The Best Little Toilet Paper Roll in Tokyo.
As prompted by uzbradistan, I would like to take this opportunity to show off the best toiletpaper ever.
I at Don Quixote--my favorite TP supplier due to it's being so close to my house--and happily comparing the price-per-sheet (as I was taught by my father) when I saw something new. Something colorful. Something...ULTRA.
Yes. Yes, Ultraman toilet paper. Not only that, super-deformed Ultraman toilet paper.
Now, I have not spent much time watching Ultraman. It's not like it was Power Rangers or Masked Rider TP, where theoretically you could be wiping yourself with the colored ink equivalent of boy idols in spandex suits and polystyrene masks. But Ultraman has a different cache... Somehow, more like a down-home national treasure, like rice balls, Godzilla, and mayonnaise. Plus, it was only 295 yen. Of course I had to purchase it.
Now, to be honest, I did not expect much from this stuff. I really have not had particularly good luck with toilet paper in Japan. I mean, I am used to the Charmin that Mom and Dad buy in bulk from Sam's Club, something cottony-soft and closer to a pillowy rag than the 1-ply Scott towels that every school or public building seems to stock. Toilet paper in Japan is different; the paper weaker and not as soft even in expensive brands, and the squares not...well, square--closer to a double rectangle. And since they don't have the embossing that US TP tends to have, it means that your 2-ply paper shreds and separates when you're trying to rip it off the roll. This is really annoying if you just wanted one square's worth to wipe your glasses or blow your nose or something, and instead you end up with a super-long ragged strip.
Instead, I opened the incredibly-cute packaging and was pleasantly surprised. For one thing, there were colors! And cute little Ultramen and stars and and what I assume is a bad guy from space called down by Ultraman's equivalent of Rita Repulsa. For another thing, the stuff ripped at the perforations like perforated things are supposed to do. And the squares are almost square!
FUN FACT: Did you know that the US has a government document standardising the size of toilet paper squares? I read it on a European site explaining A and B paper sizes. The guy did not seem to get why you would go through the trouble to standardise it. I ask, why WOULDN'T you? This is something you gotta use every day, maybe a couple times if you're a chick or poopy. Why wouldn't you want it to be aesthetically pleasing???
...Well, now that I've hit the point of waxing poetic on TP squares, I think it is probably time to wrap this up and hit the hay. Unfortunately this story has an unhappy ending--while I had 12 rolls of happy URUTORA goodness, when I went back to the store yesterday there was no pleasant UltraTP to be found. I had to settle for grape-scented Fruits Basket, which, while the same price and a pleasing blue color, is just somehow inferior (plus, the unnerving fact that it makes the bathroom smell vaguely of grape Kool-Aid).
Farewell, Ultraman M78 toilet paper. I will never forget what we had. Perhaps someday we will meet again... IN SPAAAACE
I at Don Quixote--my favorite TP supplier due to it's being so close to my house--and happily comparing the price-per-sheet (as I was taught by my father) when I saw something new. Something colorful. Something...ULTRA.
Yes. Yes, Ultraman toilet paper. Not only that, super-deformed Ultraman toilet paper.
Now, I have not spent much time watching Ultraman. It's not like it was Power Rangers or Masked Rider TP, where theoretically you could be wiping yourself with the colored ink equivalent of boy idols in spandex suits and polystyrene masks. But Ultraman has a different cache... Somehow, more like a down-home national treasure, like rice balls, Godzilla, and mayonnaise. Plus, it was only 295 yen. Of course I had to purchase it.
Now, to be honest, I did not expect much from this stuff. I really have not had particularly good luck with toilet paper in Japan. I mean, I am used to the Charmin that Mom and Dad buy in bulk from Sam's Club, something cottony-soft and closer to a pillowy rag than the 1-ply Scott towels that every school or public building seems to stock. Toilet paper in Japan is different; the paper weaker and not as soft even in expensive brands, and the squares not...well, square--closer to a double rectangle. And since they don't have the embossing that US TP tends to have, it means that your 2-ply paper shreds and separates when you're trying to rip it off the roll. This is really annoying if you just wanted one square's worth to wipe your glasses or blow your nose or something, and instead you end up with a super-long ragged strip.
Instead, I opened the incredibly-cute packaging and was pleasantly surprised. For one thing, there were colors! And cute little Ultramen and stars and and what I assume is a bad guy from space called down by Ultraman's equivalent of Rita Repulsa. For another thing, the stuff ripped at the perforations like perforated things are supposed to do. And the squares are almost square!
FUN FACT: Did you know that the US has a government document standardising the size of toilet paper squares? I read it on a European site explaining A and B paper sizes. The guy did not seem to get why you would go through the trouble to standardise it. I ask, why WOULDN'T you? This is something you gotta use every day, maybe a couple times if you're a chick or poopy. Why wouldn't you want it to be aesthetically pleasing???
...Well, now that I've hit the point of waxing poetic on TP squares, I think it is probably time to wrap this up and hit the hay. Unfortunately this story has an unhappy ending--while I had 12 rolls of happy URUTORA goodness, when I went back to the store yesterday there was no pleasant UltraTP to be found. I had to settle for grape-scented Fruits Basket, which, while the same price and a pleasing blue color, is just somehow inferior (plus, the unnerving fact that it makes the bathroom smell vaguely of grape Kool-Aid).
Farewell, Ultraman M78 toilet paper. I will never forget what we had. Perhaps someday we will meet again... IN SPAAAACE