Haruko Niitsu, who is called a national treasure in Japan for her excellent cleaning at Tokyo Haneda Airport, arrived in Taiwan yesterday to attend a forum on cleaning and give advice to workers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport).
Niitsu was born in Shengyang City in China’s Liaoning Province to a Chinese mother and a Japanese father. Her father was an orphan adopted by a Chinese father after the World War ll.
When she was 17, her family relocated to Japan through a program that helped people of Japanese descent residing in China return to their homeland.
Photo: CNA
Niitsu holds a license issued by the Japanese government to clean buildings and is a professional training counselor for more than 700 cleaning technicians at Haneda.
Because of the crew’s extraordinary work, Haneda was named the world’s cleanest airport by Skytrax in 2013, 2014, last year and this year.
She has also published several books teaching people how to efficiently clean their houses.
Niitsu changed into her Haneda uniform after arriving at Songshan airport and went directly to coach Sincere Group workers.
She first watched them do their restroom routine, including wiping the mirrors and countertops, scrubbing sinks and cleaning the toilets, and then demonstrated what she would do to make them cleaner.
The toilet seat cover, the seat and the rim under the seat should all be wiped as well as scrubbed, she said.
“You cannot clean these areas using a brush with a handle, because you will miss a lot of spots, such as the area inside the toilet rim. Smells would eventually come from these spots if they remain dirty, and because the air inside the restroom does not always circulate properly, the walls would absorb the odors and make the restroom smelly, so you need to find ways to clean those difficult-to-reach spots,” she said.
Niitsu showed her cleaning kit, which contains a small paint brush, several pencil-like sharpened bamboo sticks, wipes and other items.
The tools could either be bought or made, she said.
Niitsu, who is also known for her ability to use 80 different kinds of detergents, said her expertise comes from years of on-the-job experimentation.
“It all depends on the material of the item you are about to clean,” she said.
For example, to remove black spots on a stainless steel water fountain, she said that a neutral detergent must first be used to clean the surface, then an acidic detergent must be applied to remove the spots.
Compared with women’s restrooms, Niitsu said that it is more difficult to clean the men’s.
“Women are more aware of keeping the restroom clean, and the urine is less likely to splash out of the toilets, because they have to sit down. Men are less careful when peeing at urinals,” she said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS