Ear cleaning is a very specifically Japanese thing because the racially Japanese (Yamato) people's genome usually contains the recessive gene for dry, dusty earwax. If you've never heard of this before, it's because the gene is mostly only carried by far-east Asians and Native Americans (south-east Asians are about 50/50). And because the gene is recessive, anyone born to a parent with the usual wet and sticky earwax will also have that earwax type.
As a double-whammy, the same gene is responsible for underarm odor. It can be very difficult to find deodorant on sale in Japan because most Japanese people simply don't need it.