I’ve been told alot that japanese people don’t like perfumes and don’t wear them much, but what was shocking to me is the reason behind it, they believe that people who wear perfumes are trying to cover up for their bad smell. Like …?
So I need more context about this
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They dont wear perfurm because it would be akin a chemical terrorist attack in the train.
Imagine hundreds of people stuck to each other like pressed and humid tuna, each with their strong perfum odor. God I would die 10 seconds after the door closed.
As for the last part. it is just something aome people might think but it is not really a generality.
Generally speaking, Japanese people don’t like perfumes that have strong fragrance.
Some people wear perfume that has some subtle fragrance sometimes.
A classy, stylish Japanese lady in my workplace wears equally classy, stylish scents almost daily. I love all of her scents.
My group leader makes sure that he puts some on before meetings. Since this is summer, he usually puts something that smells fresh and airy. Nothing overpowering.
In the end, it depends on the scent. Some nice, inoffensive Jo Malone? Sure. But not like a gallon of it, or anything with overpowering sillage.
Their preferred mode of transportation is the car, FYI.
I’m wearing something citrusy and minty lately, and so far, no comment or complaint, which I take as a good sign.
A lot of middle aged women perfume. Going to school events or hanging with wife’s friends, I smell a lot of scents.
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I smell people with perfume all the time, but usually it’s not heavily applied.
They obviously have large sections in the cosmetic department of every fancy (& not so fancy) department store selling perfume and cologne. As we all know they seem to like to keep it subtle. I’m in a serviced office and every so often a foreign visitor will be there and wow, some linger long after they’ve walked by. I did share an elevator today with a Japanese woman who smelled exquisitely. Almost asked her what it was and then a bunch of oyajis got on and the moment was gone.
I wear Penhaligon colognes everyday and never got anything but positive comments. The key is not to spray too much.
However I really cannot stand those guys with overpowering supermarket deodorant smells.
So heres what my japanese hostsister and my ex bf said
Ex: japanese ppl should def wear deo+perfumes because they STINK even though they say they dont, especially in the summer. (He even asked me to bring stuff from my home country because he thinks japanese deos/perfumes arent strong enough)
Hostsister: i get headaches when perfumes are too strong, even when people are across the densha
So i guess its just sensitivity to smells
Idk but at least when I go out , all girls have a perfume smell, some good others bad.
I always use perfume and they love it. (Bleu de chanel, using for 10 years, never changed).
True true, in French perfume was to hide the bad odor. I think it was called “The Great Stink of 1880”. Im not kidding!
My boss is a smoker and has recently started wearing perfume (I guess to cover the smell), but I’m really sensitive to perfume and it’s hard being stuck in a small, close room with her, but also really awkward to ask her not to.
Most Japanese women were perfume but it’s just not as strong as most other places.
I dunno but I’m always smelling something fruity from the women and whatever their perfume is
and it can be a kicker
tweenty girls sitting next to me on train from shibuya wears miss dior perfume all the time. Yes ladies and fashionable boys wear perfume too (excluding showa men). I personally intentionally wear dior sauvage right before hopping on the train to choke people with my good sense
Most Japanese women I met were wearing some perfume, but never anything you could smell from another end of the room, which was great.
Speaking of guys… I am yet to meet a Japanese guy who has a good taste for colognes.
And no, I do not believe that Japanese people magically or genetically or for any other reason do not smell (they do), and no, nobody in their sane mind wears perfume to cover the stink but it is indeed a strong belief among some least educated folk in Japan.
well this was the original use of perfumes wasnt it…
It’s not that they don’t like them, Japanese just don’t like strong fragrances. So they wear very light essence, very elegant and natural. Just don’t shower with it
Japanese don’t like perfume?!
4.7 billion yen worth of perfume sales in 2021 (https://www.statista.com/statistics/756605/japan-perfume-sales-value/)
That’s like saying “Japanese don’t like beef” or something equally silly.
Who told you that?
The reason I first heard, which made total sense, is that in the crowded, humid cities (of heian era Kyoto) it made more sense to scent a room than to scent each individual person.
I don’t get why they don’t wear perfume, but then the overpowering, floral detergent and softener is fine I guess
In my experience, women who wear perfume here tend to spray it under their clothes rather than over. That way it isn’t too overpowering 🙂
I feel like a lot of women wear perfume here. Young women especially aren’t shy about loading it on!
There’s also an older lady who goes to my gym and wears *so* much perfume. If I’m within about 5 meters or her I’m pretty much gagging on it so I always end up moving to the other side of the gym.
Why do people think Japanese people don’t wear perfume?
Lots of them do!
They might not wear as much, but they definitely wear it.
I have asked the same question to my Japanese teachers when I was studied at Japanese language school in Kyoto, and there are two answers:
1. Male teachers prefer no aroma at all. For them, no aroma is the safest way since it is not disturbing people near them. So, they believe good grooming and taking a bath daily is good enough to take care of body odor problems.
2. Female teachers prefer to use perfume daily since they like the good aroma which they believe perfume boosts their mood, makes memories from the aroma, and also makes a good impression. They said that definitely will not go outside without using the perfume since is a must thing to use daily.
From that point of view, now I understand why the deodorant/underarm roll-on product is quite limited to be found (both male or female) in convenience stores/drug stores if compared to my country (Southeast Asia). Japanese genetics also plays with body odor as well, not all of them, but yeah, I rarely met Japanese near me who had a body odor problem, except on a crowded train.
I feel that the difference isn’t the usage itself, more the degree to which it is worn. When people use perfume here it definitely isn’t as overwhelming as it is back home, where you can smell someone’s perfume from at least 6 feet away.
Really? I follow some Japanese celebs and in their “Get Ready With Me” vlogs they always spray on some type of fragrance as part of their routine. Not sure about everyday commoners though so can’t speak on that.
They use perfumes, if they didn’t there would be no Estaban, Chanel and BVASSDFG or whatever it is in Ginza. Ginza is full of perfume stores.
Now where do they use them?
Not when then go to work in a packed train, not when they go to eat in a restaurant, not when they go work as a service person or a place that has lots of people.
Now a lot of people in Japan use odor free deodorants and often times otaku and such are famous for smelling bad.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/d5ec4a6a92ed561513e3fee2a7afda7f00e90e00
Just today book off apologized it tweets about their shoppers smelling bad. But while they did apologize this is very much a thing.
Perfume is used for occasions where its okay. So occasions where men and women gather to date, go out, go to parties, and so on… Honestly I personally use it like that too here in Europe. When I go do my usual normal things I wear Old Spice or Nivea or similar.
Now I’ve been told that Japanese don’t like the smell of Old Spice but nobody so far has complained, I’ve been using thats for 15 years and I order it on amazon.co.jp since it’s cheap and it’s one of the few “gel” deos I can get in Japan. Roll on for me don’t last a day so Rexona ,Dove etc… Old spice however does even in summer one of the few things to work.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01LTI0916
Japanese love perfume.
But on a shoot at work recently, another project manager told me to tell my intern, a young french giel, to not put any perfume on because hers stinks. I guess it’s because it is quite a strong smell and they think it’s unprofessional, or it was just a nuisance to that particular manager.
Either way, my male friends all wear Ariana Grande’s perfume so …
Almost none of my students wear perfume or aftershave.
To my relief.