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New Biz in Japan: Ear Cleaning

By on April 26, 2013 in Ideas

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Five years ago, the Japanese government deregulated ear cleaning, removing the requirement that the cleaner have a medical license. Since then a new type of business sprung up in Tokyo and other big cities: ear-cleaning parlors:

The basic service at Yamamoto Mimikaki-ten lasts 30 minutes and costs ¥2,700 (about US$32). The customer is first introduced to a kimono-clad young woman who serves him tea and makes small talk.

She then places his head on her lap and covers his face with a handkerchief.

Using a “mimikaki,” an ear pick made of bamboo, metal or plastic with a small scoop at the end, she gently and lovingly scrapes excess wax out of his ears, as well as massaging them and then tapping the shoulders, followed by more tea.

Photo by Voronin76/ShutterStock.

ears japan

Business Opportunities Weblog editor and publisher Dane Carlson lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, just 15 miles from Yosemite National Park. He accidentally became a professional blogger in 2001. He has added 12,203 posts to the site.

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  • http://n.a. Cindy Hawkins

    I had something similar done in a holistic health place down in Soho, years ago. Only they used a gentle pressure water device. They put a crescent shaped pan under my ear, worked on each side, then inserted this very gentle water pressure device in my ear. Looked like a syringe. It hummedsoftly as the warm scented water coursed through it, and I felt a slight drawing sensation. Then suddenly, “pop’ as the wax plug came out. The young lady smiled, then switched sides and did the other ear. Same procedure. Then, she toweled off my ears and face, and walked over to the corner, and said quietly, ‘Tutti Frutti’.. “Tutti Frutti what??” I answered. “Your ears are clean,” she smiled. “You’re done! Please pay the receptionist on your way out!!” Excellent – hey ear cleaning rocks!! Speaking of which, I made a joke about taking the earwax pebbles she’d gotten out of my ear and setting them in lucite. She just gave me a funny look. Ewww…!

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