In Japan’s TOKYUHANDS grocery store, there is a special section selling handkerchiefs. Osaka Shipyard also has many wholesalers selling handkerchiefs. In Japan, small handkerchiefs can even be found in department stores and airport stores.
The selling price of Japanese handkerchiefs is not low. A terry cloth handkerchief costs 540 yen at TOKYUHANDS, and a thin cotton handkerchief costs 648 yen, excluding consumption tax. In airport stores, handkerchiefs are more expensive, ranging from 600 to 800 yen per handkerchief.
Although Japanese handkerchiefs are expensive, their workmanship is very exquisite, making people want to buy them as soon as they see them. Although the reporter has not been in the habit of using handkerchiefs for many years, he still bought many handkerchiefs in Japan, and some of them were given as gifts, and the recipients liked them very much. Some of them are kept as souvenirs.
The Chinese once widely used handkerchiefs, but now only very few people use them. I remember that 10 years ago, when Yang Donghui was the president of the China Home Textile Association, he wanted to advocate the production of handkerchiefs in the home textile industry, and encouraged companies to set up stores in Beijing to sell handkerchiefs and guide consumers to use handkerchiefs. However, promoting the use of handkerchiefs was just Yang Donghui’s best wish, and the market did not accept it. Resource-consuming paper towels have completely conquered Chinese consumers. Now, there is no normal channel to buy handkerchiefs in the Chinese market. Only some small markets occasionally sell handkerchiefs, and most of them are of poor quality. Handkerchiefs, daily necessities, have faded out of the lives of Chinese people.
In Japan, both men and women use handkerchiefs. Not only using handkerchiefs, Japanese consumers also have many green consumption habits worth learning. In drugstores, in addition to bottled products, some shampoo and shower products are also sold in plastic bags. The price of bagged products is generally half the price of bottled products. After consumers buy shampoo and shower products in bottles once and use them up, they can buy cheaper bagged products and refill them into bottles for use. There are also various plastic bottles sold in Japanese grocery stores. Consumers can even buy bottles directly and fill bagged products into bottles instead of buying bottled products. The Japanese also use the same method to replace liquid detergent etc. In this way, not only the cost of living is saved, but also the waste of resources is reduced.
In addition, Japanese supermarkets and other stores generally provide free plastic bags to consumers. But the reporter saw in the market that when shopping, Japanese people always take out plastic bags from their bags and put the purchased goods in the plastic bags they bring. Ms. Yan, who came to Japan from Northeast China and has lived in Japan for 15 years, told reporters that many ordinary Japanese families fold and collect the plastic bags they bring home from shopping into a slightly larger bag for later use. Therefore, even if plastic bags are provided for free in Japan, people do not abuse them.
