Freelance Announcer Aika Kanda Reveals Her Embarrassing Misunderstanding

The reason behind the discounts

Whenever I travel abroad, I always visit discount stores that are popular among locals. In the United States, there are places like TJ Maxx and Marshalls. In Canada, there is WINNERS. In Europe, there is TK Maxx. In fact, all of these stores are operated by the same American company, but the products they carry vary widely. They sell everything from clothing and cosmetics to kitchen goods, furniture, and pet supplies, and discounts of 90% off are common. They can offer even better bargains than outlet malls.

When it comes to clothing, many of the items are from well-known brands familiar even in Japan. However, there is always a reason why they have been discounted: they may be out of season, from an older collection, have a missing button, lost accessories, torn stitching, or other minor flaws. Searching through racks filled with countless hanging clothes and deciding things like, “I wouldn’t mind this much,” or “I can fix this!” is like going on a treasure hunt, and it is incredibly fun.

However, among these reasons, stains can be especially shocking. Ballpoint pen marks are nothing unusual. There are foundation stains—likely left from trying clothes on—not only around the collar but also on sleeves and the front of garments. There are marks from shoes or shopping carts stepping on them. But the most extreme cases are bloodstains stuck heavily on the inside of the crotch area of pants.

Most likely, it is that thing that comes once a month for women.

I have never seen such stains in Japan. But at overseas discount stores, I encounter them at least once during every trip.

There have been many times when I thought, “I want these pants♡,” entered the fitting room, and then discovered the stain while trying them on. I would exclaim, “Ugh!! Not again!” and angrily give up on buying them.

Even so, there were times when I wanted them so badly that I thought maybe they could be cleaned after returning home. I once showed the stained area to a store employee and tried negotiating for an additional discount by saying:

“More discount!”

But I was refused, leaving me shocked and thinking:

“Are they really planning to keep selling them at the same price?!”

Then, just the other day, I visited a popular clothing store in Aoyama, Tokyo. I found a pair of mint-green suede pants made of genuine leather—a rare color and material combination.

“So cute!!”

I immediately went into the fitting room.

“I’ve never seen pants like these before♡ I hope they fit♪”

Excited and nervous, I lifted my right leg to put them on and suddenly blurted out:

“Whoa!”

It was there.

That stain.

The blood mark stuck to the inside of the crotch area.

“Here in Japan?!”

I was stunned. Had fitting-room etiquette in our own country finally started to decline too?!

My face twisted with disappointment and anger.

Aika’s deduction

I took another careful look at the area.

There were two vertical brown, dried stains, each about 5 cm long and 1 cm wide, lined up about 1 cm apart, following the line of the buttocks.

Had someone been wearing a thong while on their period? If it were Japanese period underwear, even if it had been stained accidentally, the mark would likely have spread a little more outward. Also, compared with the stains I had seen before, this one was unusually brown.

“A thong and an especially brown stain.”

My brain started going beep beep beep.

“Could this be poop left behind by a foreign tourist while trying these pants on?!”

That was my conclusion.

In a strange way, I felt like I had seen something rare, and my mood softened a little. I left the fitting room.

Waiting for me was a male store employee.

“A man.”

I hesitated for a moment, but then said:

“Excuse me. I really like these, but there is a stain on the inside of the crotch area, so I’m going to pass.”

The employee looked surprised and said:

“What?!”

He turned the pants inside out and stared at the stain for a while. Then, looking completely unable to believe what he was seeing, he said:

“What is this?”

And he started scratching at the stain with his fingernail.

I immediately thought to myself:

“Wait!”

That stain might be poop, you know?!

If you scratch it like that, you could get poop under your fingernails!

Even if it isn’t poop, it could be blood!

That’s gross!!

Should I have told the male employee what I thought the stain actually was?

I know I’m a middle-aged woman, but I still felt too embarrassed to tell a man that it might be menstrual blood or poop.

However, I also couldn’t simply leave the store without saying anything, because I had to think about the next customer who might try them on.

I’m sorry, that store employee from that day.

I’ll buy something next time I visit the store.

Please forgive me.

Kanda Aika — Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1980. After graduating from the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Gakushuin University, she joined NHK as an announcer in 2003. She left NHK in 2012 and became a freelance announcer. Since then, she has mainly worked in variety programs and currently appears regularly as the main MC of the daytime program “Pokapoka” (Fuji TV).

★ Her first book compiling this series, “Oudou tte iu michi, doko ni tootte masu ka?” (“Where Exactly Does the Road Called the Mainstream Run?”), is now a major bestseller.

From the July 10, 2026, issue of “FRIDAY”