See Cameo and Ortex Gold
tampons, the same tampon in different packaging for different countries.
 
|
 
Anshin origami menstrual tampon (Japan,
1977) (the same as Ortex in the Netherlands and,
earlier, Cameo in Japan)
The Japanese tampons on this site surprise you by their originality,
maybe partly in order to avoid patent conflicts with Tampax and other applicator
tampons.
I suspect this might be an early Japanese tampon because of the English
writing (and Caucasian models) and because the Japanese seem to much prefer
pads.
But this is actually a British tampon - Cameo - adapted to the Japanese
market just as the packaging for Tampax has been changed for markets outside
the U.S.A. I thank a Dutch contributor for pointing this out and
sending proof, which I add here. But the tampon
also appeared under its original name in Japan, Cameo (gift from Tambrands)!
A menstrual melodrama (or something) and known
as Ortex Gold Soft in The Netherlands! I'll show proof
of all these claims.
We know how talented the Japanese are folding paper into interesting
shapes - origami (literally "bending paper") - and the user of
Anshin got plenty of practice doing this. It would have helped if she read
the instructions first.
Another tampon came with finger cots.
Read some comments about the Japanese Elldy tampon.
In 1997 Tambrands gave the box to this museum as part of an amazing gift of 450 boxes of tampons dating to the founding
of the second Tampax company, 1936, plus hundreds of other items. And thanks
to a Dutch contributor for pointing out the British connection and sending
proof.
|
Below: Both large sides of the box are
the same. Note the non-Asian people, probably
reflecting the original manufacturer,
an English company. People at the former Tambrands (which made Tampax) marked
the box. The box measures 6 1/8" x 3 3/8"
x 7/8" (15.5 x 8.5 x 2 cm).
|
 |
Below: The two long, narrow sides are also
identical. Below this is an enlargement in case you want to freshen up your
Japanese.
The blue characters say Anshin tampon (actually
taNpon, I believe) in katakana, one of the
two Japanese phonetic scripts.
|
 |
 |
Below: The ends are indentical.
|
 |
Below: Open an end and pull out a drawer
of tampons in colorful wrappers!
|
 |
Below: When written in Chinese-Japanese
characters (kanji) the name of the tampon looks like the picture below.
In commerce, companies
sometimes use phonetic symbols rather than kanji, probably to eliminate
any question of pronunciation - how could you
sell something if you couldn't pronounce it? -, which can confound even
the Japanese. And you thought English was bad!
|
 |
"AN" is one pronunciation of
the character at left. In one of the greatest ironies
of menstrual hygiene (keep reading!) it means restful,
easy or cheap - restful in this case. It suspiciously comes from
an original Chinese character created thousands of years ago showing a woman
sitting on a menstrual pad - no, really! See more explanation.
"SHIN" and "kokoro"
are pronunciations of the character at right and it means heart
or feelings.
Together, the characters in Japanese (ANSHIN)
mean peace of mind or relief.
See how you feel as you read the instructions!
|
|
© 2006 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
of the work on this Web site in any manner or
medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected
violations to hfinley@mum.org
|