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Don Quijote ear cleaner sucks, and was criticised by customers, but is the new version any better?

Oona McGee Sep 11, 2026
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Find out if the new ear cleaner sucks more than the old one.

A lot of companies have their own private brands in Japan, with one being the zany, buy-anything-and-everything-in-one-place retail chain Don Quijote.

Called Jonetsu Kakaku (literally “Passion Price”), this range of goods focuses on fun goods that are affordable and convenient to use, with one of its key features being customer feedback. The products are largely developed, and improved, by taking the opinions, requests and criticisms from customers into account, and one product recently getting a makeover is the battery-operated Ear Cleaner.

Our reporter Takashi Harada stumbled upon the new-and-improved ear cleaner during a recent visit to Don Quijote, or “Donki” as it’s affectionately known. Having purchased the original version a couple of years back, he was immediately drawn to the product, and when he saw the message “We responded to the genuine voice of customers!” on the package, he knew he had to try it.

▼ “We responded to the genuine voice of customers!”

The “voice of customers” wasn’t entirely glowing, apparently, as the original version received a fair amount of criticism from customers, who expressed the view that the suction power was just “so-so”. With some people saying cotton swabs removed more earwax, Don Quijote went into improvement mode, working to release this new product, which is said to have 25-percent more suction power.

Takashi was keen to find out if the new version really was an improvement on the original product, and because he had the original at home, he thought it would be the perfect opportunity to compare the two. So he picked up the Ear Cleaner 2 and took it home for a trial run.

▼ He still had the old box too, seen here on the left.

Starting with the price, the original cost 1,408 yen (US$9), and although Takashi assumed the new version would be more expensive due to the passage of time, he was surprised to find it was cheaper, at 1,099 yen.

It’s not every day that you find an improved product that’s cheaper than the original, but it seemed very in line with the nature of the range, which is known for delivering surprises.

▼ Taking a look at them in their cases, he could see that nothing looked too different on the surface, with all the parts being the same.

When he took them out of their boxes, they looked identical, with the only noticeable difference being the nozzle, which seemed harder on the new model, although that could’ve been because it wasn’t two years old like Takashi’s original cleaner.

▼ Original on the left, new version on the right

The only thing to do now was to compare the suction power. In order to do that, he refrained from cleaning his ears for about two weeks, and when he took both cleaners out and switched them on, he could hear that the new version clearly made a stronger whirring sound.

Putting one into each ear at the same time, he could feel that the new model had more force and seemed to have genuinely been improved, with noticeably more suction power.

However, when it came to removing earwax, Takashi says the original managed to remove more. He thinks this could be down to the different amount of wax he had in each ear, though, because he says the new version definitely felt like it had stronger suction power.

So will he be using the new model from now on? Well, he’s not entirely sure. He likes the familiar feel of the original, so he thinks he’ll keep going with that one for the time being, switching things up occasionally, but he reckons you won’t be disappointed with the new model. Whichever one you use, though, Takashi recommends using them with a dry ear for best results, and like anything you stick into your ear, it’s best to use with caution.

For Takashi, these battery-operated models are more enjoyable that picking your ears with a cotton swab, but it does take a bit of getting used to. Either way, it’s nice to know that Donki is listening to customers and actively responding to their requests with new and ever-more interesting products, which is part of the reason why their instant TKG egg sauces are so popular.

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[ Read in Japanese ]