Need Japanese advice?

[sweetlilmiss]

This is going to sound VERY bizzare but I swear on my life that every

word is true and its a very serious problem I have I went to Japan as

and exchange student this summer and I used Japanese tap

water to brush my teeth

right? ( they told us the water is safe just dont drink too much at once

the first couple of days ) My breath was so bad that they

literally had to open the windows when I talked! It was so bad at one

point I was in class and I smelled a disgusting vomity smell ( super

strong! ) I closed my mouth and realized it was my breath. I was

stationed in a town called Kasugai in Aichi prefecture 20 minutes from

Nagoya where everybody knew everyone and pretty soon the whole town

hated me! I thought it was because of the japanese TOOTHPASTE so I would brush my teeth for 20 minutes per day to no avail, Id use

listerine for 5 minutes a day, scraped my tongue with a tongue scraper

until it bled and flossed daily .No amount of mints, gum or breath aids could

take away the smell! My host family were assholes

about it and even told me to go live by myself and to go die! They didnt

even say goodbye when I left! The kids at school were awful.Isaw a

dentist in Japan and he said my mouth was amazingly clean and there

was nothing wrong. It wasnt till I returned to ameica that I realized it

was the Japanese tap water I was allergic to . I used the same

japanese tooth pastes once I got home but the horrible breath was

tottally gone and I was back to normal.

( I am back in america now) I had no idea that tap water could do

THAT Japan is a first world modern country! I know my story sounds

BIZZARE but it REALLY did happen. Should I go back to japan? Is anyone

here from Kasugai or know about it.

[grapefruit]

I feel so sorry for you. Who could have thought that it is the water...
If it comforts you, at least now you know the cause and you can avoid it next time when you visit the country.:bawling:

[sweetlilmiss]

Thank you! I just dont know how I feel about Japanese people you know. The kids at my

host high school bullied me. this guy even had the nerve to run after my bus holding his

nose!

I suspected the water for a second but I was like no thats way too impossible

[undrentide]

Hm, if it was the tap water, then all the people living there also should have bad breath...
Considering that thorough oral care did not help at all, it sounds to me more like you had some kind of gastric problem - which also can be a cause of bad breath, and a lot of pressure or stress (understandable for a person who was living in a very different culture from her own) could cause it. (Or maybe the water caused the gastric problem?)

Anyway, I'm glad that you do not suffer from the bad breath any longer....
:relief:

[sweetlilmiss]

I dont know if japanese people just hate me

I think that the reason the Japanese dont have a bad reaction to it is because they

were raised on it. there bodies have adapted to thier water. No Ive never had any

gastric problems or severe bad breath problems before. Thanks for the concern though!

[sweetlilmiss]

Do you think the fact that I am black be part of the reason why I was t

reated so badly? Does anyone know about kasugai or has been there?

[Mike Cash]

Wow....practically a copy-n-paste of your trolling from here (http://www.thejapanesepage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11943&p=137646&hilit=tap+water#p137646).

[sweetlilmiss]

I am not trolling. I am looking for good advice because people dont give me good answers and I am still upset about it

I have posted this question on yahoo answers ,gaia and the japanese page because I want good advice and will take my problem seriously

[sweetlilmiss]

Seriously you were the one mike cash who told me to leave the japanese page forum because and told me I was delisional and a troll and no one cared about my issues. People are so uncompassionate, on yahoo answers people were like you are just cursed and a troll. I dont know about cursed but I am NOT a teoll

[Uncle Frank]

if you are now back in the US and the problem has disappeared, you should try to get on with you life and forget about the bad experience. Unless you plan on going back to Japan soon , it's kind of a non-issue. Life is better when you don't dwell on bad things of the past and get on with your life and think positive thoughts.

Uncle Frank

:bluush:

[sweetlilmiss]

Thank you. It just sucks because I was a japanophile before I used to watch anime, read manga and listen to Japanese music but thats all ruined you know? I want things to go back to the way they were before I went to Japan. Its hard to even look at Japan on the map knowing what happend there. I feel bad because EVERYONE has positive experiences in Japan and its like why me? I thought Japanese liked foreingers but it seems they like foriegners who arent me. I feel so embarrassed because I am black and wanted to represent my race positively . I feel like I caused people to be racist against blacks and thats hard to deal with.

[Glenski]

In that link, you said you talked to a dentist who gave you a clean bill of health and claimed your breath did not smell.

Curious, isn't it?

That thread also mentioned that it could easily have been body odor, perhaps caused by the foods you ate. You never really responded to that. How had your diet changed from the U.S. to Japan and back again? What about personal hygiene? Japan's deodorants are not known to be very strong. Do/Did you even use any? How often did you bathe? Are you a heavy bed-sweater? Had you done a simple and proper experiment by brushing/rinsing with bottled water instead of tap? Lots of issues possible here, and I'm being as diplomatic as possible to point them out, so I'd appreciate some sort of response.

To say someone is actually allergic to water is pretty far-fetched. Also, people actually ran away from you? Perhaps no one in that area had ever experienced seeing a black person live and in person before. Kasugi has only 300,000 people, so it's possible. Perhaps your clothing style/hairstyle was rather overpowering to them. How did you dress?

To actually run away from someone is a pretty darn strong response, and it suggests more than just bad breath is the cause.

[sweetlilmiss]

The girls who ran away from me went to my highschool. I was at a festival
two days before I was going home to america. I actually knew the girls who did that they were doing it to bully me because they are fake and horrible people. " kusai" means stink if I am not mistaken. Japanese touch thier noses when something stinks. The boys at my school ( kasugai shogyo) would cover thier noses when I came in the room to clean the classrooms. If I would go to the bathroom the girls would all leave.

[Glenski]

Yes, kusai means stink, but you are presuming when you say you felt they ran away because it was your breath.

So, why mention the girls if you knew their reaction was just a bullying effort and not your breath? Geez, this is edging into trolling behavior, all right.

Thanks for not answering any of my other questions. You wanted help -- you got it.

[sweetlilmiss]

I used american deodarant the whole time luckily. But when I look back my hair began to smell strange as well but I thought it could be because I have never really taken care of my hair by myself. I suspected it was the water for a second but I was like that is impossible . I mean aren't I a human being just like everyone else? It seemed too wierd so I was like thats crazy cant be!
In Japan I was really so depressed about my smell that I wasnt in the mood to eat so I would have days when I ate very little but as the days went on ( I was there for 6 weeks) I began to eat more regularly

I am sorry it took a long time to reply. that was long

[Glenski]

Thank you so far.

And the answers to my other questions...?

[Mike Cash]

Seriously you were the one mike cash who told me to leave the japanese page forum because and told me I was delisional and a troll and no one cared about my issues.

There's no point in so completely misrepresenting my words when anyone at all can follow the link and see for themselves.

I never told you to leave and I never said no one cared about your issues.

I speculated that the possibilities are that you are delusional, stupid, a liar, or trolling and rejected the first three, deciding that you were most likely trolling.

[epigene]

Not knowing you, we can only give wild guesses on what the problem is.

I believe the members have already offered the best possible advice.

Case closed.