Hotels in Osaka take steps to remove foreign smells ahead of World Athletics meet

[Doctor Stop]

[floatr][/floatr]Mainichi Shimburn
OSAKA -- Local hotels are installing air purifiers in rooms to remove the smell of cigarette smoke and other odors as many foreign guests are expected to visit the city for the World Athletics Championships in August.

Tens of thousands of foreigners are expected to visit the city for the event, according to officials at the Osaka Municipal Government in charge of the IAAF World Athletics Championships.

A foreign-affiliated hotel plans to buy some 50 air purifiers as it is offering a special accommodation program during the sports event. Smoking is banned in about half of the hotel's rooms, and air purifiers will be installed in smoking rooms if necessary.

Another hotel in Suita, northern Osaka Prefecture, has bought 90 air purifiers.

Hotels in Kyushu face a different problem as many golf-tour guests from South Korea who visit the island often bring kimchi into hotel rooms.

An official at a hotel in Nagasaki said, "Japanese people don't like the strong, lingering smell of kimchi. They often ask to change rooms if the smell of kimchi lingers. But we don't want to lose Korean guests by banning kimchi in rooms." So the hotel has decided to buy 140 air purifiers.

An official with major electronics maker Sharp said that it expects sales of air purifiers for hotels to double this year. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Daikin Industries added that their air purifiers are also selling well.

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070724p2a00m0na001000c.html

[bolt_krank]

They think foreigners will brink smoke into the room ?
I don't think I've been to a country where they smoke as much as the Japanese. (I'm sure there are places though.)

[Iraira]

I don't think I've been to a country where they smoke as much as the Japanese. (I'm sure there are places though.)

India, where if you are male and you don't smoke you are often asked, (read in your best Apu accent), "What is your problem?"

"This is not a lending library, buy the magazine, or I will shoot you, thank you and come again."

[amdg]

The World Athletics Meet is known for attracting lots of smokers from all over the world.

My sister was in it for the women's 3000 m event when Osaka hosted back in the late 1980's. She, her coach, her competitors and most of the fans were heavy smokers.

[DrP]

Cool, now if they could only remove the odor of rotten-tooth-halitosis-open mouth-sleeper-hacking -drooling-japanese-salaryman-after-a-nomikai smells. Oh wait -- that's the Chuo Line every morning.

[Iraira]

Cool, now if they could only remove the odor of rotten-tooth-halitosis-open mouth-sleeper-hacking -drooling-japanese-salaryman-after-a-nomikai smells. Oh wait -- that's the Chuo Line every morning.

No, it's the Ginza line.

[xenomorph42]

They think foreigners will brink smoke into the room ?
I don't think I've been to a country where they smoke as much as the Japanese. (I'm sure there are places though.)

Korea and China, they smoke quite a bit too. As for the Kimichi part...delicious! I mean, the stuff rocks, but I can see how it might offend people a bit. The stench of it could knock out a Polar Bear! But all in all, I think it`s a good idea, who(unless you are a habitual smoker)would want to smell like soggy wet ashtray. On your breath, in your clothes....No Way!

[GomiGirl]

Hotels in Bangkok forbid clients to bring dorian fruit into the rooms as it smells awful. Why can't they forbid kimchee too? It stinks.. and they should go out to eat anyway.

[American Oyaji]

Umm. Korean people don't carry kimchee around with them on holdiay do they?

[GomiGirl]

Umm. Korean people don't carry kimchee around with them on holdiay do they?

Wanna bet???

[Behan]

Just a bit of non sequitur gossip, but a man who has competed against Murofushi told me that he is a semi-secretive smoker.

[xenomorph42]

Hotels in Bangkok forbid clients to bring dorian fruit into the rooms as it smells awful. Why can't they forbid kimchee too? It stinks.. and they should go out to eat anyway.

Why should people be confined to eating certain types of foods. Kimchee and Durian have an atrocious stench, but people should be allowed to eat whatever and wherever they wish, then perhaps they should put 3~4 purifiers in one room...if that`s the case.

[GomiGirl]

Why should people be confined to eating certain types of foods. Kimchee and Durian have an atrocious stench, but people should be allowed to eat whatever and wherever they wish, then perhaps they should put 3~4 purifiers in one room...if that`s the case.

Well isn't the same as restricting people smoking to various places?? I think it is only fair. Hotels do not belong to the people who rent them, so the owners can dictate whatever they like that is appropriate in their facility.

[xenomorph42]

Well isn't the same as restricting people smoking to various places?? I think it is only fair. Hotels do not belong to the people who rent them, so the owners can dictate whatever they like that is appropriate in their facility.

This is somewhat true, but the difference is; smoking has been linked to health risks, respiratory problems, lung cancer etc... kimchee just smells bad but not hazardous to your health, only your breath, so that is really not a valid argument, but I understand what you are trying to say. But if I am a paying customer and I want to eat kimchee and that is a staple diet in my culture, then I will eat it....I might try to cover up the smell somehow or put the purifier next to it, but I feel, no one can or should dictate to me what I can or can not eat.

[Mulboyne]

A hotel doesn't restrict smoking because they are worried about your health; they are more interested in the state of the room for the next guest. You are free to eat or smoke whatever you want but the hotel is within its rights to specify that you do so elsewhere if it means they won't be able to prepare the room in time after you check out. If that deal doesn't seem satisfactory then there's always the option of booking a different hotel.

[GomiGirl]

But if I am a paying customer and I want to eat kimchee and that is a staple diet in my culture, then I will eat it....I might try to cover up the smell somehow or put the purifier next to it, but I feel, no one can or should dictate to me what I can or can not eat.

Well I can see how you feel, but (putting devils advocate on) even as a paying customer you really do not have the right to do anything you like on premises belonging to somebody else. Perhaps one of the lawyers on the board can explain the reasons better.

The owners are not dictating what you can put into your mouth, just where your mouth is at the time.

[Samurai_Jerk]

[quote="GomiGirl"]
The owners are not dictating what you can put into your mouth, just where your mouth is at the time. ]

Is that a come on?

[xenomorph42]

[quote="GomiGirl"]Well I can see how you feel, but (putting devils advocate on) even as a paying customer you really do not have the right to do anything you like on premises belonging to somebody else. Perhaps one of the lawyers on the board can explain the reasons better.

The owners are not dictating what you can put into your mouth, just where your mouth is at the time. ]

The lawyer could tell me all the rules until he is blue in the face, still...if I am Korean and kimchee is my staple diet, no one...not even the emperor would get me to stop eating it Try telling that to most Koreans and they will look at you with dagger eyes. I lived in Seoul for 3 years. Koreans indulge themselves sometimes 3 times a day eating kimchee, there are many, many varieties of the stuff. It is an acquired taste and indeed not for everyone, but again, if they don`t want to alienate potential customers, there must be some common ground and that`s why, the hotels are putting in the purifiers...or they can say no and lose a whoooole lot of business, which I don`t think will happen.

[Doctor Stop]

Is that a come on?

Or a come in?

[kamome]

[quote="GomiGirl"]Well I can see how you feel, but (putting devils advocate on) even as a paying customer you really do not have the right to do anything you like on premises belonging to somebody else. Perhaps one of the lawyers on the board can explain the reasons better.

The owners are not dictating what you can put into your mouth, just where your mouth is at the time. ]
A guest at a hotel has nothing more than a license to occupy the room - and that license can be revokled at any time. Therefore the hotel can dictate policies relating to the safety, health, cleanliness, etc. of the room that a guest must abide by. If you were considered a tenant, that would be a different story, but hotels are obviously not the same thing as an apartment. At a hotel, they can kick you out if they want for violating their policies. And if it means losing some business because a certain group of people can't indulge in an eating habit in their room, that's a business decision they can make.

The whole "I should be able to eat whatever I want whenever I want" argument won't last very long once security comes by to drag your ass out of the room.

[xenomorph42]

A guest at a hotel has nothing more than a license to occupy the room - and that license can be revokled at any time. Therefore the hotel can dictate policies relating to the safety, health, cleanliness, etc. of the room that a guest must abide by. If you were considered a tenant, that would be a different story, but hotels are obviously not the same thing as an apartment. At a hotel, they can kick you out if they want for violating their policies. And if it means losing some business because a certain group of people can't indulge in an eating habit in their room, that's a business decision they can make.

The whole "I should be able to eat whatever I want whenever I want" argument won't last very long once security comes by to drag your ass out of the room.

I doubt very much that will happen, but thanks for the kind warnings. I will take that risk....for kimchee, Oh yeaaaa!:D

[TennoChinko]

The lawyer could tell me all the rules until he is blue in the face, still...if I am Korean and kimchee is my staple diet, no one...not even the emperor would get me to stop eating it Try telling that to most Koreans and they will look at you with dagger eyes. I lived in Seoul for 3 years. Koreans indulge themselves sometimes 3 times a day eating kimchee, there are many, many varieties of the stuff. It is an acquired taste and indeed not for everyone, but again, if they don`t want to alienate potential customers, there must be some common ground and that`s why, the hotels are putting in the purifiers...or they can say no and lose a whoooole lot of business, which I don`t think will happen.

Koreans would do more than look at you with dagger eyes. Provoked - they might even go further than that. An uncle back home rented an apartment to some Korean grad students - and when he figured out the rancid smells that other tenants were complaining about outside were due to the kimuchi stored inside their place, he made the mistake of requesting they resolve the problem asap. The guy went fucking nuts and accused him of racism, prejudice etc.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Koreans would do more than look at you with dagger eyes. Provoked - they might even go further than that. An uncle back home rented an apartment to some Korean grad students - and when he figured out the rancid smells that other tenants were complaining about outside were due to the kimuchi stored inside their place, he made the mistake of requesting they resolve the problem asap. The guy went fucking nuts and accused him of racism, prejudice etc.

I've been to plenty of Korean people's houses and I never noticed a strong kimchee smell other than when I opened the the fridge. Those guys must have been mass producing it for sale.

[TennoChinko]

I've been to plenty of Korean people's houses and I never noticed a strong kimchee smell other than when I opened the the fridge. Those guys must have been mass producing it for sale.

Yeah, I should have mentioned - they were making it in large special pot or something and stored it in their unheated laundry room. Fermenting almost anything is going to guarantee a stinky smell.

[Doctor Stop]

I don't think many Korean golfers make kimchi in their hotel rooms whilst in Japan, so this is a non-issue.

[Iraira]

Yeah, I should have mentioned - they were making it in large special pot or something and stored it in their unheated laundry room. Fermenting almost anything is going to guarantee a stinky smell.

With that stench, the other residents probably thought that the Koreans were fans of John Wayne Gacy.

[kamome]

I doubt very much that will happen, but thanks for the kind warnings. I will take that risk....for kimchee, Oh yeaaaa!:D

How can you be so sure? If you are disturbing other guests, you can bet they will take some action. Anyway, the point is that you have no right to eat something in a hotel room if the management forbids it.

[Doctor Stop]

Installing one of her, I mean one of these in each room might solve the problem:
[YT]EHaaM5Szvso&rel=0[/YT]

[Samurai_Jerk]

Installing one of her, I mean one of these in each room might solve the problem:
[YT]EHaaM5Szvso&rel=0[/YT]

You know, a lot of Korean girls have told me that one of the most important things for their husband to buy them after marriage is a kimchee fridge.

[Doctor Stop]

And the second most important thing would be one of these?