A review of some household Japanese products.

   Scent is a powerful trigger for my memory, so whenever I’m longing for Japan and can’t just book a ticket, I head to a Japanese grocery to find things with scents to make me think of japan. I wonder what the word is for homesickness for a place that isn’t your home? 

   In honor of springtime, for two of my products  I decided to forgo my usual choice of lavender scented products and went in a sakura scented direction, like the trees that I knew had just been blooming along the Meguro River.

   My first product is something I found incredibly useful while traveling, KAO face masks. Although I like reusable styles of sleep masks, this one is great for traveling when you don’t have access to a place to warm up a reusable mask. The limited edition spring scent was nice and very fragrant like the lavender; however, I found the floral notes in this one a bit more artificial smelling and a tad more overwhelming. It was nice, but for this product, I might go back to my favorite scent next time.

   The next product I stumbled across on a blustery and cold night in Akita, Japan. It was a fun night, a pretty glorious one, definitely another story, but at the end of it, I found myself staring at the porcelain of my apartment’s toilet, pondering my fearless cuisine choices that included oysters, fried foods of all sorts, and sakes from more prefectures than I could count in boxes that spilled overflowing across the table.

   I had stubbornly brushed my teeth at least four times, assuring myself that had to be the last of it. By the third brush, I raised an eyebrow while polishing a canine, snapped my teeth at my reflection, and gave a tipsy howl of delight. This was the whitest I had ever seen my teeth. I snapped a photo of the toothpaste, and I have sworn by Kobayashi toothpaste ever since.

   The flavor of it is mostly minty; however, in my opinion, there is just the tiniest taste of floral that I actually don’t think most would notice. The idea of black or charcoal toothpaste might seem scary to most, but this one is a delicate, unintimidating light gray, and a little of it goes a long way.

   My last product should be no surprise to anyone, as you may have heard me emphasize etiquette and respect while traveling. Because of course, after that terrible display of digestion, I had to thoroughly clean the bathroom. One of my favorite items I found for bathrooms in Japan are their gel toilet stamps! Kobayashi makes adorable bear shaped applicators. I am always amazed in strange ways how Japan seems to be ahead of us in tech and in cuteness, and their cleaning products are no exception. These delightful little bear dudes emit a stamp of gel onto the side of your toilet bowl in the shape of a little flower, which THEN emits a nice scent every time you flush the toilet. I didn’t mind the artificialness of this floral scent as much with this product since I’m more familiar with smelling that sort of scent in cleaning products.

   All my products in this review I purchased from Maruichi Japanese Food & Deli in Brookline, MA. It’s honestly one of my favorite spots since their selection of items is so large and their prices are super reasonable. Besides household products, you can get food, fresh produce, cute plushies, Japanese alcohol, and so many other beverages. I can get Pocari Sweat at almost the same price as I would at the 7/11 in Shibuya, and if any of you make them sell out after I have given you that nugget of information, I will be very cross with you.

Let me know in the comments if there are any cleaning products or common Japanese household products you swear by!