Thread: Japanese razor or pencil sharpener - help!

Unfortunately my Japanese is horrible. Arigatou - that's all I know. Recently came across something, which look like razor and pencil sharpener at the same time. Can someone who speaks Japanese please tell us what it is





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It's a razor. An early disposable, maybe? They've evolved into some VERY sharp, VERY flimsy metal disposables for women, anyway.　Like this:

That was part of this set. Something to do with the shaving?

I deleted pictures here and posted them again

Originally Posted by JimR

It's a razor. An early disposable, maybe? They've evolved into some VERY sharp, VERY flimsy metal disposables for women, anyway.　Like this:

I bought a box of those for like $3 in Japan.

I'd never shave my face with one, but I do use them for the back of my neck, etc.

I'd agree that is pretty much what the OP has on his hands, albiet a vintage looking version.

Well, your pictures only come through about halfway so I can't really tell...try posting them directly through the attachment button, cause your photo host seems to be really slow...

**EDIT**OK, after a few refreshes I got enough of the boxes to see they're some kind of internal medicine, nothing to do with shaving.

Really ok, here we go again







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My mother, who is a 78 year old Japanese woman, used to use those razors all the time for her face. Apparently it is common place for Japanese women to shave the hair off of their face.
I asked her about it once. Her ryply was."We are not animals".

Originally Posted by JMS

My mother, who is a 78 year old Japanese woman, used to use those razors all the time for her face. Apparently it is common place for Japanese women to shave the hair off of their face.
I asked her about it once. Her ryply was."We are not animals".

Ayuh. My wife has taken over my old electric...but she used to use the "safety" version of these (platic handled, wire wrapped blades).

I think it's because the hair is really dark...stands out a lot, especially against the pale skin that everyone strives for.

**edit** Oh, and the pictures were much better the second time! That Norpin is an anti-fever cold-type of medicine. The company is still in business. The big red thing says something about being a cleanser (It'll take ages for me to figure out the Kanji...I'm not that good yet.) and the Sinse mentum stuff looks like it's written in English. Interesting find...where'd you get it?

Originally Posted by JMS

My mother, who is a 78 year old Japanese woman, used to use those razors all the time for her face. Apparently it is common place for Japanese women to shave the hair off of their face.
I asked her about it once. Her ryply was."We are not animals".

That interesting actually. I was never aware that excess facial hair was common among Japanese women. I may just be demonstrating my ignorance, but whenever I think of women who have enough facial hair to consider shaving, I tend to think of greeks, eastern europeans, and maybe hispanic women.

Is noticeable facial hair actually common among Japanese women, or does it have more to do with Japanese culture and the desire to look as youthful/clean/idealized as possible?

VeeDub that's one loaded question! :-) In a nutshell, to my knowledge about the only women that don't have a bit of facial hair that I've noticed at some point in their lives are native American, very pale Scottish or from Norway/Sweden. Obviously there are exceptions but for the most part I believe the outside corners of the mouth as well as sometimes the tip of the chin and obviously between the eye brows can come up with a few hairs on most women as they age. The reason they remove it is probably the same as it is for us guys. So one may ask why you shave? Same rationale I suspect.