The world wide! Body Odor Network

    B.O.P. Body Odor Problem in Japan.

    DO YOU KNOW "WAKIGA" ?

 �@ PLEASE GIVE US YOUR WESTERN LIFE STYLE

    Something that is regarded as a taboo in the family is done and the
household takes on an unpleasant atmosphere. Has this ever happened in
your family?

    THE PARALLEL BETWEEN INTERNATIONALIZATION AND BODY ODOR

    I used to suffer from body odor. I underwent surgery to rid myself of
this problem.






    Even after having the surgery, I read several books on the subject of
body odor. Every book portrays a person who suffered without anyone
knowing about it. It seems that those people who suffer all alone suffer
much more than anyone can imagine. I read of families literally brought
to tears, people wanting to kill themselves, people vowing to spend their
entire lives single, etc. However, when these hardships are brought to the
doctor's office the common response is : "But it's only B.O.". Body odor
is also said to be a factor in the problem of teasing and bullying in our
schools. Both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and
Welfare, as well as various education-related groups are involved in the
issue of school bullying and teasing. However, I am certain that the
question of how to deal with children who have body odor has not found
it's way into any of the arguments.
    As a parent one wants to say to one's child : "Be strong" or "Don't pay
any attention to them". However as the genetic parent of such a child one
must feel a sort of terrible responsibility. The pre-war and wartime
generation to which my father belongs knows nothing of this "disorder"
(B.O.) nor of the fact that the parent passes his genes on to the child.
It would seem that they would have no idea of what to do or of how to
guide the child in such a situation.
    I believe my father was a war victim. What I mean by this is not that
he received any sort of physical wound, but that the mentality of that era
greatly injured his personality. He is the type of person who, in spite of
being terribly naive and weak in spirit, claims that he would die for his
country if need be. This father of mine kept me out of sports and told me
that I was to stay in the house and spend my time reading. 

    Japs who have body odor cannot live in Japan.

    No amount of consoling works for people with a body odor problem here
in Japan - where sometimes one out of 100 to 200 people are victims.
Especially in the all - Japanese schools, where everyone is expected to
look and act the same, are those who are in some way different treated as
outsiders and forced to suffer a great deal. In places such as this, there
are people who have never before smelled this type of body odor and when
they do so for the first time it seems that their shock is great. As well,
being told  "Don't worry about it, it's just body odor" , etc., from these
people serves as no consolation whatsoever.  This is not simply the type
of body odor most of us have, but a very strong smell like that of sewage.
That you must put up with something for which you are not to blame but
simply were unfortunate enough to be born with is, in Japan today, a cruel
thing to be told. What is more is that in order to rid oneself of this
affliction one has to spent a very large amount of money on the surgery.
    Because of the small number of people in Japan aware of this problem,
it is difficult to make people understand the true amount of suffering
that goes on. 

    Not only for myself but also for other body odor sufferers have I
noticed that we are treated very kindly by those around us. However,
people always  maintain a distance from us physically as well as mentally
and the type of kindness with which we are treated is the type that one
would show a child. When confronted with someone who has some unclean
object on his clothes but dose not realize it, it is much easier to simply
keep away from that person than it is to tell him.
    Whether it be from the viewpoint of the sufferers of body odor or from
that of internationalism, it is time to address this problem.
    As for myself, I am at a loss as to which side to take. I was surprised
to hear that there is no specific word for this affliction (WAKIGA) in
English, and this makes me think of how nice it would be for me in the
West if I were treated simply as having above average body odor. However,
other Japanese tell me that my problem is not such an earth-shattering
one, and that there are people with other problems such as bad breath who
are suffering just as much. I argue that my affliction (WAKIGA) is not
simply body odor and that people with bad breath have either bad teeth or
a bad stomach and that the treatments for these are covered under health
insurance.
    These past few years, the number of advertisements for clinics that
specialize in treatment for body odor removal has been increasing. As a
result, I expect that this is proof that the number of people who decide
to have this surgery has increased. Yet, I do not feel that this is any
reason to stop being concerned about this problem.

    A lot of people seem to think that people with this problem are just
"over-sensitive". However, there exists, in the first place, the type of
atmosphere here in Japan that could easily cause deep anxiety for body
odor sufferers. The sufferer hears the word "wakiga" for the first time at
around the junior high school level and it is directed at him. Naturally,
he goes home and looks up the meaning in the dictionary and then asks
himself "Why me?". Even today, the only choice that the parent has is to
sit down with the child and carefully explain his or her affliction.
    Children nowadays speak openly and after playing will not hesitate to
say "Hey, you smell". However this type of sweaty smell is quite different
from "wakiga", and when it is learned that someone's body odor is from
"wakiga" and not just from sweat then it becomes forbidden to make any
sort of comment in front of that person. In the summer we see a lot of
commercials for deodorant sprays, but these are not meant to control the
body odor of people with "wakiga". 

�@