply that comes to mind, but rather important regardless.

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  5. cocominoMarch 23, 2011 at 10:00 AM

    Hi,
    I couldn't belive that toilet paper are sold out.However, it may be inevitable that people become irrational.

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  6. Blue ShoeMarch 23, 2011 at 10:03 AM

    Thanks for the comment! Yeah, I suppose so. But not to worry - still some left.

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  7. RichardMarch 24, 2011 at 2:27 AM

    I remember hearing about this kind of thing going on during the oil shock in the 70s. Maybe Japanese people remember that, or seeing the footage at least, and associate crisis situations with a need to stock up on toilet paper.

    We still have plenty of toilet paper in Hokuriku though.

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  8. Blue ShoeMarch 24, 2011 at 2:29 AM

    Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Richard.

    I'm sure it's not going to get any worse (unless God forbid we get another disaster), but still an eye-opening experience.

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