In Japan, what do people do instead of blowing their nose? -

I ve read that in Japan, it s regarded as rather gross to use a handkerchief - the idea of carrying round what they call hanakuso - or nose **** - is seen as disgusting. Fair enough. But what do they do in Japan when they want or need to blow their nose? Use a tissue? Snort the snot back inside? Can anybody tell me what the alternative to using a handkerchief is?

Most of us think that using a handkerchief to blow our nose is disgusting since we use our handkerchief to dry our hands after we wash our hands at restrooms. In Japan, we don t really use paper towels to dry our hands at restrooms but handkerchiefs. Well, I haven t gone back to Japan for more than 6 years so maybe it might be different now that people have been using paper towels to dry their hands. But when I lived in Japan, we always used our handkerchief to dry our hands. Anyway, we blow our nose by using tissue. We usually carry a handkerchief and a quot; pocket tissue.quot; It s etiquette to carry those two around all the time when we are out. And we don t blow our nose in public. We always go to a restroom to do that because we think that blowing our nose in public is kinda rude. Especially we don t want to see people blowing their nose in upscale restaurants. Even in the US, some people think the same way. Anyway, it s just a different culture. We use our handkerchief to dry our hands, not to blow our nose. However, if we don t have tissue, we do use a handkerchief sometimes. But it s not really good to carry the kind of handkerchief around because it has germs......

you either turn away and wipe your nose, or if you got some mega snot then you go to the bathroom or a seperate room and blow your nose. Japan has no lack of tissues, just a few hours walking around town and you will get handed all sorts of packets with advertising filled with tissues, especially in the winter.

They re always carrying around tissues in their pockets. They have handkerchiefs but they only use them to wipe their mouth after they eat, or wipe their tears or sweat. It s considered to be very disgusting to snort it back and it s extremely rude to do that in public. Do that and everybody would probably walk away from you. Also, when you wipe your nose, or blow them, never do it in front of people or any public area.

This is a common mistake, lots of advice sites and books claim that Japanese people think it s disgusting to blow your nose, and all the foreigners wonder what the hell theyre supposed to do! The truth is more simple - it s considered extremely disgusting to blow your nose with a cloth handkerchief. When a Japanese person sees a handkerchief shaped piece of cloth, they will assume that it s for wiping off sweat from the face, or if it s a great big one they ll assume it s a cloth to put your lunchbox on! That s why it s not done here. So if you put it to your nose and put snot all over it they lll be totally disgusted - like you would if someone blew their nose on your best tablecloth or hand towel. The sniffing and snorting is a big problem though it s true. I think that we Westerners used to do it all the time too, but because our ancestors took up the foul habit of blowing snot into a piece of fabric weve gotten out of the habit. When I consider the reasons for Japanese - even attractive young women out on the pull - to make horrific snorting noises that would make a navvy blush, I have to compare the snorting to the action of washing out snot and bogeys from cloth hankies - I can t decide which is worse! I remember my granny boiling my grandads hankerchiefs in a special pan! That s just as disgusting as snotting it up your nose, so although I hate it I can t really criticise! Thank God for paper tissues, thats what I say! Japanese people do use them, although not as much as me I m sad to say! But then, the noise of blowing your nose is likely to be just as disgusting as the noise of snorting it up, the only difference is that with a snort you have to swallow it - yuk! - and with a tissue you have to find somewhere suitable to dispose of it after you ve snotted all over it! Eugh!

absorutery collect... that is why we cannot plonounce L and R collectry

They hold small tissues called quot;Pocket tissuequot;. http://www.morisa.jp/db/yume_img/B026-01... You can purchase this at any convenience stores, station stands, and drugstores. And you can also get this freely in the street. Lots of companies are distributing tissues with their advertisement. http://www12.plala.or.jp/get-one/1PT/PT-...

They do it privately, such as stepping away to the restroom.

They blow their nose of course. That s why every desk in a Japanese office has a box of tissue on it. It s called quot;hana wo kamuquot; in Japanese. What kind of an idiot would believe that Japanese don t blow their nose?

I am very happy to see this issue raised.. it is seriously the most grating thing about living in Asia. I was in Japan for a few years and now in Korea. NO ONE will dab that runny nose at the dinner table.. even in Korea, where the hotness amp; spiciness of the food can reach HELL levels amp; clear out your nasal passage in seconds.. But instead, snort it back, or worse, ignore it and let it run.. People eventually step away from the table to take care of business, but it is usually way too late for my purposes. Honestly, not wanting to offend, I get up from teh table every few minutes when the food is extra hot amp; spicy and must seem to have a bladder infection to them.

Sniffing is not impolite in Japan, and not just sniffing, serious snorting goes on during winter and spring in the trains. It s really off-putting to my western sensibilities to see a nice young girl sniffing away, and in the office I get close to flinging paper tissue packets at colleagues who spend the whole day snorting away when I m trying to concentrate! Conversely, Japanese find blowing one s nose in a hanky disgusting, as you say. Blowing your nose in a paper tissue is not that serious a breach of etiquette, I think, judging by my friends - just a half turn away from someone will do.

blowing nose in public is not polite in japan. some people snort the snot back inside because they dont want to blow nose in public. everybody blow their nose of course. but not in public. that s all. and japanese doesnt use handkerchief to blow.

As weird as it is - they really snort the snot back inside and this is considered to be polite. I had once luck to have a dinner in a luxury restaurant with a group of my japanese colleagues, 7 in total, 4 of them had running nose...... I guess you can imagine how much I enjoyed my dinner...