Tampons or napkins in Japan?

dochira23 · 6 Mar 2005

Sorry, I'm not trying to troll, but this is a question that caught my interest, after reading about Japanese hygiene.

It seems that many Japanese are obsessed with extreme hygiene, like wearing masks when they have a cold, and so on. So what is the preferred hygiene product of most Japanese women - tampons, or sanitary pads? I have always thought of tampons as a prime growth medium for bacteria when used improperly, and wonder if the Japanese have a way aound it.

Emoni · 6 Mar 2005

Weirdest question I've seen on ths board EVER...

Yet, I'm wondering answer out of shear weird curiousity. Guess when you are majoring in the culture you gotta learn everything

GaijinPunch · 6 Mar 2005

I can currently only speak for one Japanese women -- pads.

Timsan · 6 Mar 2005

Hey Emoni, where do you go to uni?

PopCulturePooka · 6 Mar 2005

I've heard via numerous sources that pads are the norm.

Grandpa Frank · 6 Mar 2005

I Remember......

my Japanese girlfriend always called her "time of the month" BLUE DAY. She was soooo embarassed by the whole thing. I lived with her for a year and never saw what she used, she was so secretive about it all. Maybe it was because she was a small town girl?

Frank

epigene · 6 Mar 2005

Frank D. White said:
my Japanese girlfriend always called her "time of the month" BLUE DAY. She was soooo embarassed by the whole thing. I lived with her for a year and never saw what she used, she was so secretive about it all. Maybe it was because she was a small town girl?

Frank

That's because you lived with a girl in my generation, Frank...

Scrutiny of the drugstore shelves in my part of Tokyo shows that roughly 80% of these shelves allocated for peronal hygiene products are occupied by sanitary napkins.

RockLee · 7 Mar 2005

not many girls wear strings either...more like those old fashion undies...I wonder why ? And I guess san. pads are more common...maybe the whole idea of tampons is not that big in japan :?

btw...no girl responded to this topic yet

Emoni · 7 Mar 2005

Well, interesting posts...

Tim, I'll email you where I go.

Elizabeth · 7 Mar 2005

RockLee said:
not many girls wear strings either...more like those old fashion undies...I wonder why ? And I guess san. pads are more common...maybe the whole idea of tampons is not that big in japan :?

btw...no girl responded to this topic yet

The pads are really bulky and straight as well....that makes two girls that have responded so far, if I had a scanner I'd show you more clearly what I'm talking about ! Sorry about that....but I don't really agree that Japanese women are more embarrassed about it, just that not having cabinets in the toire means you have to keep them in a satchel or the opaque, colored bag is was separated into at the store for everyone to know.

cicatriz esp · 7 Mar 2005

All the Japanese girls I've ever dated have used pads.

kirei_na_me · 7 Mar 2005

I'd say pads are the norm. Every Japanese woman I've known uses them instead of tampons.

Speaking of "that time of month", one of my Japanese friends told me that she was so embarassed when her mother made "red rice" for almost the entire neighborhood when she first started. Yikes.

smoke · 7 Mar 2005

kirei_na_me said:
Speaking of "that time of month", one of my Japanese friends told me that she was so embarassed when her mother made "red rice" for almost the entire neighborhood when she first started. Yikes.

for some reason i find that hilarious...i'm sure that makes me sick and twisted!

when my girlfriend first had her period her mum told her that a tampon may be a little uncomfortable...but she said it was fine!
what does that tell you about her!?

ahh, my girl the village bike!!!
(only joking babes)

RockLee · 7 Mar 2005

Ok..that is so....OMFG.... ☝ village...bike...djees.. ☝

Elizabeth said:
Sorry about that....but I don't really agree that Japanese women are more embarrassed about it, just that not having cabinets in the toire means you have to keep them in a satchel or the opaque, colored bag is was separated into at the store for everyone to know.

What do u mean with not agree on the embarrased...nobody said anything about being embarrased ?

Nightwalker · 7 Mar 2005

O.O Wow...I don't know why but I don't find it ever so slightly embarassing when I get it and people find out. Hmm different for everyone I know but I tell people I have it so they know if I get nasty or something then they know the cause. Who really wouldn't want to get it anyways but back on topic kinda. XD They only use pads...why no tampons? @.@ Or is it just different for everyone?

epigene · 7 Mar 2005

kirei_na_me said:
Speaking of "that time of month", one of my Japanese friends told me that she was so embarassed when her mother made "red rice" for almost the entire neighborhood when she first started. Yikes.

That was old Japanese practice (before my time ) to celebrate womanhood. It was an announcement of the girl becoming eligible for marriage.

dochira23 said:
I have always thought of tampons as a prime growth medium for bacteria when used improperly...

That's what many people think about tampons. (When my daughter first got her period, my husband was adamant that she never use them. I secretly told her she can do what she pleases. )

Brooker · 7 Mar 2005

Red rice? That's pretty gross. Why couldn't they just give out cookies or something. They don't need to make the connection with blood.

epigene · 7 Mar 2005

Brooker,

Red is the color of celebration, not blood. Red rice is cooked for celebrations (New Year, birthdays, etc.), as far as I know, in many parts of Northeast and Southeast Asia (including Guam).

Brooker · 7 Mar 2005

epigene said:
Brooker,

Red is the color of celebration, not blood. Red rice is cooked for celebrations (New Year, birthdays, etc.), as far as I know, in many parts of Northeast and Southeast Asia (including Guam).

Oh, whoops, I didn't know that. I thought it would be strange if they only did that for when a girl reached puberty.

ArmandV · 7 Mar 2005

Is Dracula popular there?

Brooker said:
Red rice? That's pretty gross. Why couldn't they just give out cookies or something. They don't need to make the connection with blood.

This has got to be the weirdest topic I've seen here.

I suppose I can see the symbolism of red rice (somewhere).

Someone mentioned bacteria fears regarding tampons. Maybe some remembers the uproar over tampon-related toxic shock syndrome.

Malaika · 8 Mar 2005

This has never occur to me, until I saw the topic, that I always wondered about "the time of the month" thing and if they use pads or tampons.

From reading all the post, I'm learning alot.

Takara · 8 Mar 2005

^ I'm learning a lot as well. I always thought that the whole "pads or tampons" thing goes by what the girl/woman is more comfortable with.

Tampons or napkins in Japan?

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