Recently in the breeze is a lovely sweet aroma which is recognizable as Kinmokusei. I checked in the dictionary and could only come up with Sweet-Olive as the name of this lovely tree that is found all over Japan. The blossoms are very tiny but what a perfume they exude! Whenever I catch a whiff of Kinmokusei I am automatically transported to memories of.... Japanese public toilets! WHAT?!
I feel sorry for this poor tree with the beautiful name and the lovely fragrance but I bet a lot of Japanese associate it with bathroom deodorizer. During this season, many parks and highway public toilets will have a sprig set on the counter in a sake glass or there might even be a Kinmokusei tree planted nearby the bathroom area. Even beyond this season, the deodorizing people must have found that they could make some pretty powerful stuff with this fragrance and the typical toilet deodorizer has always been Kinmokusei .
With the influx of animals in my house the other day I went to the local furnishing store and perused the shelves in the room deodorizer section. Lots of choices nowadays and many are the same as what you can find on shelves in the States. There were a few though that seemed indigenous to Japan. How about Charcoal deodorizer? Or maybe some Green Tea deodorizer? Of course there is the Cherry Blossom deodorizer, Citron deodorizer and even some Water Lily deodorizer.
I came home with some special stuff aimed at removing animal odors (plug into the outlet type) and some pet deodorizer for spraying around the room in case of sudden visitors, not to mention a pretty little container of Kinmokusei deodorizer just because it is the season.
9 comments:
i just love your header pic, it is just so lovely.
Tanya, it's not surprising at all, smells can evoke strong memories. Every time I smell a strong red rose(American Beauty, I think) I think of the can of bathroom deodorizer in most American homes in the 70's when I was growing up. Now there is a much larger selection for room deodorant, but red roses...just can't smell them without thinking of grandma's bathroom :-)
These look like a flower my mother called Hoya (that's how she pronounced it, but the spelling may not be right). She grew it in her bathroom, it wound all the way round and produced little clumps of waxy flowers every now and then if she was lucky. The smell was just amazing, sweet and powerful. I wonder if it was from the same family of plants?
I had a beautiful Hoya, but the flowers were pink, & they were so pretty, & did smell sweet. I am sure that is not Hoya.
It is curious how we come to associate certain perfumes with certain places- such as the toilets!
Lavender is used a lot here, & it can become very cloying, & quite tiresome, which is a shame since it is recommended for relaxation!
It kinda looks like a lilac to me, except our lilacs are white or purple. There are very few plants I can name. The orange is gorgeous!
They have a pretty bloom.
The flowers look very like a bright yellow lilac
That is so funny! I refuse to use Pine-Sol (a household cleaner) in my house, because that is what public washrooms smell like around here.
You cant beat a good fragrance. Whether it is to make yourself, your home or your car smell nice, life would be depressing without them.
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