Pulp Consumption

There are many things I stop using after coming to US. One of them is business cards. In Japan, when we introduce ourselves at the first meeting, we always exchange business cards. So I must have carried my cards at any time. Even now I have some pieces in my bag, but there has been no opportunity to use them so far. I ordered two hundred pieces of my cards just before coming to US. But I don’t believe that I can consume them during my stay.

Another thing I don’t use in US is a handkerchief. Handkerchiefs seem to have given way to paper towels and napkins. To my surprise, every public restroom is equipped with paper towel. So, my handkerchief has been always kept in my pocket. Only chance to use it is perhaps when I cry. But I haven’t cry until now, unfortunately.

Why doesn't American use handkerchief? Wikipedia answers my question as follows. "Use of handkerchief instead of facial tissue paper is often seen as old-fashioned and, especially in North America, unhygienic". Oh, I see. That's why American doesn't. The following sentences are more interesting, "On the other hand, some see it as a more environment-conscious choice. In Japan and Sri Lanka, those carrying a handkerchief are considered to be well-educated." I didn't know that handkerchief was the proof of education.

Anyway, paper towels and napkins are omnipresent in US. You can use as much papers as you can anywhere at any time. In restroom, many men draw out too long roll of paper. In fast food restaurant, most customers take too many pieces of napkins. At first, I thought American waste more resources than Japanese do. Many Japanese thinks that US is more wasteful and Japan is more environmentally friendly. This impression may be rather correct. But as for pulp consumption, the difference between two countries seems not so large.

Omnipresent in Japan are tissue papers. In streets and stations, we often receive tissue packets with the flyer on the front. In huge terminal stations such as Shinjuku, getting five or six packets is not so difficult. We welcome and carry them in our bag because some of public toilets in Japan don’t have toilet paper as well as paper towel. Also, in spring, many Japanese who suffer hay fever (about fifteen percent of Japanese including me) always have to blow their nose. To use tissue, we have no option but to see the advertisement. From the advertisers’ standpoint, this high exposure is very attractive. If those packets are just flyer, we will not receive them. Even if we do, we will discard them immediately and seldom read them. That is why tissue packets are very strong promotion tool for marketers and convenient tool for people in Japan. Apparently this tool cannot be adopted by US advertisers. There is no reason to carry tissue packet for US people.

Sample of Tissue Packet Flyer on Sales Promotion Company's Website

12,500 yen (approximately 100$) per 1,000 pieces

Tissue Packet Flyer in Akihabara

Both US and Japan consumes huge quantity of pulp, but the style is different. US pulp consumption is more conspicuous than Japanese one. We can easily find paper towel and napkins anywhere in US. In the same way, we can easily find tissue papers in their pockets and bags in Japan (if inspection is allowed).

According to this website (written in Japanese), the quantity of paper consumption per capita/year in Japan is increasing from 239kg in 1995 to 246kg in 2005. On the contrary, US consumption is reducing from 332kg to 301kg. Of course, this contrast cannot be explained by the consumption of paper towel or tissue. It may be due to the influence of rapid growth of Information Technology. I found that US universities are good at utilize IT such as Blackboard to reduce paper consumption. But Japanese universities and companies seems to use more papers than before “IT Revolution”. The more the printers become faster, the more documents we print out, as I did. It is possible that Japanese paper consumption exceeds US one in future.