Stephanie Lee says toilet paper was a culture shock to her in Korea

Article: Stephanie Lee, "I had a culture shock over the toilet paper"

Source: Mydaily via Nate

"I once had a big culture shock over a roll of toilet paper. At a film set, all of us were eating together when someone grabbed a roll of toilet paper and started wiping their mouth with it."

Eric Nam agreed, saying, "I was shocked over that as well. In America, toilet paper is only used in the bathroom. We normally use napkins to wipe our mouths."

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1. [+221, -15] It's true... it's only in Korea that people use toilet paper for everything outside of the bathroom. In foreign countries, they only use it in the bathroom and keep tissue boxes for the table or living room.

2. [+164, -46] But all tissue is the same... it's not like kleenex is any cleaner than toilet paper?

3. [+31, -5] But even if it's only used in the bathroom, it's not like it's dirty. It only gets dirty once you use it and that's why you throw it away. Is it really that shocking...? So many foreigners always say that toilet paper in Korea is a cultural shock to them ㅎㅎ
- Well think of it this way.. imagine walking in on someone doing the dishes with a new toilet bowl brush? It's new so it's clean but it still feels weird, right?
- Well you wouldn't go blowing balloons with condoms just because you can, would you? It's used for specific things.

4. [+30, -6] It's because Korea has better quality tissues in general. Theirs isn't as good quality as ours so they have to separate what they use for the bathroom and regular use while Koreans have always had advanced paper technology. I've always heard that paper is higher quality here, and there's barely a difference between kleenex boxes and toilet paper rolls. No need to separate them.

5. [+23, -0] But our country does have amazing toilet paper quality ㅋㅋ three layers with a nice scent ㅋㅋ

6. [+20, -4] It's all tissue in the end, they're all made the same, just come in different shapes

7. [+13, -1] Heard that foreigners don't have as high quality toilet paper as us ㅋㅋ embossed printing.. nice scents... it's as high quality as kleenex tissues so we don't feel anything uncomfortable about it ㅋ

8. [+10, -2] It's just a difference in culture, we are not wrong at all to be using toilet paper the way we do. It's not like we get skin problems from using toilet paper to wipe our mouths. Toilet paper is just a cheap and well made tissue that can be used in many ways, not just in the bathroom.

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