Just had to pop down to the konbini, and on the walk I got to thinking about the characteristic smells of a winter evening in Japan.
* The smell of the paraffin stoves from neighborhood houses
* Fish grilling in someone’s kitchen
* ‘Bub’-scented bathwater emptying into the drain
* Incense from someone’s butsudan
* The oden bubbling in the konbini
They say smells make some of your most persistent memories.
What are your top smells of Japan?
5 comments
For the ephemerally delightful: bintsuke hairwax, gardenia hedges, and kinmokusei.
For the inescapably persistant: illegal trash incineration.
I work at home, so in winter it’s mostly my own farts because screw going outside. I can’t wait for the summer already. Going to the beach before work, that’s the life.
The gentle waft of sewage from the street drains. The stale cigarette smell from a grunting jiji on the train.
あぁー日本だ
The old lady who lives in the traditional-style house next to my apartment burns the most lovely smelling incense starting from the fall through the winter. I’ve only lived where I do since last April, but I thank her every day for doing it. It always brightens up my walk home.
Exhaust fumes from everyone using their snowblowers to clear out the driveway and piled up snow that fell off their house.
The smell of ski wax as everyone is preparing for the next day of powder skiing.
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Burnt dust from turning on an old stove that hasn’t been cleaned.