Why are Japanese items always so clean?

[Bojay1997]

I would agree that generally my Yahoo.JP purchases have been super clean and often scented of green tea (although I can't tell if it's the original seller or the marshall service that adds the green tea scented wrapping materials. Having said that, many Japanese do smoke (although not necessarily at home) and I have on occasion received items that have a hint of smoke smell. Nothing compared to some of the odors I received before I started asking sellers on Ebay if they were smoke free, but still the occasional Yahoo item does show up with a hint of smoke.

[mobiusclimber]

I think it's more to do, as another poster said, with game sellers only putting their best stuff up for auctions. If you went to a game store in Japan you'd have the honor of hunting through boxes of beat up cart only games for like twenty yen apiece. Not worth making an auction for a game like that, right?

[SparTonberry]

I suppose it would depend on how high demand the game is. Or if there's not too many already on ebay, it might be more likely to sell anyways.
I've seen my share of "ugly" Japanese games.
I got a yellowed Super Back to the Future II. Looks like I got lucky to get it for no more than $20, as the value seems to have spiked recently.
I got a Don Doko Don for Famicom with part of the case taped up. But I'm okay with that since the cart seems fine and the price seemed comparable to a loose anyways.
I've seen someone listing a Famicom Batman awhile back. While it included the original case, the cart label was half torn off.

[mobiusclimber]

Oh yeah I should have mentioned that too but I've seen and purchased a fair number of good to fair condition Japanese games. Usually get them in game lots, tho sometimes I just really want the game. I have a few Fami games with beat up boxes (Akuma kun no wana comes to mind) and some carts with writing or just dingy/dirty cases. I've seen a copy of Salamander with no label before.

[Bloodreign]

This topic reminds me of a time someone bought me Toaplan Shooting Battle 1 PS 1 off YAJ, normally the game goes for well over $100. But due to a very small and faint tea stain on the manual (if you don't put it to light and look extremely carefully, you'd never knew a stain was on that manual), we got it for around $50. The rest of the manual, CD, and case were in excellent condition, very very clean, so apparently humbleness paid off.

Every other import I ever got from Japan was also very very clean, no dirt, scratches, fingerprints on the bottom of the disc, nothing. Just sparkly clean goodness, no smoky smells either.

[WanganRunner]

Part of it is space constraints.

The typical Japanese apartment is tiny, you can't have shitpiles of gaming stuff all over the floor. You just don't have space. You have to have it on a shelf, and then put it back when you're done using it.

Unlike in the US, where people just have piles of garbage in their basement.

[blue lander]

Virtually all the games I've bought off YAJ stink to high heaven of stale tobacco, and many have that yellow stain to them. I notice it mostly with Famicom and earlier stuff.

[Collector_Gaming]

Well i can't speak for all of japan.
But tokyo is a very clean city they have a clean attitude on things. Probably due to their continuous on the go feeling.
And also isn't japanese tradition to clean your hands and such before every meal for a example
in america your mom always tried to get you to do that but it comes and goes as you get older like whatever.

As for cigarette smoke damage and smells

In Tokyo your older generations chain smoke like its going out of style (mostly your low income individuals) one after another after another after another.
once you get outside tokyo to your more rural japan areas smoking is kinda a norm... helps the farmers relax i guess.

[stalepie]

I just noticed something with two Shining Force carts I have. I accidentally bought two for some reason, presumably from different sellers. One cart label looks bright and clean, while another looks kind of dark and mottled. Well on the back it says Made in Japan for the bright and clean one and Assembled in U.S.A. for the ugly one. They're both for the Sega Genesis, not Mega Drive.

Also when I looked at my other Genesis carts that were assembled in America they have the mottled cheaper look and the text printed into the plastic on the back ("don't submerge under water," etc.) is deeper and easier to read.

The Made in Mexico ones also look a little better than the American ones, although maybe the plastic of the cart itself used in the American ones is better than the Japanese. (Seems stronger).

So I think in some cases the purity of the cart's appearance is due to it being better made and not just the condition it's in now.

[stalepie]

Just looked at my SNES carts. They say Made in Japan and Made in Mexico. Don't see any that say America, but I don't have that many.

The MiJ ones look good, while the MiM ones look bad (like American Genesis carts). Not bad as in "I really care," but bad as in you can tell a difference when you compare.

Curiously I don't think I have any Japanese games that were made anywhere else other than Japan. They don't even use China?

[stalepie]

Heh, on the back of my copy of Legend of Oasis it says, "Programmed in Japan. Made and printed in the USA." That's interesting, "Programmed in Japan." They should do that for more games.

Sorry for the triple post (if anyone cares).

[stalepie]

Also interesting (to me anyway): on the back of my Sexy Parodius game for the Saturn it says "MADE IN JAPAN" but then under that it says "For sale and use only in Japan."! , why write that in English? I mean I can understand the "for sale and use" part going for the international tongue of choice, but why "Made in"?

Japan should take more pride in their language and stick to it!

I guess it's just for legal reasons since "all rights reserved" is also English. Still stupid, though.

[Solertia]

Why's that? I don't think the Japanese are known to be particularly heavy smokers

I literally spit out my sip of drink and burst into laughter at this. I'm sorry.

[skaar]

I wonder if Evan has pictures of my Super Famicom games still. He dumped/scanned them all when he was here. Some had barnacles in them, I swear.

[Aussie2B]

I literally spit out my sip of drink and burst into laughter at this. I'm sorry.

Okay... that makes two people to find my post ever-so-hilarious. I just don't get it. Of all the things to find rip-roaringly funny on the Digital Press, that sure ain't one of them. If I'm wrong about something, a simple "Actually, blah-blah-blah and here's a link" would suffice. You guys act like I said "The sky is pink" or something.

Clearly this stereotype that you guys believe is so pervasive to the point of being common knowledge isn't. Far more people in this topic have stated that out of tons of imports they've never gotten anything that smells of smoke.

I already explained my comment further in a previous post, but again: I was never saying that people in Japan don't smoke. I was never saying that there aren't individuals that smoke heavily. What I WAS saying is that there isn't a WIDELY KNOWN stereotype of the Japanese being crazy about smoking, like there is for much of Europe, especially France. Maybe among some people, this stereotype is held for Japan, I don't know, but it clearly hasn't gone mainstream.

[Collector_Gaming]

i wasn't mocking you if you were refering to me but heres a good reference to prove my statement about the older japanese being heavy smokers... watch any old and i mean old japanese movies (good one is the classic Original Godzilla film.. yea the black and white one)

[jordandavid]

I already explained my comment further in a previous post, but again: I was never saying that people in Japan don't smoke. I was never saying that there aren't individuals that smoke heavily. What I WAS saying is that there isn't a WIDELY KNOWN stereotype of the Japanese being crazy about smoking, like there is for much of Europe, especially France. Maybe among some people, this stereotype is held for Japan, I don't know, but it clearly hasn't gone mainstream.

I've heard of the stereotype before.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ion_per_capita

Japan is #12 in cigarette consumption, and for comparison the US is #39.

and I know he's Indonesian, but I can't get enough of this guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4c_wI6kQyE

Just realized he's left handed, what a scholar.

[Aussie2B]

I wasn't referring to you, Collector_Gaming, just Solertia and InsaneDavid.

Thanks for the link, jordandavid. That's a lot more interesting than people posting to say how they're rolling on the floor over my post. (I'm rolling my eyes at them, not you, if it's not clear.) It's funny how the actual facts don't correspond to the stereotypes that well (although I guess that's how stereotypes go). I mean, France is way down at 60, yet if you did some Family Feud-style style poll of what country is most known for smoking, I bet it would be France. And even though Greece is #1, I've never heard my fiance or his Greek family saying anything about Greece being crazier about smoking than the rest of Europe. And Latvia is right under Japan, and I've also never heard anything like that about them from my Latvian family.

[badinsults]

I wonder if Evan has pictures of my Super Famicom games still. He dumped/scanned them all when he was here. Some had barnacles in them, I swear.

[skaar]

I'll find the one with the corrosion too.