Traditionally in Japan people clean their ears using a bamboo ear pick (mimikaki). This is actually said to be much safer and more hygienic than the typical cotton bud swab people use in other countries, which can even give you a perforated eardrum if you are not careful. Instead an ear pick scrapes up rather than pushes down and is much better suited to the drier type of ear wax common to Asians.
The mimikaki is especially the case if you have someone else do it for you and, it has to be said, this is a bit of a fantasy for some Japanese men, who like the idea of placing their head in a woman’s lap and having her gently take care of his ear. Wives traditionally performed this task along with hostesses. There are even mimikaki ear-cleaning parlors that function as places for men to get their ears cleaned while also soothing their soul. As the woman attends to their ear canal, they relax and tell her their woes.
And then there is Coden.
Coden may not be as glamorous or famous as some of Japan’s other manufacturers but it actually has a leading reputation all over the world for its industrial tools such as endoscopes. The snake-like cameras allow you to see right inside machinery and down pipes so you can perform important repairs and maintenance.
Coden also make some endoscopes and camera devices for ordinary consumers such as this Ear Scope Windows. As the name suggests, it is compatible with Windows software and is a fiber optic curette tool that means you can literally see what is going on deep down in your ear canal right on your computer screen.
Well, that may sound a bit morbid but being able to see inside your ear is not only a matter of curiosity. It could be very useful if you are suffering from pain and need to investigate safely, plus it also makes an ear-cleaning session much safer since you can attach an ear pick directly to the camera.
The Ear Scope Windows by Coden is available from JapanTrendShop.
