Towels and tissues

I’m never really sure, in my experiences here, what is representative of Japan and what is particular to the Tachibana family. It seems however that tissues and hand towels play a very important part of Japanese culture. Handkerchiefs are still commonly used. Paper towels, big in America, rarely make an appearance. Jjij is always wiping things; a nose or a tabletop, a chair leg, children's hands or a door front. I mean always, obsessively. The kids can be eating watermelon and he is at the ready with tissues to catch the drips and towels to wipe their faces between bites. I have been doing the same just to fit in, though really I’m a fan of getting good and messy. But when in Rome…