Tissue paper consumption in Japan

A graph from the same TV show featured in our last post, this time showing annual tissue paper consumption in Japan compared to other first world nations:

The program noted that Japanese people probably use tissues a lot when cleaning, whereas people in other countries might use towels or some other non-tissue cleaning device. They also mentioned all the free tissues passed out with advertisements at train stations.

15 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - June 3, 2008 at 7:48 am

Categories: General Japan Tags: japan, tissue

nako

Probably the guys jerking it.
Scott

It seems the difference would be offset by the fact was mentioned: that tissues are used for everything that paper towels are used for in the States.

People carry hanky type things too. You buy them at the hyakuen shop, then you don’t have to touch any bathroom nastyness. Although most were cleaner than mine is now..(>_<)
D-san

Yeah, I could see how they got these numbers. I can’t walk through Tokyo on any day without around 10+ people handing out those tissue packets. They do come in handy though.
http://deleted parkmount

I just wonder what the unit of measurement is for the consumption, weight or a number of sheets?
onceuponatime

this is one of the most paper-wasting nations on earth. and yet, most people take a hankerchief or towel with them when they go out. go figure. what do they do with all those tissues????
Irene

For me, who’ve grown up in Japan and currently am in the U.S., it seems weird for me to see ppl here using LOTS of paper towels.. I try not to, but I guess sadly I got used to it, so I think I use more than I used to when I was in Japan.

You see, to me, Japanese ppl waste less paper than Americans.. the point is it is about *tissue paper* consumption, and it doesn’t encompass other paper products, such as paper towels and such.

So it’d be misleading to interpret this as a sign that Japanese ppl use too much ‘paper’ in general, just like the recent entry about crime rate in Japan. The Japanese are more environment-conscious than the Americans, in my opinion; when I heard about “An Inconvenient Truth” I was like, ‘what, in Japan everyone knows about it already from long ago.’

hadji

When I think of plastic frocks for shopping bags when it is wet, individually wrapped cookies, 120 ml pet bottles and plastic umbrella bags on a rainy day I do think how much the Japanese are environmentally conscious.

Nor should being better than the Americans (if true)be any kind of gold star.
D-san

I disagree. I belive America is much more Enivironmentally Conscious than japan for the most part. japanese products tend to be way over packaged and i have yet to see so many businesses handing out tissue packets like candy, and don’t get me started on the Chopsticks!

concerned Filipino

This must be why, in anime, whenever there’s a slice-of-life shopping scene, they always buy tissue (more specifically, toilet) paper. I mean. This is a program meant to be shown to the public, and they’re talking about toilet paper. It could also be because Japanese like pulling out meters of toilet paper from the roll when they’re stressed.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

I don’t think that toilet paper was included in the graph. All of the discussion that took place on the show related to that graph dealt with tissue paper of a non-toilet variety.

hadji

how does it compare to Korea? they keep it on the table for meals

Jack B

How dare you mention Korea in this most important of polls, this is for the elite countries only, no place for those Asian characters.

Meier

IIRC, it’s common for Western nations to have a box of tissues on the table during meals, probably picked it up from the American’s way back.

Hmm, also is toilet paper a part of this? I recall people using the same word in general talk for tissue/toilet paper.

hahaha

Doesn’t suprise me one bit, when i was in Nagoya they have cute girls hand them out every morning. At first i thought it was so I could wipe my butt with them because theres no toilet paper in any of the bathrooms at the station, but i guess its just to wipe your nose or whatever. One time three girls in a row gave um to me, so i walked back smiled and threw um back in their little tissues carriers. They just laughed probably thinking im a dumb gaijin, but man 30 days of them force feeding me free tissues at the meisetsu i had to do it, you can get away with anything playing the white man card.P.S if you ever need to drop a bomb at a train station in Japan and theres no TP, just grab some free tissues baby.
http://www.japanitup.com/ Steve

All the tissues is an odd thing to me. People have said it saves on environmental waste and costs less… but c’mon… I’ve seen a person use 5-10 tissues during a meal. I think a paper napkin could be an equivalent amount of paper and doesn’t look like a bunch of snot rags at the dinner table. I think people should start handing out napkins instead of tissues.

Tissue paper consumption in Japan

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